Gallery, Projects and General > The Design Shop
Milling on a mini lathe
ian_in_the_midlands:
Has anyone any experience of mounting a slide like this on the Sieg S3 lathe.
They look a lot more useful than the tiny slides sold for the 7x lathes, and do not cost much more.
Warco sell them as a mini lathe milling attachment, but sell the smaller versions too.
Are these a useful upgrade, or too big to be practical on such a small lathe?
I would anticipate drilling new mounting holes to put the slide in the middle of the cross slide as per stirling lad's picture.
Fergus OMore:
Ian, sorry but you actually have your vertical slide already. What you haven't got is the bit of metal that I mentioned.
All that you need to do is remove the top slide on your lathe( which becomes redundant) and fasten it to that 'bit of metal t'wer that size'
I have a weeny little top slide that came from miniature Ajax lathe from between the wars and it fits onto a rather ridiculously expensive radius turning attachment that goes on my Clarkson tool and cutter grinder- which used to be ridiculously expensive. I bought the whole panjandrum for £100 which would slideways grind a vertical slide- if I hadn't a useless vertical slide that has been on n number of lathes- and a milling machine and tool and cutter grinder.
If you follow the 'logic' I have an even cleverer vertical slide that is attached to a grinding spindle that came off a home made tool and cutter grinder and goes on my bigger lathe.
Hint- you'll soon realise that bits of tooling are quite capable of other uses.
Regards
Norman
ian_in_the_midlands:
Hi Norman,
What I think you are describing is my option 2, but using a block of metal rather than an angle plate. Am I right?
My issue with this is the cross slide on the 7x mini lathe is poor.
Wouldn't the slide I pictured in my last message be far more rigid?
Fergus OMore:
Not sure, Ian! If I was you( waiting for something better- and saving up) I'd get a chunk of nice solid steel block which could be peppered with holes, taps and whatever and bolt the top slide to the other face. I hang my head in shame, but I have two angle doo-dahs but both came from scrap things.
Save your pennies.
I've a lot of very peculiar odds and sods- including wonderous things called 'Childrens Drawings sets' and felt tipped markers and a myriad of stuff- for a pound. Usual disclaimers with admissions of insanity :loco:
Just out of curiosity- an afterthought. Have you Googled 'Gadgetbuilder.com?' Mr Moran has a lot of things for the small lathe there.
Regards
Norman
nrml:
Hi Ian,
Oddly enough, I have been researching this too recently and here are my opinions for whatever they are worth. Forgive me if I am stating the obvious.
1. The cheapest option is using your existing top slide but if your mini lathe is anything like mine, the build quality of the top slide and the amount of backlash in the screw would make an already difficult operation (milling on a machine with lots of limitations) even more infuriating.
2. The option with least limitations on workholding is the ARC offering along with their sub table. However, it is the most expensive option and I am not convinced you would get your money back if you flogged it on ebay when you get a milling machine eventually.
3.The warco option you showed earlier looks more versatile than the basic mini lathe vertical slides on offer, but it isn't very cheap either especially if you add the £40 it will cost for the vice. However, you can split the slide and vice and dispose of them separately possibly recouping a bit more.
4. The bracket mounted or tool post vertical slides sold by most of the usual suppliers like RDG, Warco and Chronos etc etc don't appear rigid enough to me.
I would go for the warco option because it will probably be the easiest to dispose off if you find that you don't like it. However, if money is not the limiting factor and if you'd rather keep the slide than dispose off it when you don't use it anymore, the ARC offering would make more sense.
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