Holding an end mill in the chuck, good or bad idea?

[bazmak]

Got it in a nutshell.I went thru the same process.Use what you have
graduate to a vertical slide or milling attachment.Get some use and when
you realise your limitations go on to bench mill. No brainer

 

[Hopper]

To answer the original question: I have been holding end mill cutters in the 60-year-old three-jaw chuck on my Drummond M-type "Flagellator" lathe for all my milling work for some years. Never any problem. Cutters range from 6mm to 22mm diameter, milling up to 25mm thick steel plate.
It works. Doubtless a good milling machine would work better, but as Bazmak says, you do what you have to.

 

[goldstar31]

Perhaps the original questions should now be ignored.
Jon wrote to me last night to mention that in addition to the Amolco drilling attachment, he was getting a trio of Imperial collets which, if the research is done, will be no2Morse. Again, if the blurb is read, Jon actually is or will( watch the declension of the verb) will have a 3 in one lathe but a rather refined one with- wait for it- two motors with the new one capable of Four speeds and the Amolco spindle which will accept not only his three collets but ALL the newer set of Myford chucks and normal drill chucks as well as things like ER25 collets and if he has done his homework, has a milling machine which can utilise one of the spindles as part of a --- dividing head.

He will have to think instead of 'horizontal mode' vertical mode some 90 degrees from what the rest of us might deem necessary.

So armed with an endless supply of studding, nuts and bolts and scrap metal, cut to size, he will be( watch the verb) in a BETTER state of tooling than most.

All that he has to do is concentrate on getting the lathe able to tackle endless things rather than delay the process by going off at a tangent and trying to make a few coins at this time.

I'd be making something like Harold Hall's tool and cutter grinder. Not the best or anywhere near but a machine well within Jon's and the machine's capabilities.

My views- of course

Norman

 

[goldstar31]

I don't think that I am a member of the Practical Machinist web site but tend to dip into some of the comments in idle moments.

My last dip was to find that there is a firm mirror honing the spiral flutes on - yes, Jon----END mills. Perhaps it is worth a read too.

The mirror edge is only about a thou wide and the finish, in aluminum-- is fantastic.

It was no surprise as two old farts- George Thomas and Ian Bradley did something similar to their lathe tools.

Worth a look- well I enjoyed it

Cheers

N

 

[JCSteam]

Hi Norm, yes I have had a couple hours looking at what I would be able to do, and buy/build for the lathe, you'll have to bear with me to catch up on all the possibilities Norm, there is as you say a 3D dimentions now been added, and it would be possible to machine quite a lot of parts, some I probably haven't thought of yet.

 

[Wizard69]

Wow a lot of good response here. Im a bit busy so skipped to responding after the first page but the obvious answer here, to me anyways, is to make your own endmill holders. They can be morse taper, retained by a draw bar or can screw onto your spindle. The retention is key to avoid having the end mill pull the holder out of the taper.

Either approach is relatively easy and often a scrap box will have the required materials.

Now all of that being said you can accomplish milling on a lathe using a screwed on chuck. Use a four jaw and run out problems go away. Pull out from a four jaw wont be much worse than from a collet. That is you need to tighten properly to prevent pull out for the load you put on the end mill.

 

[goldstar31]

Wow a lot of good response here. Im a bit busy so skipped to responding after the first page but the obvious answer here, to me anyways, is to make your own endmill holders. They can be morse taper, retained by a draw bar or can screw onto your spindle. The retention is key to avoid having the end mill pull the holder out of the taper.

Either approach is relatively easy and often a scrap box will have the required materials.

Now all of that being said you can accomplish milling on a lathe using a screwed on chuck. Use a four jaw and run out problems go away. Pull out from a four jaw wont be much worse than from a collet. That is you need to tighten properly to prevent pull out for the load you put on the end mill.

As it appears to be, Jon has or is getting a a set of imperial collets with his Amolco and the need is now, as you say, for a set of more Up to date MYFORD tooling-- as his ML4 has different threads etc and the Amolco is No2 instead of No1 Morse Taper.


That was why I penned what I regarded as a Querulous quip :wall:

Cheers

N

 

[JCSteam]

In a lot of respects the original question shouldn't be ignored as this brings up interesting possibilities.
For example I want to drill two holes at 90° to each other in a square/rectangular block, with a milled recess running lengthways.
I could do both operations without having to remove the workpiece and dial it it by just clamping to the cross slide. The piece can be milled from two directions at 90° if the end mill could be held in a four jaw chuck.
See starting to think a little now, to add further to this both the top and side to the chuck of the lathe can be skimmed with a flycutter to give two perfectly flat surfaces with a true 90° angle. Could be handy for say a dual cylinder overhead slide valve steam engine, ensuring that the two faces remain at 90°. The front cylinder covers not been so critical in their alignment as the valve rods, and guides would be.
Interesting possibities......

 

[BaronJ]

Jon,

Holding a cutter in the four jaw, unless on the centre line, makes it a fly cutter. You would alter the radius of the cut by moving the cutter away from the centre line of the chuck. To do things like dovetails, you would need to shape the cutter to the profile that you wanted. Things get quite delicate as they get smaller ! I recall that I broke a number of tools doing this.

 

[goldstar31]

Baron is right- on all counts. To 'do' dovetails, there is no reason not to use silver steel, machine for it for cutters and then file it up and then temper it.

Surprisingly, this would be the way that the old Myford would be used. I used silver steel( drill rod) to do bore long slender holes-- and I often temper with a potato.

On Monday, I'm at a 'do' near the Bagpipe Museum in Morpeth and I can assure you that lots of the exhibits there were turned using silver steel.

Perhaps some of us have 'lost our way'

 

[JCSteam]

Thanks Baron, I know there's two different types of cut mentioned in my post above and sorry for any confusion. I was mearly trying to point out that the addition of a milling head doesn't necessarily mean that the original question needs ignoring in fact the possibilities of having such as described would enable multiple operations to be achieved without disturbing the work piece.

 

[JCSteam]

Surprisingly, this would be the way that the old Myford would be used. I used silver steel( drill rod) to do bore long slender holes-- and I often temper with a potato.

Perhaps some of us have 'lost our way'

Ok yes I have i have thought about it and I can't understand the potato????

Also if you haven't learned by now I'm easily side tracked. So loose my way often

 

[goldstar31]

Ok yes I have i have thought about it and I can't understand the potato????

Also if you haven't learned by now I'm easily side tracked. So loose my way often

Potato- carbon- case harden:wall:

Too loose- low trek:hDe::hDe::hDe:

You need a Cunning plan- we Atkinsos get them in our jeans:thumbup:

Bean Counter

 

[JCSteam]

Ok Google been a best friend, now understand what part the potato plays, though what the jean fumbling bean counter means????
Love the blowlamps

 

[goldstar31]

Good try about the humble 'Murphy' but no.
Quite a useful thing for things like Penicilliu, notatum but no again.

I was merely suggesting the casehardening of starch by doing nothing more simple that getting a piece of silver steel almost white hot and sticking it in a spud to temper.

As for 'genes'- well, now?

N