Milling Table Help Needed?

[BrokenSailor]

I was looking at picking up a Milling table for my Drill press to make a poor man's mill. I need to perform some simple milling on an HK stock to accept AR mags. Looking for something of quality...over a hundred bucks or so. Any body have some recommendations?

 

[THE MGD]

Re: Milling Table Help Needed?

Perhaps this:
http://www.harborfreight.com/4-inch-capacity-swivel-base-drill-press-vise-1631.html

Attached to the drill press?

 

[Killer Spade 13]

Re: Milling Table Help Needed?

Look at Grizzly Tools.

As for me, I'd shy away from Harbor Freight.

Don't get too energetic and try to make it do too much. The milling table will carry steel, but your drill press quill is not designed to tolerate the amount of lateral thrust required to mill steel. I'd advise keeping to aluminum and softer materials.

Make sure you have a decent dial indicator and "edge detector". An edge detector is a device of known diameter that chucks up into the spindle of the mill or drill press. Having miked you work piece you know its width. Turn on the spindle and move the piece to the edge detector. When the edge detector touches the work piece the moving end will move off tangentially from the edge of the work piece. Raise the spindle back up, remove the edge detector, traverse the milling table in or out half the diameter of the edge detector, depending on which side of the work piece you indicated in on, and now the centerline of the spindle is exactly tangent to the edge of the work piece. Do you math and go from there.

 

[BrokenSailor]

Re: Milling Table Help Needed?

Thanks much. I have already discarded Harbor Freight. I am looking for something more precise and willing to spend a bit more. As far as the math, I will have to read that post three more times. I am using it for aluminum and very simple stuff. Thanks for explaining the forces the drill press will not tolerate. I had not thought of that. It seems that a good table is half the cost of a small mill. I just missed a used Grizzly table on eBay for $100. Sold overnight. Looks like I might be all in on this one.

 

[Sean the Nailer]

Re: Milling Table Help Needed?

And to go a bit further with the loading description, let me expound:

Your drill press, no matter what brand/model, is designed to drill. Ergo, it has primarily (and most likely) Thrust bearings in it. That means it probably has NO radial load bearings.

As others on this site have learned.... adding side load to a thrust bearing does KILL the bearing rather quickly. Simply because it is DEFINITELY NOT made for that work. When you do mount this 'table' onto your drillpress, make EVERY ATTEMPT to 'drill' the product away, with as 'full cuts' as possible. Even using an 'end mill' and making numerous plunge cuts, you will be left with the partial cuts.

When you are doing so, you are also adding side-loads onto your quill, and it won't last long at all. Then you either re-build your press, or dispose of it and buy a new one. Again, like others here have learned. Especially considering the cheap cost of many presses, they do turn into 'disposable items'. Question is, is yours?

Tread carefully, and I hope this helps.

 

[Killer Spade 13]

Re: Milling Table Help Needed?

To add on to what Sean the Nailer said . . .

SAW away as much material as you can.

Drill away next.

THEN:
If you have a good sturdy router and router table, you can actually machine aluminum TAKKING VERY SMALL CUTS AT THE TIME!!!!

Then use your drill press as a mill an do only finish cuts, .003" and less.

 

[Killer Spade 13]

Re: Milling Table Help Needed?

To add on to what Sean the Nailer said . . .

SAW away as much material as you can.

Drill away next.

THEN:
If you have a good sturdy router and router table, you can actually machine aluminum TAKKING VERY SMALL CUTS AT THE TIME!!!!
And that's only if you have A LOT OF EXPERIENCE on a router table.

Then use your drill press as a mill an do only finish cuts, .003" and less.

 

[Rprecision]

Re: Milling Table Help Needed?

Another problem that can come up, most Drill Presses use a MT (Morse Taper) style spindle taper to hold the drill chuck in the spindle. The MT has a tendancy to come out with side load.

 

[Cesiumsponge]

Re: Milling Table Help Needed?

So...rough passes with saws and router tables and try to repeatedly take .003" semi-finish passes (a sheet of paper is .004" thick) by repositioning handles with .060" of backlash to final dimensions on a drill press by chucking on an end mill using that silly jamnut/threaded rod to establish your Z-depth plunge with a bolt-on XY table? That makes a machinist cringe! Don't forget to tram in your table

I'd save for an actual "mini mill". The headache you save will be well worth it. That morse taper WILL work loose. End mills want to pull into the stock and things will get exciting when you've got a HSS top spinning at 2000rpm dancing around the shop floor.

 

[lightman]

Re: Milling Table Help Needed?

I just bought a Wilton cross vice from MSC.I will use it mostly for holding work and bought the cross feed feature mostly for ease of line-up.I agree with the other posters that a drill press is not heavy enough for milling,but for the soft material in stock work,you should be ok.Google 'drill press vices' for a place to start looking. Lightman

 

[BrokenSailor]

Re: Milling Table Help Needed?

I wonder how I am goin to splain this to Lucy? That...oh, that milling machine??? It is a friends...He is getting divorced and needed a place to store it....Said I could use it if I wanted... I got rid of that big freezer you didn't like...

 

[Killer Spade 13]

Re: Milling Table Help Needed?

Tell her it's used in jewelry making.