I apologize for coming across as unhelpful. It was not my intent to put anyone "in their place". I do however believe as how pros and cons of using a drill press as a mill have put forward, it may be time to try it. We all know there are more ways to skin the proverbial cat than one. Asking questions is never wrong. It's what makes this forum great.
Thanks, accepted. And I apologize for coming across as snarky in my response.
Now, for clarity:
I wasn't trying to suggest that I would be able to make a drill press do the work of a mill. I recognize a MT without a draw bar will not tolerate lateral pressures, although I am pretty sure this particular DP was used that way before I owned it, because of how hard it was to remove the MT from the quill when the teeth finally failed and I had to replace the chuck. The guy before me said he used it strictly for milling, though at the time I didn't even know what that suggested, and didn't bother to ask him, as we were working a deal/trade on my full height floor unit for his larger sized bench model. But, so far, I have tried in the past to use it laterally and with the exception of running a wire wheel, or when I used a makeshift live center ... was quite unsuccessful...
What I was suggesting is that some of the tasks like "drilling a straight, square, accurate hole" that people claim to use their milling machine for, is, in fact, a task for which a drill press was specifically designed. Granted, most people have a drill press they took out of the box and plugged in and used as it came. You can't do that with a hand plane with almost zero moving parts, much less with a complex machine like a drill press with a minimum of 7. So, being able to drill accurate, square, straight holes was the first excuse to get a mill. So, I felt my DP should be able to do that. I took the time to do the proper tuning and adjustments and tried to see if, I could do it. And I was quite happy to be able to do my concentric 1/4" hole in the 3/8" rod without going diagonal or otherwise screwing it up. Granted, I was off by 12 thou, but it wasn't a wandering thing, it was my eye and my centering. A wiggler or other center finder would probably have helped there, or perhaps starting with the rod in the chuck and the center drill in the vise instead of the other way around. But that was a technique rather than tool problem.
Then I kind of tossed out the challenge to the universe as to what "actual milling task" was required for knife making. I didn't get much response, other than a lot of "if you had one you would use it". I agree wholeheartedly, and if I had a waterjet or EDM I would use it everyday. Just to watch!!
I see every tutorial seems to want to relive those liners with the mill. That amounts to creating a 5 thou deep race a specific offset from a center point. Certainly, a rotary table is a great tool to effect that race path, now, I don't know if 5 thou is too deep to try lateral cutting pressure, but certainly a fixed center point in a vise moved a specific offset from an endmill can easily enough do the work of the rotary table by allowing the work to rotate... and though I haven't tried it yet, I suspect that multiple overlapping plunge cuts with a large enough endmill cutter would create that race is short order, If, the vertical motion can be controlled with the stop of a drill press. This is not necessarily a mill requirement. Although I might not want to make 100 sets of liners with this type of relief in one night, if it required 30 ore more pulls of the dp handle each race, I wouldn't mind doing 1 set, or 5.
If I were to add CNC to the mix, I assume I could be cutting out blades and springs and liners, but haven't even begun to discuss CNC mill, because at that point, I would have preference for watejet or EDM or a stamping punch or something of that nature. I am trying to become a knife maker, not a full on production factory. So, I am not even considering such things, and this has become a tangental thing.
Back to the point. I get that each level of automation and tool, will make the tasks at hand easier, or faster. So, sure they have their worth. What I am trying to decide is necessity. As in is there some task that although you can do it, and it will perhaps come out okay, on a good day. That really, should, in fact, be done with a mill or a lathe.
Since many people are reiterating "People have been making xyz for abc years/decades/centuries without this, that, or the other tool...." therefore they aren't necessary. I would lean that way. But I don't really want to do things the way they did 200 years ago. I like the electricity in my shop. I like metal cutting band saws. I like 2HP belt grinders. And I like computer controlled programmable heat treat furnaces. So perhaps my question was misconstrued. But, I know I can keep buying equipment one piece after the other until eventually I can push a button and out pops a knife.
I also know I have to stop somewhere, at least for a while. But since both books I am reading seem to go right after the milling machine, and the next one on my list is getting bad reviews from people who complain that the author has a full working machine shop and leans heavily on it in his process... I had to stop and ask, 1. should I be considering one, and 2. Are there alternatives that I already have capabilities for. This might have been easier if I had a real live mentor, and I could simply mimic his setup, or come over to borrow some of his capabilities once in a while... But I digress.
I did this when considering the band saw. I did this when considering the belt grinder. I did this when considering my HT options. I am doing this with the mill and lathe... and I will probably do it again later when I consider a waterjet, or even more fun EDM. Even though I think the die punch setup would be satisfyingly cool too
It's just how I research new verticals. Makes me a bit odd, perhaps. But I feel better about my final decisions and much less rash. I will still make some rash decisions... so when it is over about $100 I start trying to make well though out decisions.
