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Windy Miller
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Seadog
Save the planet. It's the only one with rum!
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Long gone, I'm afraid. Grim_d had it.
Windy Miller
Semi-Professional Potterer!
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It was an Axminster.
Jelly_Sheffield
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Does the table of your drill rotate around its own centre axis, on an arm which rotates around the column?
If so, you will get better results by mounting a rigid drill vice (or directly clamping parts) off centre on the table and using the two rotational axes to line up with center punched positions then locking the table.
That method is also (once you get the hang of it) faster and gives you more z-axis clearance (which is usually the major limitation when using larger sizes of drillbits).
Drilling is inherently inaccurate to the extent that the process itself is more likely to introduce inaccuracies than doing manual layout with scribe, calipers and measuring tools.
Jelly_Sheffield
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This is a useful warning, but if OP was planning this, all hope is not lost...
Depending on the drill some of them do have most of the right design features to be used as a milling machine without being damaged or risking dangerous failure modes.
There are definitely plenty of older drills with MT spindles, where the bearing setup is sufficiently rigid to act as a milling machine (albeit usually with bearings of a lower tolerance class limiting the accuracy as a mill), of which a smaller proportion also have hollow spindles which will allow a drawbar to safely retain a MT-shank collet chuck which can hold endmills securely, meaning some are suitable "right off the bat".
Most other MT spindle drills have sufficiently robust castings and quills that replacement of the bearings with a pair of tapered roller bearings would make it rigid enough to use as a mill when fitted with a collet chuck if the spindle is hollow (or can be drilled) to pass a drawbar.
This is effectively what the manufacturers of many of the early "mill-drill" machines like Alpine, Naerok and Warco did to make their inexpensive milling heads (which they paired with a different base casting to the pure drill version).
The big limitation that's unavoidable in almost all drill conversions is the lack of rigidity in the the table and head attachment points, which is where all the worst inaccuracy comes from.
This is all to say that trying to use a drill as a mill can be done, but requires at a minimum some research and thought, along with quite possibly some significant messing about with the internals to get even halfway acceptable results.
Seadog
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Be prepared for the chuck to come adrift if you try to take too large a bite. The Morse taper was designed to work in compression, not being side loaded. Having said that, I've done a fair amount of light milling on my Progress 2. The absence of draw bar is the main issue.
T0rnado69
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aww thats a shame but thanks for replying.
good to know.
was it good or ?
yes it has a round table supported by an arm off the main column..
absolutely not, pillar drill is for drilling. and ild use the mill if i could get to it lol
as that has x,y table. not as much height clearance the floor mounted pillar drill has.
but much more then the little bench top pillar drill i got.
the idea of putting an x,y table or compound slide vice on the pillar drill is.
i can fix it down to the round table and slide the metal into the vice.
and move the vice back/forth and side to side until i got the centre drill bang on the centre punch mark.
lock the vice and drill the hole.
i got some plastic gantry plates on a laser engraver and i want to remake them out of ali and slightly bigger to take a bigger top extrusion.
also means replacing the others to take a 60 or 80mm high extrusion as its currently 2020.
so the holes need to be spot on..
also need to sort the Z axis as the play is shocking and make it higher so i can use with laser or plasma torch.
T0rnado69
DIY nut !!
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well looking at the A CT1, i think the x/y table will be too long for my needs on a pillar drill.
seen a few compound vices on ebay but either small or not sure if they will mount to the round table.
also dont like the idea that one of the handles will be at the back.
but found a soba compound slide milling table (110340) with 6x6 table and will mount to the pillar drill round table.
just need to measure my vice tomorrow and see if it will fit a 6" wide table, i think it should.
the soba names rings a bell. think i have a rotary table.
seen a few compound vices on ebay but either small or not sure if they will mount to the round table.
also dont like the idea that one of the handles will be at the back.
but found a soba compound slide milling table (110340) with 6x6 table and will mount to the pillar drill round table.
just need to measure my vice tomorrow and see if it will fit a 6" wide table, i think it should.
the soba names rings a bell. think i have a rotary table.
GraemeVW
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If you have a round table that rotates though, there is no need.
You can clamp something to any part of your table and adjust it to get it under the drill. Every square mm of your table can be positioned under the drill center.
T0rnado69
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i dont see how that will work. you clamp the workpiece to the table and the table will rotate but your work piece will rotate at the set circumference, your not be able to find tune its position.
and like i said the holes need to be bang on. as the plates are for cnc frame.
and like i said the holes need to be bang on. as the plates are for cnc frame.
GraemeVW
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You need a combination of rotating the table, and rotating the table mount in the column.
I have the same time set up on my kerry and yes you can get absolutely any spot of the table under the drill.
Agroshield
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Have a look at the latest YT from Pask Makes. He has just shown a clamp that goes around the column, with a bar attached to it that is also attached to the vise.
The clamp allows rotational movement and the bar allows radial movement. In effect, you convert your rectangular (x,y) coordinates into polar (r, theta) coordinates. Same principle as a proper radial drill.
A laser pointer can be used to line it all up as its 'length' is variable. If you use a fixed pointy thing in the chuck to line it up, you lose alignment when you have to raise the head to insert a much longer drill bit.
T0rnado69
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that is true i guess. but i know having all that overhang on a drill press for me, il end up knocking it all the time.
that does look good, but a lot of machining to make..... on a mill i cant get too right now.
