Thread: Milling Machine as a Drill Press?

Originally Posted by Luke Maddux

Meaning that a mill will have less quill travel than the average DP?

Yes and no, but almost all DPs have stupidly small quill travel for my liking (gotta be 150mm+ - I have anything up to 500mm on my current setup if I want, but often use 200-250 to get the drill out of the way).

(have edited the last post with more info)

On a big mill quill travel limitations can be overcome using the vertical travel of the mill table itself

Originally Posted by BobL

On a big mill quill travel limitations can be overcome using the vertical travel of the mill table itself

Yes, it's the same on the SX2P but the problem with that one is that you have to reach right up the top at the back of the mill which is not practical.

Edit: oops just read that properly - didn't get the bit about table rise - read it as head rise.

I guess it's just going to come down to looking at them in person and comparing my options. It sounds like for most work a mill can double as a DP. Jet makes some benchtop "Mill/Drill" things that look to be kind of what I'm after, but they still don't have the throat or quill travel going on.

Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

Yes, it's the same on the SX2P but the problem with that one is that you have to reach right up the top at the back of the mill which is not practical.

Edit: oops just read that properly - didn't get the bit about table rise - read it as head rise.

On a big mill the table rise handle is right in front of the operator or better still are the powered versions.

Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

Yes and no, but almost all DPs have stupidly small quill travel for my liking (gotta be 150mm+ - I have anything up to 500mm on my current setup if I want, but often use 200-250 to get the drill out of the way).

(have edited the last post with more info)

Hi Brett

What are you using that gives you that much quill travel?
I have been looking for a long time for a decent drill press with good quill travel (and I don't want to spend multiple thousands on it either )

The other thing you will get with a mill that is often lacking in a DP is decent accuracy with run-out. Most of the cheaper DPs have abysmal run-out & you end up with bits wobbling unacceptably. Some people luck out it seems, but getting .001" or better on a Chinese DP seems unlikely.

I tend to do multiple holes of the same diameter when making toys in batches, and using the three handled thing (sorry, can't think of what it is called) to lower the bit from just clear the top of the job, then drill to the desired depth, retract, then move to the next hole needs to be fairly efficient. Not having used a mill, how quickly can you go from the top of travel to bottom of travel, retract, reposition, then repeat the process?
Quite often, the drill bit needs to be retracted a few times to clear the flutes when drilling deep holes in soft material (Pine). Would this be a PITA when using a mill?

Also, if the mill is used for metal work, wouldn't the wood shavings stick to the remaining coolant and look fairly ordinary?

After saying all this, I wouldn't mind a small mill if I had the room, they look like a very handy bit of gear.

Alan...

It's a Wabeco rig Ross - byo drill. I bought it from Germany - but that's the only German thing about it - the postage stamp. Oh yeah, they grind the column in Germany, but that's it - everything else is Chinese and it shows.

Horrible runout in every connection.

The column is 1 metre long, but there is also a 50mm option. 750mm would be the ideal.

Originally Posted by Uncle Al

Not having used a mill, how quickly can you go from the top of travel to bottom of travel, retract, reposition, then repeat the process?
Quite often, the drill bit needs to be retracted a few times to clear the flutes when drilling deep holes in soft material (Pine). Would this be a PITA when using a mill?

This was one of my questions too. I believe that most mills come with the a retractable quill like that of a drill press. Additionally, you can move the table in three axes.

As far as drill, move, drill, move, I think it may actually be easier on a mill, as long as you are not limited by throat depth or quill travel. You just punch the first hole, then wind the handle a known number of times, then punch again. I've personally never drilled a hole on a DP that wasn't through something which was in a vise, so I think that moving the table incrementally may be faster and more accurate than taking the work piece out of the vise every time and then repositioning.

That is all based on the couple of hours of internet research I've done though...

Originally Posted by Uncle Al

using the three handled thing (sorry, can't think of what it is called)

The technical name is "three handled thingy with knobs" but abbreviations are acceptable.

Originally Posted by Luke Maddux

Additionally, you can move the table in three axes.

Not always. Most travelling table have two axes.

I suspect that the quill travel via handle is reasonably fine (some have two levels of movement), but that can be solved to a large extent by putting a slightly larger diameter handle on which can be operated at a greater speed than the increased diameter takes away - in other words, trying to operate a small diameter handle quickly usually results in some kind of fouling, but a diameter of say 1.5x will actually allow good movement at 2x, which is a net faster result.

Edit:

Originally Posted by Uncle Al

Quite often, the drill bit needs to be retracted a few times to clear the flutes when drilling deep holes in soft material (Pine). Would this be a PITA when using a mill?

Dust extraction will assist greatly with that, but not eliminate altogether all the time. I'm now in the habit of using DE for all drilling on the press, and it's a nuisance when I happen not to.

Hi Luke

the only negative I can think of is powering a second hand mill.

back stateside you'd be a native, but how common is three phase power ? or the wiring suitable for powering a VFD capable of supplying a largish 3 ph motor

Just a slight but related digression. If USA 3 phase is 230v, and ours is 415v, that means the power same machine in the USA will need to draw almost 2x the current. Doesn't that make it nearly 2x the danger? (as I understand it, it's the Amps rather than the voltage that gets you)

The mills I have worked with had 3 axes, and all three were table movement. The direction designation was pretty much standard. Standing in front of the mill:
X is right to left or left to right
Y is in or out or front to back
Z is up and down.

The spindles were usually manual movement unless it was an expensive mill.

If you use a mill for multiple holes in same piece of material, I would suggest a cnc mill. Because to crank (most mills have a power lever that can be activated instead of cranking) the table to a desired location can be time consuming and tedious. A cnc is faster and more repetitive not to mention most have drilling, taping programs and variable spindle direction.

I enjoyed cnc programming and creating things from a print. Of course it's easy to talk about alot of this when it's some else's money.

What sort of Z axis travel would be common?

I might be up the garden path here, but it would also mean that you could drill the hole by winding the Z axis (which might be better for left handed people, or for when the right is doing something else like holding a DE hose).