My mini-mill

[Alto Mare]

I think you are too Mike. I had no idea yours is a combo lathe/milling machine.
Possibilities are endless with those, especially in your case, making your own gadgets.
I always get excited to see what your next projector will be   Ur doesn't really make any difference in what it is, even if it's just a piece of metal that has been shaped by you.
It is still very exciting to me.
Keep up your great work Mike.., I love all that you do here.

Sal

[mhc]

Thanks Sal, I'll try to keep up the distractions for you 
The close-up photos of the lathe chuck makes it look like a combo machine but it's a plain mini-mill with a chuck mounted on a rotary table set up vertically - the chuck is rotated manually by winding the table. It's not designed for 'turning' and doesn't do it very well. A better view of the set up;



The 5" chuck is too big for my set up - I was thinking of side plates and frames when I bought it but now realise there are other ways to hold stuff besides a chuck. Having said that, it does work OK with larger dia short pieces when mounted flat.
Learning is half the fun 

Mike

[Alto Mare]

I'm glad you've showed me that pic. I'm on the fence about purchasing another milling machine, most talked me into buying two separate units, but it gets expensive.
I'm already into $3000 with bits and other tooling.
I'm thinking on purchasing a vertical 6" rotary table as your showing, of course mine would be reversed.
I actually had it in my shopping basket and they still keep sending me messages to complete my purchase, but I've been undecided.
It will surely work for the small stuff I make, but I know it would be a pain to mount and unmount.
If I go that rout, it will definitely save me $2000 I don't have right now, so the little extra work might be worthwhile.

Thanks Mike!

Sal

[Three se7ens]

I'm glad you've showed me that pic. I'm on the fence about purchasing another milling machine, most talked me into buying two separate units, but it gets expensive.
I'm already into $3000 with bits and other tooling.
I'm thinking on purchasing a vertical 6" rotary table as your showing, of course mine would be reversed.
I actually had it in my shopping basket and they still keep sending me messages to complete my purchase, but I've been undecided.
It will surely work for the small stuff I make, but I know it would be a pain to mount and unmount.
If I go that rout, it will definitely save me $2000 I don't have right now, so the little extra work might be worthwhile.

Thanks Mike!

Sal

You can do some stuff with a rotary table on a mill that you can on a lathe, but its still a far cry from what a true lathe can do.  I went down the multipurpose machine road once.  Returned it broken after a week and got a dedicated mill and lathe.  Neither have to be extravagant, but in both case rigidity matters.  Get the stiffest machines you can afford.  The rest can some in time, but as mason/stoneworker, Im sure you can appreciate the idea of a solid foundation.

[mhc]

Adam's given Sal good advice, single purpose machines are the only option if you are serious (it's always good to get tips/advice from experienced guys that are in the game and know what they are talking about) but until I have access to a lathe, if I need round stuff I'll need to persevere with experimenting on my mini mill.
I wanted an alignment pin to roughly center an ER32 collet stand with the spindle so I tried turning the end of a 20 mm dia piece of ground 4140 steel down to 16 mm to fit the largest MT3 collet I (will) have. Keeping Adam's advice about rigidity, and similar advice from Chris (Rothmar2) some time ago - I tried to keep everything as short as I could. First was to centre the spindle with the cutting tool mounted in a vice;



Taking fine cuts around .2 mm from memory it seemed to cut OK but the chips were getting pretty hot as you can see by the blue color;

 



The tool tilted 45 deg to chamfer on the corners;



And the finished pin;



This came about after I had started modifying a couple of side plates using the brass mounting plate on the rotab;



It worked OK but after moving the mill table a couple of time, I got lost and found myself pulling everything off the rotab to re-center it and then the mounting plate/work, under the spindle;



To cut down the steps to re-center, I got hold of an ER32 collet stand and made a holding plate with a 20 mm stub to fit a 20 mm collet held in the stand;



Used a roughing end mill to remove most of the material;



Then cleaned up the stub with a carbide end mill;



And levelled the top with a fly-cutter;



I haven't used it yet, but re-centering the work and table should be a single operation - I hope.

As you can see I have started working on a reel and will start a post soon before I forget what I've done so far.

Thanks
Mike

[RowdyW]

Mike it looks like everything you are machineing on your mill is dry. Try using an atomizer attachmant to spray a fine mist of soluable oil/water mix. It will keep the work and tool cooler plus the cutting tools will stay sharper longer. A 20 to 1 mix of water to oil will work good. Plus the mixture also acts as a rust inhibitor on the machinery.       Rudy

[mhc]

Good point Rudy, I do have soluble oil in a spray bottle but probably don't use it enough. I had a quick look on line and there are some cheap venturi type spray systems available (starting around AU $10)
I've got an air compressor so it wont cost much to try one - thanks for the idea.

Mike

[Alto Mare]

Yes Mike, Adam has helped me in many ways, that man knows his stuff and as you we are lucky to have him with us.

Keep the projects coming, you just don't find better entertainment.

Sal