Need Help/Suggestions for a Vertical Milling Attachment
- Thread starter Gary
- Start date
Bret4207
At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
I have 2 for my little 6" Atlas. The one I've used is a Palmgren. IF your compound is stiff enough and you can take a lite enough cut they work after a fashion. It's never, ever going to be anything like a real mill. I've done sight dovetails but it's a very long and nerve wracking process. You have to be on top of your game every second because there's no power feed to make sure you go nice and slow. Hog in a little too much and you either flex the piece out of alignment or you chip or bust the cutter. At least that how it worked for me. I'd much rather use my shaper.
Ian
Notorious member
I meant smart thing for ME, the mini-mill attachments may be a good option for what you want to do. I'd also look into how you're going go hold the tool bit, as in drawbar and collets, or just wing it with the chuck. Go to LMS's website and put "milling attachment" in the search bar to see some of the things I was looking at.
Gary
SE Kansas
I understood what you meant Ian, but that would also apply to my situation as well. HF's mini mill is roughly $700 and would probably do most everything I currently have need for, BUT, who knows what I might want to do later. Plus, I did some searching on Ebay for milling attachments and found what I think would work.
Bret4207
At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
You would have to look at the specs on the Palmgren and what your lathe is. The Palmgren is a nice tool, no mistake, but it's accuracy is entirely dependant on the operator.
Power cross feed would be a help if it can go slow enough, but vertical feed and feed into the work is still a bear. It might be worth it to look around for a used mini mill. I see them on Craigs List fairly often and I'm not in a very affluent part of the country. All depends on how big the stuff you want to work on is and how much room you have.
Gary
SE Kansas
My lathe is a PM1022 and I don't think the Palmgren will directly bolt on to the carriage cross slide without an adapter. PALMGREN 250 VISE MILLING ATTACHMENT FOR LATHE as listed will need an adapter plate
machined to be able to attach to the lathe, at least that's the way it looks to me
machined to be able to attach to the lathe, at least that's the way it looks to me
Pistolero
Well-Known Member
My little BenchMaster mill was $800 from an estate sale with a good bit of tooling,
vise, indexing head, set of collets, and a few dozen cutters. On a dedicated steel
cabinet, ready to run.
I don't know what the HF stuff costs or can do, or what tooling you get, but a bit of looking
might find something.
Depending on the budget, Grizzly has mill/drills from $900 to about $1900.
Bill
vise, indexing head, set of collets, and a few dozen cutters. On a dedicated steel
cabinet, ready to run.
I don't know what the HF stuff costs or can do, or what tooling you get, but a bit of looking
might find something.
Depending on the budget, Grizzly has mill/drills from $900 to about $1900.
Bill
Last edited:
Ian
Notorious member
I did the comparo between PM, HF, and Grizzly, and determined the lowest of the HF line is better and more useful than the low end of the others. By the time Grizzly units surpass the cheap HF in capability, they are in the PM price range and the PM stuff looks much better in both design and features. This is NOT the same trend as the miniature lathes, where Grizzly beats them all until you get to the $18-2200 range, where PM takes over in spades. The 10-22 and 10-30 are great little feature-packed machines, the only major drawback I can see is if you plan to do a lot of threading....the change gears are a pain just like most other lathes in that price range. Grizzly has a sub $2000 model that has a quick change gearbox, but ut has a small spindle, no power crossfeed, very limited threading options, and iirc a 20mm spindle bore. Back to mills, the HF mini has an R8 spindle and the lowest price Griz has a M2 just like a small drill press. The big downside to the HF mill, other than the small, flimsy table and single bolt holding the two halves of the machine together is the gear drive head. It sounds like a pile of shopping carts being drug down a gravel road.
I'm actually looking at the next up HF unit, for $1200. It might outclass the entry-level PM units.
I'm actually looking at the next up HF unit, for $1200. It might outclass the entry-level PM units.
Pistolero
Well-Known Member
The round column machines worry me. The $1395 with DRO Griz O758Z has a
dovetail Z axis, rectangular column which will be dramatically stiffer from the
side loads from milling than the round column. R8 spindle, variable speed
on spindle, two down feed power feeds, tapered roller bearings. They are
far stiffer than ball bearings, when adjusted properly. Tapered rollers have
line contact, balls have point contact. Flex under load is dramatically less
for tapered rollers.
Large quill diameter, 2.36" again important in bending. Key to understand
that the bending of a circular beam (quill or circular column) is proportional to
the diameter to the fourth power. Go from say a 1.5" diam to a 2" diam, and it is over
three times as stiff in bending. Go from 3" round (my estimate of the HF 33686, and
the 4" square column (my estimate of Griz 0758Z) and bending stiffness of the
square (assuming solid for both, not true, but gives and index of comparison
for the two section shapes) 4" square will be about 5 times as stiff in bending as 3"
round, given proportional wall thicknesses. Stiffness is pretty important, chattering
happens due to low stiffness.
This structural guy sees stiffness of structure everywhere I look, and it may not
be very obvious how dramatically stiffness changes with dimensions and cross
section shapes on critical machine components.
I haven't looked as closely as you have, no doubt, but I see a lot of important features
on the 0758Z. Worth a look.
Generally, trying to find a square,rect column unit is worth looking for, too. And tapered
roller bearings. Big quill diam, big column dimensions.
Whatever you get, you will make the most of it, and enjoy it.
Bill
Bill
dovetail Z axis, rectangular column which will be dramatically stiffer from the
side loads from milling than the round column. R8 spindle, variable speed
on spindle, two down feed power feeds, tapered roller bearings. They are
far stiffer than ball bearings, when adjusted properly. Tapered rollers have
line contact, balls have point contact. Flex under load is dramatically less
for tapered rollers.
Large quill diameter, 2.36" again important in bending. Key to understand
that the bending of a circular beam (quill or circular column) is proportional to
the diameter to the fourth power. Go from say a 1.5" diam to a 2" diam, and it is over
three times as stiff in bending. Go from 3" round (my estimate of the HF 33686, and
the 4" square column (my estimate of Griz 0758Z) and bending stiffness of the
square (assuming solid for both, not true, but gives and index of comparison
for the two section shapes) 4" square will be about 5 times as stiff in bending as 3"
round, given proportional wall thicknesses. Stiffness is pretty important, chattering
happens due to low stiffness.
This structural guy sees stiffness of structure everywhere I look, and it may not
be very obvious how dramatically stiffness changes with dimensions and cross
section shapes on critical machine components.
I haven't looked as closely as you have, no doubt, but I see a lot of important features
on the 0758Z. Worth a look.
Generally, trying to find a square,rect column unit is worth looking for, too. And tapered
roller bearings. Big quill diam, big column dimensions.
Whatever you get, you will make the most of it, and enjoy it.
Bill
Bill
Last edited: