Author Topic: Lathe milling attachment.  (Read 12067 times)

Offline shipto

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Lathe milling attachment.
« on: September 10, 2015, 04:48:04 PM »
Along with the stuff I got with my lathe was a 2 way milling vice similar to the one in the first pic but not so well made. It was marked up as Jacob and has "made in taiwan" on the bottom so they are hoping people will mistake it for a Jacobs product and expect quality no doubt.
Anyway when I was handed it I wondered what the heck I was gonna do with it and it sat on the bench while I did others things.
So I want to turn it into useful vertical slide for the lathe.
Started off by stripping it down and getting rid of the bits for the top slide (actually if I had thought it through a bit longer I would have left a bit more on it but never mind can't unturn it).
I was going to make it to bolt onto a right angle block I was also given but then had a better idea for a permanent solution, we scrap loads of bearing housings at work and I sometimes rescue them from the scrap bin with the intention of using them for ?something?
So I grabbed the biggest one I had stored in my area at work and saw the two ends off to leave enough meat to tap into and put the two together on the four jaw to turn it square. Turned out great according the the right angle block :D
The plan is to attach this to a plate with various holes to match the mounting holes for the slide which you can see in pic2 with the bearing housing part.
I did intend to mount the vice from the 2 way slide but then thought about the top slide from my old Drummond roundbed which I think will be a much more useful option.
Turns out this life c**p is just one big distraction from death but a good one. For the love of god dont give yourself time to think.
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Offline Fergus OMore

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Re: Lathe milling attachment.
« Reply #1 on: September 10, 2015, 05:42:55 PM »
Jon S and I came up with the idea that one of these things is actually a rather nice Tool and cutter grinder.
John did something with collets etc from his business and I lopped the vice bit off and after removal of the feed screws, it does become a sort of miniature Clarkson or Stent or Brooks. The motive power is a cheap  6" Chinese DE grinder. I'd sort of developed mine from a key cutter.

If you want my version, it sort of follows the Brooks which appears in MEW 16 and 17. No, it hasn't got the niceties of the better designs but it is thoroughly workable and vastly superior to a bracket affair  that comes with a cheapo grinder.

Perhaps John has  notes or photos of his setup.  They are certainly worthy of a look at.


Meantime, Lucky you


Norman

Offline shipto

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Re: Lathe milling attachment.
« Reply #2 on: September 11, 2015, 05:04:06 PM »
Amazing I just get started on a project and suddenly people want my time  :doh:
Anyway Collected some bits to make the work turn through 360 degrees and I managed to get the plate attached to the right angle before being called away.
Turns out this life c**p is just one big distraction from death but a good one. For the love of god dont give yourself time to think.
https://myshedblog.wordpress.com/

Offline vintageandclassicrepairs

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Re: Lathe milling attachment.
« Reply #3 on: September 11, 2015, 06:30:52 PM »
Hi shipto,
I had one of these XY vices fitted to a bench drill base and for that application it worked ok
It was a big old substantial drill press, so I thought I would try a small milling cutter to see if it would work
Short answer no :(
There is too much play in the travel nuts / threads,
Where the XY handles are anchored there are no bearings to take thrust so the handles dont turn readily under pressure
Jib strips adjustments doesnt  work very well, lack of parallesism?

In the end I gave the drill and vice away to some friends who would be happy with holding a part to drill a hole without  losing fingers  !!!!!

Regards
John


Offline Fergus OMore

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Re: Lathe milling attachment.
« Reply #4 on: September 12, 2015, 04:21:24 AM »
  more or less agree with the foregoing remarks but what this thing is- warts and all- an excellent set of castings if the feed screws etc were removed.

It should not be beyond most of us, to do a bit of scraping to ensure that a slide- slides over- an inch or less.
A slide - crude though it is, will grind a face or anything which is 2" wide with a movement on a simple inch of travel.

We miss it and the average person quails at the drawings etc for many even home workshop grinders.

For many tasks, the area to re-furbish is far less than that.

It was with this firmly in my mind that I penned my original  thoughts.

It is worth a second thought

My regards

Norman

Offline shipto

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Re: Lathe milling attachment.
« Reply #5 on: September 12, 2015, 07:01:04 PM »
I Have looked at these before now thinking that maybe if you can get them clamped down securely they may do for very light milling but this one would have been terrible, I guess they are ok for just lining up holes but how many times do you have to drill so many holes in 100mm square (retorical question please dont bombard me with examples  :lol:)
Got a few more things done today but didnt take pics will do so tomorrow, if I am up to it feels like cold season has hit me early at the moment.
Turns out this life c**p is just one big distraction from death but a good one. For the love of god dont give yourself time to think.
https://myshedblog.wordpress.com/

Offline shipto

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Re: Lathe milling attachment.
« Reply #6 on: September 13, 2015, 03:21:14 PM »
A few pics of the progress on the turntable? everything has come on pretty well but not happy with the top plate in pic 3 I am going to cut another circle while at work tomorrow the square plate was really a replacement due to a slight change of plans.
Turns out this life c**p is just one big distraction from death but a good one. For the love of god dont give yourself time to think.
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Offline shipto

