Mill only projects

[colinbParticipant @colinb]

Hoping for some mill-only project ideas.

Trying to keep this in the short side of long, I’m a novice, and been acquiring machine tools and tooling for about a year – while I’ve been building my workshop. It’s now built and powered, and I find myself with a perished lathe belt on first power up. And 3 phase supply fun and games.

So, does anyone have some ideas of mill-only projects that would be good for skill building and future use? Or can point me towards resources?

My list at the moment comprises (in what my brain tells me is a semi-sensible order):

1. T-nuts (of course)
2. Angle plates (rough castings already got)
3. Adjustable angle plate (ditto casting)
4. Low profile vice endstop
5. 25-50-75 and 50-100-150 blocks, Renzetti pattern
6. Lathe toolholders (copies of Hardinge C4, C18)
7. Toolmaker’s cube
8. Finger plate
9. Multi axis endstop (a la Edge Technologies)
10. Thin v- block

• Dedicated squareness comparator is clearly desirable, but I’m unsure how feasible it is without turning.

For context (and I am abundantly in aware of how fortunate I am), I have operational:

• GHA Master Toolmaker with vertical head, high speed head, slotting head, universal table, and indexing/dividing attachment
• EXE surface grinder
• Biax power scraper
• Surface plate, gauges, micrometers, indicators, vices, boring heads, toolholders, etc etc

Waiting in the wings for electrical/mechanical renewal:

• Hardinge HC lathe
• Perfecto benchtop motorised shaper
• GHA pantograph engraver (=Deckel G1U)
• Grimston gearhead drill (X2)
• “Torpex” shaper
• BCA jig borer
• Fortis (/Clausing 100 MK3) lathe
• Boley D13LZ lathe

[Pete RimmerParticipant @peterimmer30576]

You did well to find a Toolmaker with all those bits. i saw one in an estate sale a couple of years back with about all that stuff, out Southend way. The lady was selling her late dad’s stuff off and I sorted all the bits for that machine for her so it was all kept in one lot, but she had already unwittingly let the collets go in another ebay lot.

Is it MT4 tooling? That stuff is not so easy to find.

[Wade BeattyParticipant @wadebeatty78296]

Balance stand for surface grinder wheels. An arbor will need to be turned as well.

[HollowpointParticipant @hollowpoint]

That’s quite a shop for a “novice”! Here is some ideas.

• Lathe rear toolpost
• Lathe solid toolpost
• Lathe bed stop
• Mill fixture plate / pallet
• 2 piece split vice
• Soft jaws for vices and chucks

[colinbParticipant @colinb]

Thanks.
<p style=”text-align: left;”>@Pete It’s MT4 horizontal (with overarm support), and the awkward, early 16mm (Lorch B?) collets for the high speed head. The vertical (SK40) and slotting heads are, I confess, from an FP2. Not ideal, but they were available, fit, and are PA20° unlike the FP1 drive gear. It’s only got a single pair of gears for the feeds, so I’ll have to make or get some new ones too</p>
@Wayne Great! Although you’ve identified the issue I have – no working lathe. I can make do with precision ground round bar, or dowels, and possibly do some simple turning with stock held in a collet in the horizontal spindle

@Hollowpoint Thank you. Yes it is – and should basic6ally mean that the limiting factor is only ever going to be me, not my tools. The only hurdle is that my fluency in Imperial units is low, so I want to add DROs to at least the mill, lathe, grinder, and jig borer so I minimise the likelihood of error (from that source at least).

As the HC is a turret lathe, it’s already well set up with stops and a turret rather than wobbly topslide. You have given me two lathe project ideas to add though:

1. Cut-off tool/holder – Hardinge made a toolholder+dovetail slide that mounted on a collar around the spindle nose. It held a cutoff tool vertically, and via the lever operated slide, cut off the part flush without sacrificing a turret station
2. Taper tool – Again, a replica of of a Hardinge original. Basically a short, fully supported, lever operated, dovetail slide to enable turning short tapers (e.g. collet seats)

Soft jaws, fixture plate, and split vice are all good ideas, thank you – I’ll add them to the list

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Set(s) of parallels would be the second most used after Tee nuts in my wokshop. And likely needed to position the work to make most of the items on your list

Some clamping bars to go with the tee nuts. I find a couple each drilled to match the mill table Tee slot spacing and the angle plate hole spacing useful.

[noel shelleyParticipant @noelshelley55608]

I think my priority would be to get the lathe running, it will make life much easier and help with some of the milling jobs. Good Luck and a productive New Year. Noel.

[DC31kParticipant @dc31k]

Is it worth pointing out that with a little ingenuity, it is possible to do limited turning activities on a mill?

This is greatly helped in this case by the presence of a horizontal spindle.

I do not much understand the ‘fluency in imperial units’ argument. A number is a number is a number. If you need to hit a size of 25.4mm, what do you need to do differently to hit a size of 1.0 inches? Zero on an imperial dial is the same zero on a metric dial.

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

The change of mindset to Imperial units is easy.

With older machines, you may not have the option; the dials will be graduated in thous anyway.

If it is an Imperial machine, or drawing, think and measure. in Imperial,

If you you have any doubts, as DC31k says, a thousandth of an inch is 25.4 microns.

In more prosaic terms, the average human hair is 0.005″, (blonde 0.003″, black 0.007″)

A sheet of 80 gm paper from your printer will be 0.0035″thick.

Howard

[Pete RimmerParticipant @peterimmer30576]

A digital caliper is the handiest tool for quick metric-imperial conversions.
Add a tee slot scraper to your list though this is easiest made with tin snips, a hacksaw and hammer

[colinbParticipant @colinb]

Thanks again all.

Getting the lathe running is indeed a high priority objective, but I don’t want to be stalled in making stuff while I am working through the lathe.

I do have some (purchased) parallels and a clamping kit; I was going to use those and make my own only when I identify shortcomings or frustrations.
<p style=”text-align: left;”>Fluency in Imperial – I agree, a number is a number. If I were working to imperial drawings, no issue in the slightest. I design and think in metric though – so my drawings are in metric. The dials are, as pointed out, (generally) in thousandths. It’s just an unnecessary PITA to have more mental hoops to jump through – measuring a slot, it’s 0.3mm undersize, ok, that’s 0.15mm off each side, so zero dial, move the cutter across 0.15*39.37 thousandths, =5.9 thou, take cut, then come back past zero (say, 30thou), and crank back to -5.9thou, take the cut. Vs. with DRO measure, halve it, zero dro, come across .15mm, cut, drive across to -.15, cut.</p>
T-slot scraper added to the list 🙂

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