Drill press milling machine

[keith micinski]

I already have an older delta drill press so I dont really need another one, but the milling part of this is kind of attractive. Does anyone know this model and does it have any real value as a milling machine or is it really just a glorified drill press?

http://southbend.craigslist.org/tls/4501216887.html

[Loren Woirhaye]

You can make mortises and stuff like that in wood with something like that, and maybe make basic machine parts in plastic and aluminum, but for real milling it probably won't work very well. You need really fine incremental depth control to mill harder materials. The handwheel on the side may provide that. It might be fun though... at that price you might enjoy playing around with the tool and exploring some new ideas.

[Keith Outten]

There have been plenty of discussions here concerning the value of drill presses, milling machines and mill/drills. I have been using a Grizzly mill/drill for probably a decade and I would never go back to owning a drill press again. There are so many reasons why a mill/drill is a superior machine over most drill presses starting with a table that moves in X and Y which is a feature I can't imagine anyone would not appreciate. Bearings that are designed for both vertical and side loads are another reason why I prefer a mill/drill.
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[Ole Anderson]

I have both a drill press and a mini-mill. Each have their uses. I find that the DP gets the lion's share of the work as it is just easier to step to it and drill holes, using the fence for alignment rather than using the XY table with a 30 pound vice. Seldom have I ever used the mini-mill for wood. My vice opens 4" and that is often not enough for a piece of wood. And even though I have a power cross feed, it is still slow compared to sliding a piece of wood along a fence and eyeballing alignment. I work a lot with aluminum, and for slotting or face milling, the mini-mill can't be beat. And if I have a big hole to drill in metal, using a twist drill or hole saw, the mini-mill is the go-to option.

[John Downey]

What I learned is that you never mill with something that has a Jacobs or even Albrecht chuck. If there is no provision for a collet chuck, you do not mill with it.

That setup would be useful for mortising in wood perhaps, as mentioned, or for drilling a series of holes in precise locations. The latter was probably its original intended purpose if it's a factory rig.

[Tai Fu]

There's probably a draw bar somewhere and you can still buy end mill holders if it's MT3 or whatever. It looks like a mill drill which is still fine for milling steel if light cuts are taken, or mostly aluminum. It just has a chuck on it at the moment, even mills have them. Ask to see the top of the pulley.

[Brian W Smith]

It looks to me to be DP with an aftermarket XY table.again,just looking at the pic,it looks like "just" a DP?

All things are relative when it comes to machinery........take TS's for instance;Some folks consider themselves to be lucky and very well serviced with an old 8" TS.Next guy comes along and if it isn't 7.5 HP,14/16 blade and a football field for a table,whats the point?

Same with mills.We have a std 9x42 BP(Bridgeport)....grand ole' machine.But to some,it's a flimsy toy of a mill.Generally,the Asian mill/drills do a fair job for a smallish fabrication shop.I know a lot of pistolsmith's that utilize them.One important point is whether the rr column is round.If it is(not bashing)....they have some inherent issues with staying aligned in certain functions of the machine.The side forces when cutting can and do present challenges,and why DP's aren't a good idea for this.BUT,there is a class of mill/drills that DO have "square" columns.Just not as easy to find.

Google images for a Rockwell 8520.It sort of bridges the gap between round column mill/drills and a BP....then you step up to a series 2 BP...and on,and on.We had the 8520's slightly bigger Asian cousin come through here a few years ago.I got it for a motorcycle friend looking to "up his game".You could see it was bigger in all respects than the 8520;he's happy as a clam so all's well.

Good luck finding one,it can be done.You need to have cash in hand.....trailer tyres pumped up,and be ready to go when the deal strikes.They are a hot commodity.One reason to step up to a BP,in certain parts of the country they're as plentiful as leaves in the fall.You'll hear a lot of folks warn about tooling costs,I won't deny it can get a little out of control.But 500,in the right places and you're gonna be using it.

[Brian W Smith]

In no way should a mill be looked at as..."instead of a DP".You need both.We have 4 DP's.All 4 get used in different fashions.Two notables are both W/T's.One is in the cabinet shop,a '51,20" with a production table and pwr downfeed.Its cvrd about 90% of the time with an 8" Heinrich "quick-vise".....once in awhile it sees special uses with other "tops".The second W/T is or lives next to the BP.It's a '47 radial drill,fully enclosed CI base.Originally used in an awful lot of "pattern shops".It has 32 speeds,and a 3K$ air over hyd vise on it(one of a matching pr).It gets used regularly enough to justify it's enormous footprint.

And I'm saving for a gearhead DP.......not aggressively.Just sayin....you really need both,a mill and a DP.Good luck on your quest!

[Ole Anderson]

That CL find is definitely just a DP with a cross feed table added, which is what the seller is claiming. Key to a milling capability is the diameter of the column. Anything less than about 4" just doesn't have the rigidity for milling metal.

Even a small mill should have provisions for an R8 collet with drawbar. The drawbar pulls the collet up onto the spindle. And with a 5/8" Jacobs chuck with an R8 collet you have a pretty HD drill press. R8 has a spline to keep it from spinning unlike Morse tapers. When I was doing light production work, I had R8 collets for most of my commonly used drill bits. And wouldn't you know, yesterday I needed to use it for cutting a big 4" hole in wood using a fly cutter. Could have done it on my DP. but the big vice really holds the work well and you won't stall the cutter like on a DP. Turns out the vice is 5", not 4" as posted earlier. One of these I cut was enlarging an existing hole, not centered, without any support for the center drill bit. Try that on a DP.

[keith micinski]

I am actually looking for something that would allow me to mill in wood and possibly aluminum. I don't know if I ever will get into serious milling of metals. That having been said it seems like that machine probably isn't the right one for me as I have no interest in spending a bunch of time trying to rig it up to make it "Work"