Newbie Milling Machine Question

[roconnor]

Hi everyone,
I am literally just about to dive into Model Engineering as a complete 'newbie'
Through this and other forums, I have been advised that an Elmers Engine might make an ideal first project.
I have recently purchased a Warco minilathe and benchtop drillpress.
Being so new to the hobby,I was under the perhaps naive impression that all metal was still shaped using files.
Apparently,I have not moved into the 21st century and I am given to understand that most people these days shape metal using micro or mini-mills?
In view of the fact that I already have a drillpress,I would like to ask whether it would be possible to use this in a milling capacity or should I just accept that I need a small milling machine.
Your replys would be most welcome.
Many thanks,
roconnor

[Gadget]

The chuck on a drill press is usually held by a taper fit. This taper fit will loosen under lateral strain and the chuck will come off. That will also potentially damage the taper fit making either the spindle or chuck nearly useless. So, it is not advisable to use a drill press for milling.
Dan

[Bernd]

roconnor,

I'll second what Gaget has said. It is best to buy yourself a mini milling machine. A drill press set up as a mill won't hold the tolerance a mill will. So take your time and fine one that will compliment your small lathe. In the mean time your lathe can be used to mill parts with. A quick search for milling on the lathe both here nad on HMEM should turn up some information.

Another suggestion since your just starting out is get yourself some good books on running a lathe and milling machine. Study them and when you have questions post them on the forums for answers.

Hope this has been helpful.

Regards,
bernd

[No1_sonuk]

There is at least one book I have about milling on a lathe:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Milling-Operations-Lathe-Workshop-Practice/dp/0852428405

A vertical slide for your lathe will cost a lot less than a milling machine, and may suffice for a while.
I've just bought a mini mill because I want to work on larger/more complicated pieces than my vertical slide will accommodate.  The spindle taper matches my lathe head stock, so some of the tooling (like the collet chuck) will be interchangeable.

[andyf]

.... A vertical slide for your lathe will cost a lot less than a milling machine, and may suffice for a while.....

I got the vertical slide which Warco sell for mini-lathes, including their slightly heavier WM180. I was a bit disappointed with it - bolted on as intended, it has in my humble opinion various shortcomings. Details at:
 http://andysmachines.weebly.com/the-vertical-milling-slide---criticisms.html

Andy

[No1_sonuk]

I did say "may suffice".

Mine was fitted to a Chester DB7.  The cross slide is drilled and tapped for it, so it sits centrally on the slide, avoiding the travel issue you get if it fits to the compound mountings.  The one I have has separate jaws that run in a vertical T-slotted table, rather than the U-shaped jaw shown on your link.

While it's OK for some things, I found it too limiting, so I bought a mini mill.

[andyf]

Hi, No. 1 Son UK,

That's a much better place to attach it, and would certainly solve one of my gripes. Yours sounds a much more useful piece of kit, with a proper vice on it.  I got mine new when I bought my lathe (same as yours, with a different badge) from Warco, and was a bit irked to find that, to get a secure mounting so it would straddle the centre-line, I would need to start drilling and tapping the cross-slide, rather than just bolting the thing down. My lathe was new, and I wanted to keep it original until the warranty ran out. As roconner's mini-lathe also comes from Warco, who I believe still advertise the same vertical slide as an accessory for it, I just wanted to warn him that it has its limitations in case he was thinking of ordering the same thing from them.

As you say, a vertical slide on a lathe is always going to be rather limited in the range of work it can handle by comparison to a mini-mill (or even a micro-mill).

Andy