Thread: Drill Chuck for O Mill

Ben
There is about 9" from the bottom of the End Milling Head to the top of the table, when the table is at the bottom of its travel.
The drill chuck you are looking at will take up 4" of that space.
When a vice is mounted on the table there is not much space remaining.
Bruce

Originally Posted by bwal74

Morning to All,

I'm looking at buying one of these:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/381291494...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

It's not the most expensive but I think it will do the job. Do any other owners of O Mills use a drill chuck in their mill? A bit worried about the Vertical height.

Thanks Ben.

Hi Ben the chuck could be convenient but for better table clearance an ER32 collet chuck and a range of collets is worth a look. These have a much better grip on end mills. Or for maximum table clearance but less versatile is the 3mt collets or the 3c style collets with hollow draw tube. Depends a lot on the job you are doing with the mill, my main worry with a drill chuck is that cutters may 'walk out' under cutting load. Personally I use (occasionally) a small clarkson autolock end mill holder, very stable but limited to one size shank per collet. I hope my input helps.

Hi,

Thanks for the replies. I actually have a ER20 collet chuck that AB gave to me (along with a Vertex Clarkson type collet chuck - which is my main go to item). I think I will just use the ER20 collet for now. I was going to start drilling in the mill.

Thanks Ben.

Hi Ben, a drill chuck is ok for drilling holes but I prefer one that uses a key. The cheaper keyless can be a problem as they tend to loosen by themselves. If you intend to use it hold end mills and I've used them for that on rare occasions with smaller end mills you would need a drill chuck that uses a drawbar and be very gentle or you could be very disappointed. I use a collet set for most of my work, much better grip and much more reliable.

Stephen

For MT mounts, reminder to check your drawbar thread, and get the arbor to suit. Could be inch or metric.

Jordan

For the ease of using the mill for drilling smaller holes up to 10mm/3/8" you might try looking for a straight shank drill chuck that will fit into one of your ER collets, generally the shanks are soft and you can turn them to suit your collet size if needed.

They want take up as much room as that 16mm keyed/key less chuck you showed, and for larger holes either use your collets or M/T drills.

Hi Ben

I am not really familiar with the Hercus Mill, I have a Centec2A which I think is a similar size, ie limited Y. It came with a chuck of the sort that you are considering. I found that it used up far too much space and that I was better to use the much shorter Jacobs chuck from the tailstock on my lathe. I then thought about putting the keyless chuck into my drillpress but when I checked it had a lot of runout. I dont remember how much but sufficient to ensure that it now reclines in the bottom drawer. This may have been due to earlier misuse.

Regards

Ian