Getting my benchtop mill set up

[Ian]

After tearing down the previous benchtop shelving, clearing off the mess, taking off one of the top boards, adding two additional support legs directly under the mill, and putting most of the bench back together so the mill could be positioned with an engine hoist and leveled.



Tonight after putting the bottom shelves back in and installing the lathe tool rack/mill chip shield that I made this afternoon.



The lathe side. I made the shelf unit out of scrap and salvaged maple plywood I've been saving for years.



I guess I can take off the milling attachment and convert back to a lathe now

 

[waco]

Awesome set up. Nice to see someone else that uses Fluid Film. Good stuff.

 

[Tomme boy]

Now you need a bigger vacuum to handle all the extra chips that are going to get into everything. Very nice

 

[Bret4207]

Yupper, you need one of those instant on/off magnets to gather chips now. A little advice I learned from Patrick F McManus, you need to mess that place up a bunch. This whole, "A place for everything and everything in it's place" stuff is a commie plot to take over the world!

 

[Cadillac Jeff]

Look's to me like it was a good move saving that plywood !
nice job

 

[Brad]

You are now ready to begin making lots of little pieces of metal out of bigger pieces of metal!

Can’t wait to see what projects you come up with.

 

[Ian]

Pat McManus' books provided much entertainment in my formative years.

Being a compulsive hoarder and having worked at a custom cabinet shop for a couple of years meant that I parked near the burn pile and cherry-picked the scraps, now I have a Suburban packed nearly full of small plywood and hardwood scraps and any time I need a drawer, box, small cabinet, or shelf all I have to do is go rummage for material and build it. Next project is a wooden tool chest to go on the shelf under the bench between the mill and vise.

Definitely need a second vacuum cleaner for the mill, will probably set up a second bucket vac just for it.

 

[Ian]

Tool cabinet.

Vacuum.

Lights. I need more lights.

Mill vise.

Misting coolant system.

End mills.

3/8" R8 Boring head.

Flycutter.

Carbide insert facing mill.

Parallels.

123 blocks.

Tapered parallels.

Straight-arm Noga.

3-axis DRO.

X-axis power feed.

More end mills.

Center finders.

Tap guide.

R8 keyless chuck.

Spacer and mill table tailstock.

More end mills.

Does it ever end?

 

[358156 hp]

You are now ready to begin making lots of little pieces of metal out of bigger pieces of metal!

Can’t wait to see what projects you come up with.

Yup. This is gonna be good!

 

[KeithB]

Nice setup. Mills are a lot worse than lathes when it comes to putting chips everywhere in the shop. We use Sgt Brown's cutting fluid and a cheap 1" HF brush to apply it when we aren't using full flood coolant. Haven't tried mist coolant, let us know how it works. For various reasons I'm not too wild about oily aerosols so I haven't considered it.

By the way, my moving guy has been out of the country all week, he called me at 5 am from some weird time zone and left an "I'll call you next week" message. We'll talk soon I'm sure.

I got a great deal on some 1/8' HSS end mills, I'll throw in a handful when I crate things up.

 

[462]

Tool cabinet.

Vacuum.

Lights. I need more lights.

Mill vise.

Misting coolant system.

End mills.

3/8" R8 Boring head.

Flycutter.

Carbide insert facing mill.

Parallels.

123 blocks.

Tapered parallels.

Straight-arm Noga.

3-axis DRO.

X-axis power feed.

More end mills.

Center finders.

Tap guide.

R8 keyless chuck.

Spacer and mill table tailstock.

More end mills.

Does it ever end?

This is why I could never afford a free lathe or mill.

 

[Gary]

Tool cabinet.

Vacuum.

Lights. I need more lights.

Mill vise.

Misting coolant system.

End mills.

3/8" R8 Boring head.

Flycutter.

Carbide insert facing mill.

Parallels.

123 blocks.

Tapered parallels.

Straight-arm Noga.

3-axis DRO.

X-axis power feed.

More end mills.

Center finders.

Tap guide.

R8 keyless chuck.

Spacer and mill table tailstock.

More end mills.

Does it ever end?

Sounds like a good start to me.

 

[Joshua]

Thanks for the list. I need almost everything on it!

You sure get things done in a timely fashion. This is really exciting to watch. I’m very interested, and happy for you!

