Using boring attachment of the mill for OD cutting

[Rotate]

I was using my boring attachment on the milling machine the other night, and it occured to me that it would be just as easy to "turn" the OD of the part by aligning the cutting edge of the boring bar inwards. Is this type of operation ever done in a commercial application?

Albert

[bspooh]

I have personally never came across a situation that would require this application.. But it does sound like a pretty good idea...I am sure it would yield good results...

brent

[JCHannum]

I have done this on occasion, as needed. The milling machine serves quite well as a substitute for lathe in many applications. That is where idea for turning center came from, more mill than lathe.

[BrianH]

I do this a lot at work, when I'm milling something round and I want to hold size right on the dingdong, no taper, and a really nice finish.

I put a boring bar in the boring head backwards and run the machine in reverse....works ducky....

[Thrud]

Albert
Narex (and others) heads can do things in the mill you would not think possible. Apparently, machinists (oldtimers) found these things real labour savers in pre CNC days.

[halfnut]

Yep, sure can.

I've also held work in spindle of mill, mounted a tool bit in vice or block and used mill as lathe.

Did some profile rollers in CNC mill this way once, worked good.

More than once I've ran lathe spindle in reverse and did a cut on backside with a boring bar.

Whatever works and saves time.

[rweaver106]

I've also done this numerous times - I run at large Lucas floor type boring mill - 30ft of travle.. We mainly do stamping press repair at my shop - I've cut fairly large diameters - I'd venture to guess that the biggest was around 48" or so - you just have to be carefull, it's pretty easy to get tangled up in the boring bar, but then again I guess it wouldn't really be called a boring bar when you're cutting on the OD would it?

[metal mite]

GUYS,
WHEN RUNNIN THAT HEAD BACKWARDS, BE SURE YOU DON'T UNSCREW IT FROM THE SHANK!
I put a dab of Loctite on mine.
We used to turn the trunions on ladles for our foundry years ago on a sellers horizontal boring/post mill.
The ladles were about four feet tall and around.
mite

[Mike L]

Ditto on what metal mite says.

If you have to, make a custom HSS cutter and run the mill forward. First time I tried cutting an OD with the mill running in reverse, the head unscrewed from the shank and damaged the part and the shank and nearly me. And the head was loctited to the shank.

Mike L