Milling on a Lathe with a Vertical Slide

OK too much choice.

Chronos HSS End Mills - what is the threaded piece at the end for? I just want a straight shank to fit in the 3 jaw chuck?

Drill Service Horley Standard End Mill Cutters - which type do I get, too many unknown abreviations!!

Or Arc EuroTrade do HSS Tin Coated?

I have some ArcEuro cutters and they're good value.

My advice is not to worry too much. Any cutter will do provided it's in good nick. Just avoid very cheap.

What's unpredictable is whether or not milling on a lathe will allow decent cuts to be taken. Rubbing murders edged tools by causing rapid wear, and lathes set up to mill are at a severe disadvantage. Lack of power and especially rigidity force the operator to take light cuts, which are likely to rub. Although expensive cutters thus misused will last longer than cheap ones, it could be false economy. Save money by ruining cheap tools rather than expensive ones?

Best to understand milling on a lathe has multiple restrictions, including the possibility cutters won't last long. The advantage of milling on a lathe is it can be faster and more accurate than doing the same job with a file, but apart from that it's third-rate all round. Useful up to a point, but no further. Works reasonably on small objects but I found it so frustrating and limiting in practice I immediately started saving for a mill. Milling machines are truly wonderful in comparison because all the lathe imposed restrictions vanish.

The old guys often milled on their lathes and much good work was done. But it was only because most didn't have the space or money for a proper milling machine. It wasn't because lathe milling is a first-class way of munching metal.

Please let us know how you get on. Much depends on what you're doing and Mick's experience is more positive than mine.

Dave

Threaded cutters are for use in Clarkson, Vertex or similar tool holding systems but can be used in plain collets such as R8 or ER. If you don't need the threaded type they usually cost more than a plain shank because of the need to form the thread.

Unless you plan on making some threaded tool holders to hold onto the cutters best get plain shanks to save some money.

Carbide is very brittle and for someone starting out and using a lathe will probably not be good value as they can be snapped very easily and the edges chipped with ease. Your best bet will probably be plain high speed steel (HSS) and three flutes to start with.

Martin C

Edited By Martin Connelly on 09/05/2021 11:22:34

I inherited a lot of Milling cutters in various sizes, both Imperial and Metric, some with threaded shanks and some plain.

I hold them all in collets and they do the job.

Sometimes, "bundles" of milling cutters are offered on Ebay; it's a gamble as to whether they will be in usable condition but, bear in mind the cost of new from a reputable supplier and set your maximum price.

You could be lucky!

FWIW the two I bought most recently were

SDFC3-10.00-S 10.00 HSCo Multi-Purpose Cutter Short
SDFC3-6.00-S 6.00 HSCo Multi-Purpose Cutter Short

They have 3 flutes and mostly plain shanks with a small cutout (but a collet etc will make no use of the cutout)

So far I've used the 10mm one several times on both aluminium and steel. The 6mm one has not been in action yet.

I went for the short ones because they stick out less... which may or may not help with rigidity a bit. On the other hand if you want to cut with the sides of the cutter then it is a disadvantage.

Where did you buy these,please?

Clicking on them had no effect.

MC

Drill Service, Horley.

Sorry, I just copy/pasted from my order confirmation email. I didn't think to try to make anything clickable.

This is the page with all of the sizes on...

https://www.drill-service.co.uk/products/milling-cutters/standard-length-milling-cutters/sdfc3-hss-3-flute-slot-drill/

I’ve been in touch with Warco and they said they will be getting a Vertical Slide especially for the WM180.

in the mean time, when the need arises I’ll probably make up an adaptor plate (as shown in Steve Jordan’s video on YouTube) and bolt on a Angle Plate to attach work pieces to.

Ian,

I will be opting for the simple approach using Angle plate DIY clamps and a home made adaptor plate, but if I do decide to get a vertical slide, I am struggling to find one the size you were referring to and they all seem to come with an angle plate fitted, which I won’t need. Any details in the one you had?

Hello William,

I've had a look for my vertical slide but cannot see anything exactly the same. I guess the Chinese factories tend to do one-off production runs and maybe this particular version has now been superceded.

My table is 6.5" x 4" and has a vertical travel of about 3". It is very heavy. It also has vertical slots and came with vice 'jaws' that ran in them (and which always slip when tightened). However the slots do work OK to hold a small vice. The nearest I can find are the 5" x 4" slides that Arc Euro & Warco sell - although they are now about twice the price that I paid if I recall correctly. I remember lugging it back from a show but not the vendor I'm afraid.

Here's another photo - It's being used on my EW to hold a Taig ER16 milling head - something I sometimes still do in the winter, when I'm staying inside.

Regards,

IanT

An interesting repurposing of your IT training plaque there Ian!

How is your milling 'stack' secured to the dovetail lathe bed?

Hi Andy,

I cut a length of bar with a matching angle in the Myford and cut it in half for gib pieces. It's very easy to do with a faceplate and some hex bar - just fly-cutting, no special cutter required.

One piece is simply bolted to the bottom edge of the raising block but the other piece has slotted holes to allow some movement. Two small clamps on the side of the block tighten the sliding gib inwards and when everything is snugged up it's very solid.

The set-up works fine for light milling of small parts and is just as easy/quick to set-up as the EW's vertical slide.

Regards,

IanT

Thanks Ian. I like the hex bar setup. I must get hold of some larger sized hex so that I can try that one myself.

My Faircut lathe has a 60 degree dovetail bed with an unmachined slot in the middle so I'm always looking for good ways to attach stuff. My Cowells also has a 60 degree dovetail... but at least that one has a machined 'T' in the middle.

Large steel hex? - Car boot sale and very old/broken Wolf drill stand for 50p (it was the upright bit)

Regards,

IanT

Hi William here is a picture of my vertical slide in operation. It is mounted on to my M Type Drummond/Myford lathe and I am flycuting the top of a casting. I had to make an adapter plate to bolt to the cross slide which has a set of holes in to match the slide.

If you are interested it is for sale as I have a mill now and I don't look like using it anymore. Send a PM if you are interested.

David

So, moving forward slowly with this (Busy completing a Robot entry for a competition).

I will be using..............................video to fabricate a Milling Attachment on my Warco WM180 (thanks to Peter Baverstock for the link, but have a couple of questions.

I have removed the Compound Slide to reveal the stud that the Compound Slide can swivel on. On the lathe Steve shows the stud is 8mm, mine is only 6mm and the bolts are probably about 5mm.

If I use these to fix my base plate on which the Angle Plate will secure, will they be strong enough to hold everything for milling?

Edited By JasonB on 10/07/2021 18:28:36

I tried this, despite the sage advice of Jason B. I managed to make some poor cuts and break a couple of end mills. I now own a mill despite making all the protestations about space. It does everything better than attempting it on the lathe. I am however a rank amateur so a more experienced operator may be more successful.

I have just placed orders for various bits that I need to make this milking attachment and some other projects.

One project involves parting, which, as you will see from my other threads is causing me some bother. Advice on a small lathe is to fit a rear tool post. So I am considering modifying this base plate to hold a rear tool post? Thoughts?

using that compound slide mount for a vertical slide will make for a very limited amount of adjustment. That's even more limited than a vertical slide normally provides.