Milling attachment for lathe

[graemet]

I don't know if this stuff is too old hat for the members of this forum, but I needed to do some small milling jobs and couldn't justify the cost of a mill. A search on the internet turned up a few milling attachment designs for a lathe. This design by L.C.Mason was in an old Science & Mechanics and is made out of stock steel sizes bolted together. The first photos show the design as it was described, the last show a mod to suit the vice I had on hand. I have also added a screw through the mounting which locates the slide locked in the vertical position as it was hard to get enough tension on the single mounting bolt to stop it rotating under working conditions.
All the assembly is held together with c/s socket head screws threaded in Loctite.
Cheers
Graeme

[rodm]

Nice work. You have to be happy with that.

[Tiger]

Ditto what Rod says, great work! How long did it take you to build? I have a milling attachment too but I find that it exerts great pressure on the slots in the cross slide, I have this terrifying image of the milling attachment breaking the slots, how do you find yours?

[graemet]

Tiger,
It took me about two days so wasn't all that cost effective if you cost out the time but very satisfying. I haven't done much milling with it yet but it should be OK. If you look at the second photo, you will see that the two bolts holding the mounting bracket to the front cross slide slot are 100mm apart, this is the same as the collar on the toolpost that it replaces and the moment produced has got to be the same as that of a turning tool. This sort of thing can't replace a proper mill, but if you take light cuts, you really can't get into trouble.
The vertical lead screw is only M6x1 with a 25mm crank handle so I can't get excessive leverage.
Cheers
Graeme