Milling Vice vs Milling Attachment
Posted on the AMW forum, but thought I’d also post here for advice….
I recently got a 7×12 mini lathe…. as in so recent, I only yesterday turned it on for the first time…. and have been looking at Milling Attachments.
I just today come upon a Milling Vice for use with a Drill Press.
Now…. the milling attachment is around $150 where the milling vice is $60. Also, the milling vice looks to be more versatile to my uneducated eye.
Surely I am missing something. For very basic milling operations, would this vice work out?
Complete and utter machining noob here so be gentle.
All Replies
Viewing 14 replies - 1 through 14 (of 14 total)
Rob if you haven’t allready check out Fishin Rods post he bought a couple mills one he is sendging back the other awaits a test run
Yes, sir… thats a bit of a drive from here…haha
I’m going to be learning from scratch and just want to have fun with the process…
I’ll wait at least 3-4 months before I start making WOK-Butts, E-TaC’s, and Blod Valves…. 😆
Rob if you were not so far away I could show you what I have learned through the 37 years of being a machinist! supposed to be retired now but still working for myself mostly wood projects for some extra income, I worked at a printing company made parts for all the printing presses and Bindery machines and repaired what needed fixed when they broke down so I was into allot of different things and enjoyed it, you never knew from one day to the next what you would be working on, made a ton of expensive parts for the company saved them a ton of money making the parts in the Machine shop! By the way I live in Indiana 😆
The drill press is designed for loads in the up and down direction only. But fitted with mill bits they can do very very light milling work, but the play will be substantial. Before I got a milling attachment for my lathe I did small projects on the drill press and its possible, but there will be a lot of play and the quality of work will be so-so in wood and aluminum. Forget steel, there isn’t enough strength for steel and the speeds are wrong.
I still have my milling attachment for my lathe, but it does not see any use now that I bought the X3. Still, before getting the X3, the milling attachment served its purpose and was worth the investment. Its just that you are very limited when using the milling attachment; there is very little room to work in next to the spindle and your travel is very limited. But if you don’t have the space for a mill, or only want to budget the lathe and don’t have large projects, nothing wrong with the milling attachment.
aloha,
walt
Thanks for the advice Walt. I know my drill press is about as wobbly as they come…and I can almost drill straighter by hand… (exaggeration of course, but you get the idea)
If it would be ‘easier’ to learn and do on a dedicated mini mill, that’s the direction I need to go. I am trying to avoid buying something and then buying a replacement in a year or two. I’d rather save up and just get the ‘real deal’ to begin with.
You mentioned the limitations of the attachment and I suppose thats part of my issue… I dont know what the limitations of the equipment are…and I’d rather have ME be the limiting factor rather than equipment. I understand there will be a substantial learning curve and thats fine, but God willing, I’ve got time.
….. 😯 damn. Sounds like another wife. Maybe I should reconsider…. 😆
The last time I bought a drill press I took a small dial guage indicator on a magnetic setup and went to the Home Depot floor and put it on a dozen drill presses they had lined up to test for axial runout. I bought the press with the least amount of play, which turned out to be not the biggest one but a little 12″ desktop model. Not much capacity, but it was noticeably better than, say, a 16″ or larger floor standing model.
The drill press is designed for loads in the up and down direction only. But fitted with mill bits they can do very very light milling work, but the play will be substantial. Before I got a milling attachment for my lathe I did small projects on the drill press and its possible, but there will be a lot of play and the quality of work will be so-so in wood and aluminum. Forget steel, there isn’t enough strength for steel and the speeds are wrong.
I still have my milling attachment for my lathe, but it does not see any use now that I bought the X3. Still, before getting the X3, the milling attachment served its purpose and was worth the investment. Its just that you are very limited when using the milling attachment; there is very little room to work in next to the spindle and your travel is very limited. But if you don’t have the space for a mill, or only want to budget the lathe and don’t have large projects, nothing wrong with the milling attachment.
aloha,
walt
Welcome to the greased plank the world of machinist work.
First the lathe,then the mill,then the dro,then the rotary table etc. etc. etc……………. IT NEVER STOPS!!!!!!!!
You will find that the basic lathe and mill are the CHEAP? parts!!
A lot of aggravation, a lot of thinking,a lot of expense,moments of satisfaction ,moments of despair , occasionally moments of TERROR!!!!
basically GREAT FUN !!!
Yes sir… I’m not one to take good advice and toss it in the shitter…..and Walt gives solid advice.
Rob Voltar is right the lathe you have is fine to do what you want! but get a mill for milling, I have one of those milling vises in my shop cabinet I used it once for milling some wood projects! the problem isn’t so much with the milling vice as it is with the drill press, they just are not made to take any side pressure at all in any direction,they are just made for drilling, I used my drill press and the vise a couple times for wood slotting and even with that it did not work well at all hope this will help you decide on getting a mill 😉
Save your money and get yourself a mill.
Trying to see what is going on milling in a lathe will make yah pull hair
A milling vise for the drill press works great for work holding and positioning for drilling. Tried some milling once, made a splined shaft and shortly after bought my mill 🙂
Walter….
Was afraid of that…. but then again, expected it. I suppose I bit the bullet on the lathe…and can do the same on a mill…..
A lathe can take side loads way better than drill press. The most rigid setup will produce the best cuts.
Save your money and get yourself a mill.
Trying to see what is going on milling in a lathe will make yah pull hair
A milling vise for the drill press works great for work holding and positioning for drilling. Tried some milling once, made a splined shaft and shortly after bought my mill 🙂
Walter….
right….
the milling vice attaches to a drill press…
http://www.harborfreight.com/5-inch-drill-press-milling-vise-94276.html
The milling attachment attaches to a lathe…
http://www.micromark.com/MINI-LATHE-MILLING-ATTACHMENT,8184.html?sc=WGB&utm_source=GoogleBase&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=GoogleBase
Picts please to make sure we are talking about the same thing.
A milling attachment for your lathe is one thing. A milling vise is another and is not for use on a lathe.
Viewing 14 replies - 1 through 14 (of 14 total)
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
Rob,
Your going about this all wrong. Your supposed to solicit us for advise. Then when proper advice that is based on experience is received you discount said advice because it disagree’s with your already decided opinion. Let everyone that has actually used the machines in question know that are “stupid mindless sheep who think inside the box”. Followed by a proclaimation that you will be making regulator’s and valves within the wheek. Offcourse, then you should dissapear from the face of the earth except for brief guest appearances to let us know what fools we are. Making sure to keep any photo’s of your work from appearing on the internet for fear that us idiots will somehow benefit from being proved wrong by showing your amazing work.