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Thread: Lathe milling attachment

  1. #1
    Boolit Master Hannibal's Avatar
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    Lathe milling attachment

    I've been considering a vertical mill but since I already have a SouthBend Heavy 10 lathe and I have space limitations I've begun to wonder about a lathe milling attachment.
    I've never seen one in person so I don't know what I should look for. I'm sure they have limitations but I am not particularly concerned with speed nor do I have plans for working on large parts so nothing over 4" long anytime soon at least.

    Anyway, if any of you that have first hand knowledge of these can offer suggestions for what I might look for I'd appreciate your input.

    Thanks for looking.

  2. #2
    Boolit Grand Master
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    If you only want to cut a couple of dovetails or similar jobs now and then, but any serious milling? Most of these lathe mill conversions just don’t make the grade. The range of movement and holding ability are just too limited. OTOH, if you already have that Heavy Ten you mentioned in the other thread, and spend the money for a good conversion, it will do to do very light, small jobs.

    Froggie
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  3. #3
    Boolit Master Hannibal's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Green Frog View Post
    If you only want to cut a couple of dovetails or similar jobs now and then, but any serious milling? Most of these lathe mill conversions just don’t make the grade. The range of movement and holding ability are just too limited. OTOH, if you already have that Heavy Ten you mentioned in the other thread, and spend the money for a good conversion, it will do to do very light, small jobs.

    Froggie
    Ok, that's pretty much what I gathered but wasn't sure about. Looks like I'd better keep looking for a vertical mill. Thanks for your reply.

  4. #4
    Boolit Grand Master

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    I had suggested this option in your previous post. Ive only seen a couple over the years, but then most of my experience has been in tool rooms.
    to visualize it. is basically a second cross side thats vertical with a vise, but it will accept a vee block or flat plate. it is limited to the lathes travel range. the cutter is run horizontally in a spindle. If you have a collet chuck it would be the better choice for mounting the cutter.

    Tubalcain 222 in you tube has several videos showing them in use.

  5. #5
    Boolit Master Hannibal's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by country gent View Post
    I had suggested this option in your previous post. Ive only seen a couple over the years, but then most of my experience has been in tool rooms.
    to visualize it. is basically a second cross side thats vertical with a vise, but it will accept a vee block or flat plate. it is limited to the lathes travel range. the cutter is run horizontally in a spindle. If you have a collet chuck it would be the better choice for mounting the cutter.

    Tubalcain 222 in you tube has several videos showing them in use.
    Yes, I remember your post and that's what prompted me to look into them. I need to do some more research. There's not a lot of cross slide travel on the SouthBend I have so that may make it a bad choice. As I've said I need to look into things more.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Hannibal View Post
    I've been considering a vertical mill but since I already have a SouthBend Heavy 10 lathe and I have space limitations I've begun to wonder about a lathe milling attachment.
    I've never seen one in person so I don't know what I should look for. I'm sure they have limitations but I am not particularly concerned with speed nor do I have plans for working on large parts so nothing over 4" long anytime soon at least.

    Anyway, if any of you that have first hand knowledge of these can offer suggestions for what I might look for I'd appreciate your input.

    Thanks for looking.
    For what it's worth, way back in the late 1960s I got enamored with the Austrian imported Unimat lathe/mill. To this day I regularly employ the lathe for all sorts of metal work, and to be quite frank, MOST of my milling work has not earned bragging rights . However, I'd wager 90% or more is due to my lack of experience and -- for a lack of a better term, patience in set-up.
    If you have experience, and are serious re your four-inch or smaller workpiece plans -- you may look into an Austrian Unimat? You can keep it set up as a milling machine... or, a drill press... or, a metal lathe with thread-cutting and other perks. I've made quite a few parts on it through the years.
    A fellow has a video on YouTube re his.. you may have interest in viewing it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1Y1nkr6v2M
    geo

  7. #7
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    A good site for looking into older machines is http://www.lathes.co.uk/

    Click on the South Bend link, then the accessories link to find good photos of SBL milling attachments. These are pretty heavy, but the rudimentary work holding is clearly intended for simple tasks such as shaft keyways.

    Then lose yourself in surfing the site, it is an absolute Aladdin's cave of machine tool info.

    The milling vertical slides I have for my Myford are much more capable, but only for light work.

  8. #8
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    I've got a milling attachment for my SB 9" lathe. I use it mostly for cutting extractor cuts in the breech end of gun barrels. They are not very sturdy and you must take a lot of light cuts, keep measuring and checking. I've got a Rockwell vertical mill but the head doesn't swivel to allow hanging a barrel off the side of the table. Having a home shop sure is handy and it keeps my retirement from getting boring.

