Drill press to use as a mill?

J

jaymeister99

Joined
Sep 14, 2010
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I was considering getting an XY table to hook up to my drill press to do some milling work. Anybody try this? Also what speed do you set the drill at? I would be milling 1095, 440C, 154CM, S35VN, Elmax, and possibly 3V/4V.
 
Simply put; don't bother trying. It becomes a very impossible thing to do even with a first class drill press that was never made for that sort of work. Frank
 
Go ahead and get an XY table for your drill press. It comes in very handy for lots of things. But milling is not one of them on a drill press. This has been covered many times. The main reason is that the bearings in a drill press are not designed to take side loads.
 
Also a drill chuck is not great for holding end mills. The taper on the chuck will also turn loose with side load and send a spinning chunk of metal at you.

Stan
 
What Stan said. Mill tooling is held in with a draw bar. A drill press will not take the extra loading.
 
These answers are very well stated. So, the drill press is not a mill. Now I won't say in the hands of a machinist that lighter cuts have not been performed. But for those that are asking this question, the answe is no. Imagine a chuck with an end mill cutting loose from the taper.
 
I ruined a drill press and the piece I was working on trying this. Don't do it. I just bought a small mill. With some basic tooling it was fairly expensive, about $1800.00. For a hobby maker, it's a pretty big chunk of change.
 
I knew that I couldn't mill with my drill press, but a few years ago, I thought it would be ok to securely clamp my aluminum workpiece and make a plunge with a center-cutting endmill. Nope.
 
I, too, have also fallen for this temptress. One drill press later (which I later revived with new bearings,) and a lot (A LOT,) of jeering from my shopmates, I have learned my lesson.
 
It is better to just get a used mill ( turret mill ) rather than to convert a drill press into a mill. A converted drill press wont have the rigidity and precision of a real milling machine :-)
 
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While that will work, it's not all that much better than a glorified drill press. It's not a very quality tool, and cant take much load. The gears are PLASTIC, the column on the back is flexible making it inaccurate, and the chuck stinks. You're better off finding an older milling machine used for the same money, or with the right attachments a lathe can double duty as a mill, or an OLD drill press can handle it with the right chuck in the end, but I dont mean a bench model, I mean a huge camelback, and even then you're better off with a real mill.

DSCN2626.JPG
 
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jaymeister99 said:
I was looking for an inexpensive mill, all I could find (new or used) was this one at Harborfreight.

http://www.harborfreight.com/two-speed-variable-bench-mill-drill-machine-44991.html

Is this any good?
Click to expand...

That mill is only good for cutting soft material like wood, brass, aluminum ,& plastic :-( It could also cut steel & titanium , but
there will be vibration and chartering once you do high dept of cuts :-( ....which will result to poor finish and short life span of your cutters.

At ebay you will find a bridgeport mill for a $1,000 plus or less. R8 will be fine, but it would be better if you get a 30 to 40 taper.

Cheers!

Francis :-)
 
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jsut got done beating on that minimill the last 10 years and doing way more then it should have ever have been pushed to do. im gettig ready to replace the baerings in it and i had a while back upgraded to belt drive (a must for noise reduction in the least)
it was the only drill in my shop and the only mill up to last year. is it top notch for machining not realy but for the avg knife maker and using small bits its passable (no you are not getting ultra fine finishes but i dont know any small makers that leave tooling marks on parts )

i now have a bridgeport but am not getting rid of the mini as its jsut handy
 
To the OP , It might be worth your time to look into renting shop time. I have a few friends that live in a big city and they were able to pay to use machinery.
 
flatblackcapo said:
To the OP , It might be worth your time to look into renting shop time. I have a few friends that live in a big city and they were able to pay to use machinery.
Click to expand...

Why did I not think of this? I work in aerospace mfg, plenty of machine shops that I deal with that could probably let me use a machine for a few hours.
 
I just wish that I knew HOW to use a mill. :(

We have an enormous(!) Bridgeport here in the shop. Looks like one of those pieces of machinery that gets moved into place once then everything else gets placed around it, baring the press brake.

Quite honestly the thing is intimidating, but I guess it's what you need to build a factory.
 
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