best way to hold milling tooling in lathe

[Les BattleParticipant @lesbattle83241]

Hi folks, I have an ML-7 Myford and wish to purchase a vertical slide for it, also some milling tools. I ask which system should I adopt ie. R8 or drawbar. Which is the most common.?(sorry, don't know all the systems)

I am only a home hobby person based in Australia and one day I would like to have a small milling machine also.

[Les BattleParticipant @lesbattle83241]

[mechman48Participant @mechman48]

1st – Collet chuck only for a secure grip; or 2 – use collets that are made for use with a drawbar, that fit into the taper on the Myford… 5C..? .. Myford owners will advise better.

George.

[IanTParticipant @iant]

Hi Les,

I have a Myford S7 which will be similar to your lathe in this respect.

I first started with a simple, single 1/4" MT2 collet and simply used 1/4" mills that fitted it, This is the simplest/cheapest way to securely hold milling cutters in the headstock – although you would choose a metric collet these days. I briefly owned a "Chinese" collet chuck before I an ER32 chuck (think of something like a normal 3 jaw chuck mounting e.g. no MT taper) and mounted it on a S7 backplate. I could then hold a range of cutters and also workpieces that could extend/pass back through the mandrel – which is very useful. You can buy ER collets as and when you need them.

Finally, I acquired a Clarkson S Autolock chuck which I tend to use when milling as it holds the cutters absolutely solid but does need threaded cutters. One advantage of the Clarkson over other MT fittings is that it has a screwed part that makes it easy to remove the MT taper without resorting to banging it out.

If I had to choose just one system – I would use an ER chuck and backplate combination as being quite secure enough and very versatile. Any ER collets will find use elsewhere on other fittings too.

The R8 system is very good in terms of releasing the R8 taper but is normally only found on Milling machines.

Regards,

IanT

[IanTParticipant @iant]

Re-reading my post – I may not have made the differences very clear. I'll try again, forgive any repetition.

You will have an MT2 taper in your headstock I believe. You can therefore either fit a simple MT2 draw-in collet (about £12 last time I looked) and hold same sized cutters directly in it. You will need a drawbar to pull the collet in. They can be very hard to remove if over tightened. The Chinese collet system I mentioned also had a MT2 taper and was also hard to get out if over tightened – the drawbar simply hold the chuck in the mandrel and is not involved in tightening the chuck – so does not need to be tightened as much but it's still easy to overdo it.

The ER32 chuck (and you could use smaller ER systems) mounts on the headstock nose via a screwed backplate and simply screws on and off. It is much easier to get off (usually). As there is no MT2 taper involved, work can be held that extends back through the mandrel – something which can save a lot of waste if you use the ER collet system for work holding.

The Autolock I have is also mounted on a MT2 taper but is very easy to remove because of its 'extractor' but it will only hold suitable end mills. I use it because I have it – it came with a mill I purchased.

The R8 is a taper-type system but doesn't tend to stick when released. It is roughly equivalent to a MT3 taper.

I hope this is a bit easier to understand – we tend to throw words like 'taper' 'chuck' and such like around here expecting everyone to understand the fundamental differences but I know this can be confusing when you start out.

If you can afford it – my advice would be to mount an ER chuck on a back-plate and buy just the collets required for the milling cutters you intend to use. This will hold them more than well enough for your needs, is versatile in use and the ER collets will find use elsewhere over time (collet blocks, milling machines etc)

Regards,

IanT

[VicParticipant @vic]

It's good to reduce overhang as much as possible so collet straight in the head would be best.

[IanTParticipant @iant]

Agreed Vic but it can be very hard to get them out and generally I don't have too much problem with excessive overhang with the ER chuck which is shallower than some of my other 3J chucks.

This is one of my ER collet chucks Les – mounted on my (smaller) EW lathe. I have something similar on the Myford S7 and can use the same ER collets on both machines. I frequently hold work in them (as I was probably doing here) and can part-off from the parent stock after turning with very little waste.

Regards,

IanT

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

Collets are always bestest.

With a good spindle and a stiff lathe you can use a 3 jaw but if there's any issues with your unit you will get vibration and tip breakages

[Jon GibbsParticipant @jongibbs59756]

In my ML7 have tried end-mill holders which are the cheap and cheerful solution…

**LINK**

…but these need a draw-bar and can be a bit of a pig to remove too, as others have said.

I would recommend making yourself a dedicated ER32 collet chuck though, as others have said.

Harald Hall has instructions here…

**LINK**

…and I can thoroughly recommend them. You just need to buy the collets, nut and spanner to fit from somewhere like Arc…

**LINK**

HTH

Jon

Edited By Jon Gibbs on 26/02/2015 10:45:38

[Les BattleParticipant @lesbattle83241]

Thanks to all for your experiences, to IanT for your explanations and photos, Jon Gibbs for your links ( I have already spent two hours reading Harald Hall's inventory, and getting nothing done [ask my Wife]), also to mechman48, Vic and Ady1 for reinforcing that which the others indicated, now, I will have to study and order. Sincere thanks

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