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Re: Lathe milling attachment.
« Reply #7 on: September 16, 2015, 01:02:47 PM »
So new top plate cut and prepared and put the studs in the rotation ring just a little bit of drilling and tapping to do then its going to be ready to put it all together. After I spend ages making the slide better which I am unable to take a picture of that shows just how bad it is, its almost as though they said to themselves make it look scraped but only worry about getting each corner near right.
Turns out this life c**p is just one big distraction from death but a good one. For the love of god dont give yourself time to think.
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Offline shipto

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Re: Lathe milling attachment.
« Reply #8 on: September 17, 2015, 03:25:13 PM »
good progress today the rotary bit is pretty good although I would like to mark it for degrees but dont have any idea how to go about it.
I have done a bit of a half-****** job on the slide but if it works ok will spend more time on that.
A better handle is definatley called for the plastic offering is only just better thn useless.
Turns out this life c**p is just one big distraction from death but a good one. For the love of god dont give yourself time to think.
https://myshedblog.wordpress.com/

Offline Jonny

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Re: Lathe milling attachment.
« Reply #9 on: September 17, 2015, 03:46:03 PM »
I Have looked at these before now thinking that maybe if you can get them clamped down securely they may do for very light milling but this one would have been terrible, I guess they are ok for just lining up holes but how many times do you have to drill so many holes in 100mm /quote]

Couldn't even do that on mine, way too much play in threads, Jaws lift the job, tight and sloppy spots along the V's unusable. Best thing ever did was give it away 14 years ago.

I wouldn't make a habit milling on a lathe especially if its not robust and tight, it wont last 5 mins.

Offline krv3000

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Re: Lathe milling attachment.
« Reply #10 on: September 17, 2015, 04:44:04 PM »
shaping up nice

Offline shipto

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Re: Lathe milling attachment.
« Reply #11 on: September 17, 2015, 04:49:51 PM »
how robust and tight it is remains to be seen but I have high hopes that it will at least cope with keyways and such like.
my main concern is the leadscrew nut its basically just a tight fit in a locating hole and I am thinking this may need something better as its not even sitting to the shoulder of the nut.
Turns out this life c**p is just one big distraction from death but a good one. For the love of god dont give yourself time to think.
https://myshedblog.wordpress.com/

Offline vintageandclassicrepairs

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Re: Lathe milling attachment.
« Reply #12 on: September 17, 2015, 05:54:42 PM »
Hi,
If you look here, http://www.blocklayer.com/Degree-Wheel.aspx
You should be able to scale and print off a suitable sized degree disc, 
You could stick this to your steel disc and mark through the paper  onto the steel
Square up the top table to mark the 0 degree point

HTH
John

Offline shipto

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Re: Lathe milling attachment.
« Reply #13 on: September 18, 2015, 01:11:11 PM »
really useful site John thank you  :thumbup:
Turns out this life c**p is just one big distraction from death but a good one. For the love of god dont give yourself time to think.
https://myshedblog.wordpress.com/

Offline shipto

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Re: Lathe milling attachment.
« Reply #14 on: September 20, 2015, 02:31:48 PM »
Mostly all done and I think its going to be useable with a little pre-thinking the jobs I wish do to, still not too happy with the leadscrew nut supplied but it locks up pretty tight so if I just use the up-down movement to set it then lock it up and use the lathe crosslide to actually mill it should work pretty good. I will still make a better handle for it than the plastic one but need to make square hole for it and couldn't face hours of filing today so thats a future job.
Turns out this life c**p is just one big distraction from death but a good one. For the love of god dont give yourself time to think.
https://myshedblog.wordpress.com/

Offline ieezitin

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Re: Lathe milling attachment.
« Reply #15 on: September 20, 2015, 03:18:15 PM »
Ship...

i buy these when i need a square hole, you can cut them down so you can get twice the use out of them, the tolerances are good so its easy to get to a bored size quickly .... just loctite them in QED!

I would think an English supplier is over there selling them....

http://www.mscdirect.com/product/details/82432287?rItem=82432287.

Anthony.
If you cant fix it, get another hobby.

Offline Jonny

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Re: Lathe milling attachment.
« Reply #16 on: September 20, 2015, 03:45:15 PM »
I will still make a better handle for it than the plastic one but need to make square hole for it and couldn't face hours of filing today so thats a future job.

Easy 10 mins taking it slow, drill through hole to width of flats and hack out. When some where near feel for it going on, no slop or play the nut may not take out.

Offline edward

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Re: Lathe milling attachment.
« Reply #17 on: September 21, 2015, 06:53:20 AM »
MSC are in the UK now. They can get anything in the American catalogue on order as well as their usual stock items.

Offline Jonny

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Re: Lathe milling attachment.
« Reply #18 on: September 21, 2015, 09:40:31 AM »
MSC US took over J&L Wednesbury in 2006 who used to be part of Kennametal.
Been using Wednesbury since 1999 they will source items worldwide unlisted in catalogue but certainly aint cheap.
OP only needs around 1/2" long