First mill

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Do you really need to bother with the adaptor for most things, dispite what was said above I just looked at one reasonably priced supplier and they have ER Chucks, Drill arbors, stubmilling arbors and boring head arbors in MT4 which would cover a goof 90% of what you are likely to be doing and then just sleeve down if needed for other tooling.

MT4 is likely to be M16 or Whit thread if older and MT3 will be M12 or 3/8Whit if older or imperial size. Length would also need checking when an adaptor sleeve is used as it may need to be a little longer.

Also make sure you get an open ended sleeve rather than a 3to4 drilling sleeve which will not allow you to pull the MT3 tooling into the sleeve as they are made for tanged tools eg drill bits.

[David ColwillParticipant @davidcolwill19261]

Posted by Gazz on 08/01/2020 01:40:04:

I've been offered a (i presume chester) lux mill with an MT4 spindle,

Am i right in thinking that making an adapter to go from MT4 to R8 is not possible… without having it stick out the spindle bore quite a way.
And that changing the spindle to an R8 one wont be cheap or easy.

of course an MT4 to MT3 sleeve will let me use easier to find second hand tooling, when using a reducing sleeve do i need to use a different drawbar to the one that works with MT4 tools?

Stefan Gotteswinter on youtube has one of these (with a 4 morse taper) I'm pretty sure he did a couple of videos about why he chose it and how he got on with it.

It's well worth checking his channel anyway.

Regards.

David.

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

FWITW,

My old RF25 has a 3MT spindle, which allows tooling to be changed between the Lathe and the Mill, if required.

Can be quite useful at times.

Howard

[GazzParticipant @gazz]

Well, i couldnt get the Chester Lux mill in the end, i just don't have the height for it in the shed i'll be converting into a small workshop,

had hoped to put it instead in the garage, but that plan didn't work out either.

So i'm back to looking for a mill… i want something larger than the Chester Champion 20 and the Lux,

I think that would be a VM32… Amadeal, Toolco and Warco seem to do them, and someone posted a review 'living with a VM32' recently that rates them pretty well,

But before i even think about this mill, i need to get proper measurments of my shed, i will be insulating it with 30mm kingspan type solid foam insulation, then ply lining it, ideally i'd want to place some insulation on the floor, then 18mm ply over that,

The mill and mini lathe will sit on benches, so that will spread their load over the floor, and the benches legs will be screwed to the walls too,
But i will need to be sure that even the smaller VM32's height will fit in… i'm 6'3", so my workbenches are usually higher than most… might have to make a lowered bench for the mill… but i can't go too low or it'll be impossible for me to use as having arthritis i can't be stooped over using a tool.

[Iain DownsParticipant @iaindowns78295]

As the living with a VM32 man, I can tell you that we only just managed to get the mill in with a standard garage and on an 80cm high bench.

This was around the height of the eaves, the height of the column and the engine hoist crane.

However, this was in the eaves. If you put it under the apex of the roof you would have much more flexibility, but be aware that you need a width of about your own height to cater for the full travel from left to right and some space for your fingers.I don't have my drawings to hand but you need somewhere between 1.8 and 2 metres.

I also thought I could take one of the handles off to gain a bit of space, but having got it installed, I can see the value of both handles as the choice keeps your hands away from the red hot swarf regardless of which direction you move it in.

I should say as a shorty (5 foot 6 ish) I wouldn't want to go any lower than the bench height I've got – the rule seems to be that the handles are the same height (more or less) of your elbows.

Iain

[GazzParticipant @gazz]

Thankyou very much for that info,

Seem's my shed just isnt tall enough, it's a pent roof type, so one side it's about 6 foot 5, the other side is lower

[Iain DownsParticipant @iaindowns78295]

Here's a picture of my shed with the mill in

The table is 800mm, The mill height is 1020mm (from the spec and verified with a tape measure). so mill top is at 182cm.

The wood framing sits at about 2 metres – 2 metres is actually about halfway up the beams. So there is 20cm clearance at the eaves and probably about 30cm where the column actually sites.

This looks like it would fit in your shed OK, but it's getting it in. To put it on the table I used an engine hoist with some rope wrapped round head with the head moderately low. The best I could manage was to get the hoist beam a little above the mill top. That sounds OK, but the mill tilts forwards because the centre of gravity is forward of where the strap sits.

The end result was that the hoist beam was within an inch or so of the ceiling – but still a foot or so from the lowest point.

I suppose what I'm saying is that the mill will fit. The hard thing is working out how to get it on the table. I think it could be done but would require a lot of care and a fair amount of Heath Robinson thinking.

Getting the centre of gravity better organised – having a strong person to lift the front – all is possible, but it's not going to be easy.

Iain

Iain

[Author]

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