Re: Milling on the lathe w/out a milling attachment (rate my setup)
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Do you have an end mill holder that will fit the spindle of your lathe? If so, use that! If not you could make or buy one relatively cheaply. I've got one that has a MT3 taper, got it for my HF 7x10 mini, kept it when I sold off the mini-lathe a year or so ago, since it also fits the spindle on my Atlas TH42, and the spindle adapter for my SB Heavy 10L. You can get them from Shars, CDCO Tools, Little Machine Shop (where I got mine), and probably many other places. If you're anywhere near OKC, Steve's Wholesale Tools had two of them in the precision tool cabinet a week or so ago at the Sante Fe store. Call it $28+tax, I think. Similar to this:?
Bill in OKC
William R. Meyers, MSgt, USAF(Ret.)
Aphorisms to live by: Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement.? SEMPER GUMBY!
On Tuesday, February 28, 2023 at 05:53:21 PM CST, Rogan Creswick <creswick@...> wrote:
I need to cut a 0.190" wide slot, 0.300" deep in a ~1.75" wide chunk of steel, and it's a part for my milling machine, so I can't do it on the mill.
I don't think the tolerances?are particularly tight, but I'd like it to be as close as I can reasonably get it to the part I'm replacing.
Anyway, this is the setup I'm thinking of using -- setting the height relative to the spindle?with either adjustable parallels, gauge blocks, machinist screws, or some other form of shims / spacers.
I'm interested in hearing other suggestions -- I may just use some HSS toolbits as guides and do it with a file (likely pre-cutting some kerfs with a bandsaw).? My test cuts last night were pretty slow (0.015" DOC, top speed on the lathe, and feeding by hand at about 0.5" per minute), I don't think I can run the spindle fast enough for the 3/16" endmill I'd need to use, but maybe I can rough it out with files / saws and do the finish cuts this way.
Maybe I should be doing a series of plunge cuts, though? How much longitudinal force can I put on an endmill in a 4-jaw?
Here's a link to a video that may better show the setup:?
Thanks! --Rogan
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Bill in OKC too