# Will a boring head work on small mill



## geoff (Aug 10, 2012)

I have a bench top Mill/drill similar size to the sieg x2 and am thinking of geting a boring head to make larger holes upto 40mm, and wonder if a small mill is capable of useing a boring head as whenever i use a onesided type of cutter or countersink the machine wobbles a bit and clearly is not happy working that way. Otherwise it performs well enough. Has anyone got any experiance of this. ?
regards geoff


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## Brian Rupnow (Aug 10, 2012)

Jeff---I have a Canadian BusyBee tools CT129 mill. I'm not sure how that compares with your Sieg, but its a small mill. It handles a boring head quite easily, because you are only removing a bit of material from the perimeter of the hole with each pass, not the entire hole cross section like a drill would do.---My mill wants to blow fuses when using drills larger than 1/2" in steel, but handles the boring head with no problem.---Brian


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## Anko (Aug 10, 2012)

Just be carrefully with the speed, as the boring head acts like a counter-weight and with high speed will move all the machine.

you cant put a boring head counter-counter-weight to compensate this, and like Brian sayd, just take a lighter cuts (make a rough bore berofe in the lathe or drill, an then just finish it in the mill)

Saludos


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## Tin Falcon (Aug 10, 2012)

I have a criterion s-1 that I have used on my  x-2
Tin


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## vigsgb (Aug 10, 2012)

I have a micro mill drill and use a boring head on that and it worked fine if I made light cuts.


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## Don1966 (Aug 10, 2012)

I have a Micro Mark Microlux mill and it works well on it. You are just limited by the Z Axis on how deep it can cut.

Don


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## kf2qd (Aug 10, 2012)

I have a 2 inch boring head that I use quite often. As long as you watch the speed it works great. Sometimes a little more speed works better also as it gets you past the resonant speed of the column. I have even been able to drill a hole, set my boring head and get repeatable results, saves on the number of reamers required...


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## geoff (Aug 11, 2012)

Many Thanks for your quick replies guys, looks like i have permission to get one myself, Very useful to get others experience.

Geoff


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## ironman (Aug 11, 2012)

I have the HF 47158 Micro Mill and use 2 inch boring head.  Does fine.

Go slow and take light cuts.

Ray


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## Goldigger (Sep 18, 2012)

I have a SX2 mill, and looking at using a boring head..how are people finding the finish when used on a manual mill?

Aprt from being able to cut the ID of a hole and OD off a round object, are there any other uses for a boring head?


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## Brian Rupnow (Sep 18, 2012)

I find the finish of bored holes with my small mill to be just fine. Probably a power feed on the quill would make the finish better, but for everything I do (And thats a lot) the finish is fine. The only other thing I have ever heard of doing with a boring head is to mount it in the tailstock of your lathe, mount a 60 degree center in it where the cutter would normally go, arrange the center of this 60 degree center to be horizontal with the center of the tailstock--and then you can dial in offsets for turning tapers in the lathe.


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## Philjoe5 (Sep 18, 2012)

Also good for cutting arcs:







Phil


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## ELM6061 (Sep 18, 2012)

Do not own a boring head or used one, but it is on my to buy list.
I have seen them used for facing, milling a round slot/gutter for diy rotary table, boring round and semi circle holes, also as has been mentioned, used for taper turning on lathes via mounting in the tail stock. With the amount ingenuity I have been amazed with, in regard to tool use and mounting technique's, I am sure there are way more uses for a boring head.

Eddie


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## purpleknif (Sep 19, 2012)

How do you get a consistent feed ?


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## Brian Rupnow (Sep 19, 2012)

purpleknif said:


> How do you get a consistent feed ?


 You don't!! It doesn't seem to affect things too much. I don't use the power feed on my lathe carriage either.


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## velocette (Sep 19, 2012)

purpleknif said:


> How do you get a consistent feed ?



This is my solution to steady feed on "Z" axis turn down original minature 

hand wheel to 30 mm diameter turn down boss on "new" hand wheel to 30 mm

Make a sleeve-bush to fit and secure with "Grub Screws"

hope the picture tells the story

Eric


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## bazzz (Sep 19, 2012)

Thanks for posting those pics, they really do tell the story. First time I have seen this mod and will add it to my ever growing list of things to do list.

Dave


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## Goldigger (Sep 20, 2012)

Forgive me if I'm being dumb, add the bigger hand wheel on the fine feed?
Also what's the black assembly with metal bar coming out of it, on the front bottom of the head?