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    Boolit Grand Master

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    The big drawbacks I see are its might be hard to see what your doing between head and vise. the change over back and forth. These may be sensitive to direction of cut ie you may not be able to mill an edge and then the face or climb mill.

    on the other hand controlling chips may be easier, depending in your lathe you may have coolant, and you will have power feeds

    As I said Ive never used one, and only seen a few. Just my impressions

  10. #10
    Boolit Master
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    The units like a drillpress clamped on the bed arent very rigid,but have good visibility.........using a vertical slide /vice on the saddle is a lot more rigid..........there are also the small milling machines that fit the bed ,such as "Millrite"........the army used a lot of these with the SB lathes.

  11. #11
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    I’ve made small parts like extractors and sears, and have cut dovetails and extractor slots in barrel breeches with the milling attachment on my 6” Atlas lathe.

    It can take a fair amount of skulduggery to get your proper setups, and light cuts are the rule, but it’s still a vast improvement over a vise and files.

    If one comes along at a reasonable price that fits your lathe, I’d get it on general principle. It shouldn’t reduce you to beggary if you’re saving for a dedicated machine, and it’s one of those things that finds uses for itself.

    Some of the practical/home machinist websites have threads where someone has built one of greater capacity than the stock version that comes with the machine. Whether you could use one to profile a Rolling Block frame with one setup is doubtful, but if your layout lines and setups are good, you ought to be able to get there eventually. Especially if there’s a Master Machinist inside you somewhere, struggling to get out.

  12. #12
    Boolit Master Hannibal's Avatar
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    So I've been looking at some of these attachments and I'm a bit confused about how they attach to the cross slide. Do you remove the compound slide and attach the milling attachment there? It's been a decade or so since I had my compound slide off so I'm having a brain fart.

  13. #13
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    From what ive seen they go on or where the compound is. Normally the compound is held on with 2 bolts and a center pin

  14. #14
    Boolit Master Hannibal's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by country gent View Post
    From what ive seen they go on or where the compound is. Normally the compound is held on with 2 bolts and a center pin
    Ok, that makes sense. When I get home this evening I'll pull my compound off so I know what diameter I'm looking for. Thank you!

  15. #15
    Boolit Grand Master
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    Hannibal, I'm most familiar with the ones that essentially replace the whole tool holder post (and attach the same way). The Palmgren (sp?) brand seems to be the most satisfactory. Several years ago I got a set of plans out of an old Popular Mechanics magazine and made my own adaptor in shop class to go on my Sheldon 11" lathe at home. It was a learning exercise and since I found an Atlas MFC bench top mill, the project was never finished, so I really can't comment on how it might have worked. I've thought about reworking it to use on the table of my Atlas to use like a more sophisticated version of an angle plate.
    Froggie
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  16. #16
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    Turn in a lathe. Mill on a mill! Period.

    The milling jigs that go on metal lathers are a joke. I have several of them for my various lathes and all are for only VERY LIGHT work like cutting a key way or such. The kind of milling I do in my vertical mills is much more complex, heavy, and accurate than anything I could ever do on a lathe. And I have good quality lathes, not HF ChiCom garbage stuff.

    And try cutting gears on a lathe with a milling attachment!!!!!!!!!!


    If you want to do it right, get a used vertical mill. They are out there.

    Good luck



    banger

  17. #17
    Boolit Master Hannibal's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bangerjim View Post
    Turn in a lathe. Mill on a mill! Period.

    The milling jigs that go on metal lathers are a joke. I have several of them for my various lathes and all are for only VERY LIGHT work like cutting a key way or such. The kind of milling I do in my vertical mills is much more complex, heavy, and accurate than anything I could ever do on a lathe. And I have good quality lathes, not HF ChiCom garbage stuff.

    And try cutting gears on a lathe with a milling attachment!!!!!!!!!!


    If you want to do it right, get a used vertical mill. They are out there.

    Good luck



    banger
    I never said I was planning to cut gears on a lathe attachment. Where did you get such an idea?

    This is not a production shop. It's my garage with one or 2 one-off projects.

    Did I not make my intentions clear? Why are you making these assumptions?

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    Yikes , talk about hubris .

    You want a lesson in humiliation, go to you you tube and search click spring and prepare to humbled when it comes to cutting gears on a lathe along with the quality of work that can be done on a cheap chi com lathe .

    Another one goes into the ignore box ......

  19. #19
    Boolit Grand Master

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    When done at work or on the job, or at home as a DIY or hobbyist has some bearing also. On the job your on the clock or there is a line down. DIY or at home there is no "clock setting profits.
    A skilled craftsman can do with a file what some cant do on a mill.
    The way I see it for the hobbyist with limited room or funds the milling attachment may be the best or only answer.
    As I said above i see several pluses to them and another may be they dont have as much table rock as the knee mils. Also with the shorter travels gib wear will stay more even if you use it a lot. ( on my bridgeport I move the vise every month or two from left right center inner and outer slots sometimes even swiveling the ram to work in different areas of the ways). Kept oiled and the gibs set you could do some good work the attachment.

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