Tom Senior Vertical head .

[Harry WebsterParticipant @harrywebster26230]

how do I change the verical milling cutter ?

[Harry WebsterParticipant @harrywebster26230]

I have a Senior mill which is both horizontal and can be converted to vertical cut with a small .head . The head has a short spindle with a bronze locking collar at the top and below is a smaill i/8 in cutter . There is no chuck and I cannot see how to remove the cutter before I even try to fix a larger tool somehow on to the spindle . Anyone out there with experience of the Senior mill with a vertical cutting option. I would be very grateful for your help . Many thanks .Harry

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Is it one of the standard manufacturer ones or a custom / home made / adapted one?

Any sign of a collet holding the cutter?

[Harry WebsterParticipant @harrywebster26230]

The head looks as though it really belongs to the Senior machine . The machine is old I guess which although is flat belt driven has has very little use . The head has a spindle which has a bronze ring at the bottom from which protrudes a small cutting tool . No sign of a collet . I have taken off the threaded ring at the top. One uses a piece of 5/32 silver steel to undo . The spindle now seems to be held from coming out by 2 very small screws which will not yield to a small screwdriver . I would be happy to hear from anyone familiar with this old type Senior veritical head . Thanks for your reslponse .

Harry

[Harry WebsterParticipant @harrywebster26230]

Thanks to my responder . A good nights kip has yielded the bright idea that the cutter has a taper shaft end . So it proved , and luckily I have a collection of sundry drills which I never expected to use and now they will come in handy.

However what I need is small cutters with taper ends . I have boxes of Clarkson type cutters which are only useful in the tailstock of the lathe. Does anyone one know if I can still get cutters with taper shanks . Thanks , Harry

[Thor 🇳🇴Participant @thor]

Hi Harry,

Guhring seems to have milling cutters with a Morse taper shank, I assume the taper in your milling head is a Morse taper.Glanze lists MT2 tooling with carbide inserts, these may fit your milling head.

Thor

[MuzzerParticipant @muzzer]

Not sure what you mean by "Clarkson type cutters which are only useful in the tailstock of the lathe" – do you mean threaded cutters (which require a collet chuck) or actually Morse taper tools?

If you have room for a collet chuck, you would have a large choice of standard cutters. In my experience, the Glanze indexable cutters use antiquated inserts with negative rake which is the last thing you need on lightweight machines. You can get collet chucks for Morse taper, eg the popular ER series.

Murray

[Harry WebsterParticipant @harrywebster26230]

Thank you both Thor and Murray for your info. The vertical spindle has but a No 1 Morse taper to house whatever goes into it . If I get an ER series collet chuck with MT No1 , I fear that the total capacity of the machine ( 10 inches height . will be too little to do much work . If I am right , then I shall be limited to finding cutters with a No1 MT shank as a single unit. I shall give "Guhring" as Thor suggests. Many thanks for your help.

There may of course be many old cutters out there in the sheds of old timers unused nowadays owing to the growth of up to date systems like Clarkson et al . Perhap a wanted ad may be the answer ?

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Is it drilled through for a drawbar? If not the vibration from any larger cutter will not hold in the MT1 socket. It is odd that Senor made such a small head, or is it home made?

[Thor 🇳🇴Participant @thor]

Hi Harry,

If your MT 1 milling head can use a drawbar you could use MT 1 "finger collets", capacity from 2mm to 8mm.If you prefer imperial look here.

Thor

[Author]

Posts