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## velocette (Sep 20, 2012)

Hi " geoff  " please accept our apologies for "Hi Jacking" your posting If this is at all offensive I will  remove my postings on your thread if you wish.

The question directed to me is

"Forgive me if I'm being dumb, add the bigger hand wheel on the fine feed?
 Also what's the black assembly with metal bar coming out of it, on the front bottom of the head?"

Fiddly little Knob fitted as original is almost useless for "Fine Feed" also needed to keep fingers from poly vee pulley so hand wheel fitted

Black Assembly normally has  guard mounted on it removed for pics

Hope the pictures explain better

Thanks to geoff 

Eric


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## Goldigger (Oct 21, 2012)

I took the plunge and bought a MT3 50mm boring head...
Comes in handy when i need to cut an arc, rather than having to line everything up on the rotary table..

Am i limited to the two types of boring tools seen in this link http://www.rdgtools.co.uk/acatalog/TOOL_S_FOR_BORING_HEADS.html
Flat and brazed tip?

Can we get tools that will let us create a shamfer or create small oring grooves?
Can we buy blanks that we can sharpen to make our own tips?

Cheers


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## kvom (Oct 21, 2012)

The HSS tools can be ground to any shape you want.  The brazed carbide tools not optimal IMO.  You need a "green" grinding wheel to sharpen or shape them.  You can also find solid carbide boring bars and those that use inserts, although the latter ay be harder to find in small sizes.


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## Tin Falcon (Oct 21, 2012)

> Am i limited to the two types of boring tools seen in this link



No while those are the most common there are many variations on the boring bar. look at msc or other large tool supplier.  pages and pages. 



> Can we get tools that will let us create a Chamfer or create small o - ring grooves?



Internal grooving tools are also available in a variety of designs and material. 

Not shure about ones for a chamfer. I would expext someone has them. You can always grind one.



> Can we buy blanks that we can sharpen to make our own tips?


in practice the solid ones are just that they may be the correct geometry  you need or not. when I worked int the trade we almost always ground a new boring bar before use. 

There are bars that use hss inserts that can be ground. 

you can use silver steel AKA drill rod and make your own BB. 
((these are best used for aluminum and brass. 

tin


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## don-tucker (Oct 21, 2012)

Works fine on mine ,using cheap carbide tipped tooling





Admittedly it was bronze but no chatter at all,I obtained a fine feed by making a large handle to replace the original supplied knob.
Don


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## Marty Feldman (Oct 21, 2012)

GEOFF - sure you can

GOLDIGGER - blanks in all sort of sizes and shapes are readily available (you can start with MSC and McMaster-Carr), and once you figure out the relief angles you need on the cutting edge of the tool you can certainly grind chamfering and o-ring grooves, as well as many other circular features that require a form tool.


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## kf2qd (Oct 21, 2012)

Buy some of the standard tools and modify them to do the special jobs. Or buy a boring bar that uses a small square tool bit and the make any type special tip you might need


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## Goldigger (Oct 29, 2012)

Thanks for your replys guys...
My boring head uses boring bars with a 12mm round shank..I cant seem to find anything in the UK to fit it..apart from the already mentioned..
(mscdirect.co.uk has expensive prices for my pockets)

Anybody know where i should be looking?

Can we use lathe boring bars? cant see why we cant unless they are to long? I ask this as indexable boring bars seem to be more readily available, but obviously at a higher cost.


TIA..


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## goldstar31 (Oct 29, 2012)

Hi but no one has mentioned making up a small boring head for home construction, nor for boring bars or proper boring tools.
Years ago, I bought George Thomas's Model Engineers Workshop Manual after Bill Bennett had got all George's stuff and put them into that book  and into Workshop Techniques.

Over the years, I made up a small boring head out of scrap and made a boring bar or was it two that did the holes in the rather demanding  Quorn tool and cutter grinder and a heap of other tools that wnt onto my Myford lathe and my milldrill. .

Actually, the cost was pretty minimal. I bought a scrap cast iron table for £3 and a large quanity of EN1A steel and my hss lathe tools came from the dead, dying or whatever, and I resurrected them( the tools not the guys)

Maybe, a couple of books would keep you going in this direction.


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## chipenter (Oct 30, 2012)

Fly cutting for finishing on my X1 very light cut and a nice surface .


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