Thread: Adapting Milling Attachment for AL320

Hi Lee,
There is nothing wrong with that, I think it came up great.
It looks a lot sturdier than it would have been with the supplied base it came with.

Your salesman wasn't lying, he just meant it would fit strait on with some modification by a skilled person.

That sounds like my salesman when asked about 560mm X travel on my mill instead of the advertised 600mm.
His reply "You could get it with some modification".

Now I see why your working on the collet chuck, good luck with MK2.

Dave

Thanks Dave,

The annoying thing was that the salesman repeatedly assured me there would be no fitting or adjusting with it - it would bolt straight on to the AL320 using the same T bolts even - and this was the same company I purchased the lathe from initially??? It was interesting to read posts by others about their similar experiences with sales staff who didn't appear to know the products they sold....makes you wonder how many punters there are out there like me who have purchased inappropriately based on ill informed advice....or have items sitting there not knowing how to use them

I wanted to do some milling and cut keyways so thought it easier and cheaper to go this way first, and learn the process before I embarrass myself too much.....

I didn't post these two exercises as highly machined tool gloats........(not that vain - you've seen my work????..... )...but hopefully give others the confidence to at least have a go at making something......even if it's ends up as an anchor, at least you are making swarf and like beer, that's good for blokes too............................

Well done Lee. Yours has the advantage of swiveling in two planes, so should be really versatile. The slight downside is that's two more settings you have to worry about getting right when trying to get a piece square. I went for simplicity and solidity with mine which is great, but I may end up making a swivelly one like yours too. Do you mind me asking where you got the angle plate?

Bryan,

Got the angle plate from Shars shars.com - Angle Plate 6x6x6quot - it was about 1/4 the price I had been quoted elsewhere - it is cast iron and quite sturdy - I chose a 2 ribbed version and ran the risk of one of the ribs being above the T slot....if that's an issue you can always cut a slot for the nut in the rib or move one of the holes - you'd only need two as with the compound but I chose 3 as easier to maintain accurate locking - ....freight was quoted in a Medium Flat Rate box via USPS at US$45.45.....

When ordering from Shars, I have been advised to email them direct for a freight quote as their web based system is not geared up for overseas rates......you can email David Chelsvig at Shars on [email protected] or call them which I tend to do using VOIP - they are very helpful.

For the ER40 collet set and chuck, I used CTC......[email protected] that the hyper links didn't come through for the email addresses above.......Lee