projects on the lathe today

[airsmith282]

project 1 i had to fix my new/extra tool holder from busy bee as it was not milled right for 1/2 cutters ..so i milled it on the lathe the second thing is a peice of aluim scrap i made some cool cuts in for fun and to learn more about milling on my lathe with my milling attachment

[Mcgyver]

dude, that is one precarious looking set up, but hey it worked

[tattoomike68]

try to reduce the overhang thats huge and the results will be even better. Drill more hole in the mounting plate and reel that set up in a few inches.

Milling on the lathe works fine for the guy with lots of time. I like to mill on a lathe. Iv used a big lathe as a 10 HP boring mill that kicked the crap out of the 1.5 HP bridgeport my boss wanted me to use to do the job.

[airsmith282]

hi there tattoomike68

thanks for the advice ill get some new plate and remount the sucker, its really to bad busy bee no longer sells the milling attachemnt for this machine. i would like to have the one thats made for it, this little rig i assembled does work but has had some chatter issues if i take a to big of slice , this thing i created took me a full day to make ,hopefully moving it back more will help alot, i dont have a milling machine right now but this little rig does work for some things ill be wanting to do.

[Bruce Griffing]

If it were me, I would rotate the angle plate by 180 degrees about the vertical and remount it on the carriage so it does not hang off at all. Then mount the rest on the opposite face of the angle plate. This will be much more ridgid.

[oldtiffie]

Page 1 of 3

project 1 i had to fix my new/extra tool holder from busy bee as it was not milled right for 1/2 cutters ..so i milled it on the lathe the second thing is a peice of aluim scrap i made some cool cuts in for fun and to learn more about milling on my lathe with my milling attachment

(Pics removed by oldtiffie due space/pic limitations)

Page 1

Hi airsmith.

I thought I'd respond to your very good post.

Nice lathe too.

I have one exactly the same except that mine is a (3-in-1) (mill-drill-lathe). It really is an excellent lathe (mill-drill is excellent too) that is solid, accurate, dependable and very good value for money.

This is going to be a long post as I have 11 pics which will require 3 separate and I hope sequential posts as I am only allowed 4 pics per post - so bear with me. I apologise for the time they posts will take to down-load.

I though I'd post a few ideas that might form the basis of others for you.

I'm sorry I took so long but it just didn't get done as soon as I'd have liked it to.

I like the flange mounting on the head-stock instead of the screwed spindle on many other lathes. The very wide solid dove-tails and the large flat area on the cross-slide are excellent for mounting stuff on the cross-slide. I am not concerned about not have an auto-feed for the apron as I prefer to feed by hand. I keep my gear-train and lead-screw for threads.

The spigot in the cross-slide for the top-slide is a neat fit but is removable.

I prefer the "ER" series of collets as they each have a gripping range of 1mm (0.040") - I have C8 collets on my T&C grinder - and will take odd-sized and "inch" stock easily and accurately. My collets go from 2mm (0.040") to 20mm (0.800"). I wanted an ER-32 flange-mounted adaptor that had a 20mm hole right through it and no draw-bar. I found mine at
http://littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?
ProductID=3046&category=-421559299
(but make sure you get this one as it will fit your lathe - exactly).

ER-32 collets are at:
http://littlemachineshop.com/product...ory=-421559299

There are smaller sets of collets and of course there is always eBay.

I also made a flange-mounted adaptor for a face-plate that was screwed M39 x 4mm. I was given the face-plate. I have included pics of that as well.

I have also showed rough "mock-ups" of potential set-ups of the angle plate onto the cross-slide and a vice, and rotary table onto the angle plate as well.

The vice is an "el cheapo" from a "cheap parts" shop, but its surprisingly accurate. All parts are removable and reversible.

It shouldn't,t be difficult to make an indexing base (as on the top-slide) for the vice when mounted on an angle-plate as it will make the vice a lot more versatile.

I hope this helps.

Now the pics.

This is an oblique end-on view of mt 3-in-1


This is aclose-up of the mill-drill head (excellent) and the face-plate mounted on the flange.


This is the ER-32 adaptor on the lathe plus my ER-32 collets and the ER-32 collets adaptor with the MT3 taper and threaded for drw-bar in my mill.


This is the ER-32 adaptor in the lathe with a 3/8" tool-bit in metric collets - spins/DTI-ed excellently.


Now to next post.

[oldtiffie]

Page 2 of 3.

Now lets hope I've got this right.

This in a 16mm "roughing" (aka "Corn-cob") end mill in the ER-32 collet.


This is the angle-plate and vice as well as the removed top-slide spigot. I have also included the very substantial "bolt-on" "milling table" with "T" slots that is fixed to the flat-topped cross-slide wit 4 x MS hex. socket-head screws (this is really good - but can be easily made or got from elsewhere and modified as required to suit).


This is the readily modified/"reversed" "el cheapo" vice.


Here is the very "temporary" set-up vice on the angle-plate which is on the milling table which is on the cross-slide.

[oldtiffie]

Page 3 of 3

Now see if this is right.

This is the finished face-plate on its adaptor which is fixed to the lathe spindle flange.


This is the back of the face-plate (dismounted).


And this is my 3-jaw chuck (bolted through from the front) mounted on my 6" rotary table which is fixed to the angle plate.

The ER-32 adaptor plate will also bolt directly to the face of the rotary table and so be very handy for milling on the rotab. The rotab becomes a very efficient, solid and cost-effective indexer (or simulated "Spindexer") in this configuration.


I hope this helps.

[texas_po_boy]

I must say that was very impressive. Nice pics also. How do you keep your machine so clean ?