I have been pondering about what type of table to build for my lathe and mill. The lathe will be here on Friday and I need to make something happen quickly. I processed lead and cast bullets yesterday instead of starting to build a table. I’ve always done this, work on something else while I procrastinate on making a decision.

I’ve considered small footprint individual fabricated steel stands, or all wood construction(w/ lead storage to dampen vibration), or wood uprights with a concrete base & concrete table top, and finally I’ve considered a cinderblock foundation with concrete table top.

Economy, rigidity, ergonomics, and now BUILD TIME are all concerns.

I’m very curious as to how much vibration you are getting with the wood table?

I suspect that I’m overthinking the whole thing and that a solid wood bench will do everything that I need it to!

 

[smokeywolf]

I'm a big fan of misters. Positioned and adjusted correctly they make little mess, clear chips and carry away heat. You do need a slightly better than average home shop air compressor.
On a lathe, if you're not using coolant-thru drills, a mister is indispensable for deep hole drilling. That is particularly important when drilling stainless, where you need a fairly aggressive feed and if you interrupt the feed (peck-drill), the material instantly work hardens.

I'm kind of wondering how a carbide insert mill will do on a bench-top machine. Rigidity and horsepower play a big role in keeping the cutting edges on carbide from chipping.

Keep your Fly-Cutter(s) small-ish and balanced. Machining your own tooling can be a lot of fun.

"Tapered Parallels". Are we talking Adjustable Parallels or Angle Blocks or something else? Can you direct me to a picture?

Edge Finder

Mill Stop (5-Axis if you've got the bucks) It could also be a good project for someone who already has a lathe and just bought a new mill.

Dial Test Indicator (Preferably Interapid, Compac or Mitutoyo)

You have a lathe. Make your own spring-loaded tap guide.

Unless you have a specific need for the Spacer, you might want to consider acquiring a rotary table first. If it's smaller parts you want to index, look into a Ratcheting Horizontal/Vertical Collet Indexer (not a "Spindex" or Spin-Index Fixture). If your lathe uses 5C collets, you're part of way there.

 

[JonB]

That looks like a nice setup, for sure!

 

[Ian]

Lathe spindle is far too small for 5C collets although I'll probably get square and hex holders and a collet set for the mill eventually.

I forgot vee blocks, but can make those on the shaper.

"Tapered parallels" is the wrong term, I meant the tapered pairs of supports for supporting things in the mill vise at precise angles.

Definitely doing a mist cooling system for both lathe and mill. Less mess, better cooling and chip removal. I have plenty of air compressor but the system I'm looking at uses very little air.

I was going to make a heavy steel stand for the mill but decided the space where I ended up putting it wasn't being used efficiently and after all, it is a benchtop unit with its own leveling feet so I used that feature to my advantage. The shop is still an organizational work in progress and later I may move all this stuff so no point in over thinking or over building right now.

Carbide tooling will be a grand experiment. This mill weighs about 425 pounds and doesn't have any colum or head tilting features (one of my reasons for getting this model) and I expect it to be rigid and powerful enough to handle carbide. We'll see.

Rotary table will probably do all I need for the fifth axis. I'd really like to be able to put a 180⁰ radius on some rectangular parts and do things like radius the tang on a receiver.

 

[Ian]

Ihave been pondering about what type of table to build for my lathe and mill

The lathe is tiny and relatively flimsy (though far more rigid than most others in its class thanks to the ginormous tailstock), so I don't think it really matters how you mount it or what supports it. I got some long metric studs and bolted mine through the bench top just for safety.

As for the mill, my original plan was to make a stand out of cinder blocks glued together with the special adhesive that can be purchased in caulking tubes and then pour a steel reinforced top using fiber-reinforced Quickcrete. Problem with that for me is loss of storage under the mill and how permanent it would be. Cinder blocks might be a fine plan for you. You might also find a precast pad such as for outdoor condenser units in a size that suits, or maybe even get a "drop" of granite from a countertop business. Fir a mill it doesn't have to be very big, 22x16 would be fine.

 

[JWFilips]

This is excitement just reading about it! Nice set up!

 

[Ian]

Got the tool cabinet cut out and put together from some warped, rough, 3-ply exterior plywood scraps, then ripped and cut all the pieces for the nine drawers and sanded the inside surfaces. Got two drawers put together and finish sanded before I ran out of time.

 

[Tomme boy]

Do you have led lights? Man i put 3 4 footers In my work area. They are the biggest improvementI have done.