Pillar drill - Mill conversion question

[Tom Orrow L]

Hey guys, So basically I have no machining knowledge but have always loved the thought of being able to use a milling machine.
Now.. currently I can't afford myself a new milling machine but I have access to one of these (LINK) I can get it for very cheap. So I have a pillar drill of very good quality that a friend of mine gave me a while back and it has a thick steel table on it.
I'm wondering if I bought this sliding vice & attached it to the steel table and then some bought correct milling bits would I have a somewhat functional basic Milling machine?

I don't know.. Thoughts from the guys that know a bit about machining?

Thanks guys!

 

[T0rnado69]

pillar drills cant take side force's you get when milling.
if the chuck isn't held in by a draw bar it will fall out.
and do damage to what your trying to mill, the cutter
or even worse hit you.

my mill has a drill chuck for normal drill bits and collet chuck for milling cutters.

both are held in via taper and draw bar.

 

[Maker]

A mill has the spindle bored out to allow a drawbar to pass through. Unless your drill has this then you can't really do it. Those cross slide vices aren't very nice either.

 

[Gritineye]

Hi Tom, your innocent looking pillar drill has many cunning ways of ruining your work or maiming you, trying to use it as a mill greatly increases it's blood lust!

Bernard

 

[wyn]

I think those cross vices are more for fine tuning the position of something for drilling.

They are not really up to being used as a milling table.

 

[MrFluffy]

If you want a laugh I had one of those little cross vices on a angle bracket on the mill for a vertical claming setup, and during a machining operation it broke and when I looked at the broken bits there was a casting flaw in it, so they are even crappier than the screws for gib adjustment and low strength cast iron castings suggest. I have the top vice section upside down on my vertical bandsaw as a dedicated handheld bandsaw vice and thats about all its fit for.
If your going to do the mill drill thing, use a mill/drill that locates the tooling with a drawbar setup somehow as above and get a real xy table, theyre quite a bit more expensive but they are made properly.
Something like this is tiny but better than one of those cross vice setups :-
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Proxxon-K...e-702050-Ref-27100-AUTUMN-OFFER-/331657551409
If you need bigger (and you will if you start to use it) they go up to about 300 quid. At which point buying a milling machine with a table on it to start with that takes standard tooling starts to look like a real bargin.

 

[Tom Orrow L]

Thanks for the replies guys, It's looking like the answer is a firm no
Ah well.. Best start saving eh?

 

[brightspark]

buy a lathe before u buy a milling machine it can do so much more. u can mill on a lathe if u buy a vertical slide

 

[Maker]

buy a lathe before u buy a milling machine it can do so much more. u can mill on a lathe if u buy a vertical slide

Take this advice. I didn't, thinking I would get much more use out of a mill than a lathe, I now use my lathe a few times a day and my mill maybe once a month.

 

[T0rnado69]

buy a lathe before u buy a milling machine it can do so much more. u can mill on a lathe if u buy a vertical slide

great advice, i use my lathe so much more then i do the mill.

and as stated vertical slide and a collect chuck and your milling.
plenty of videos on you tube showing lathe milling.

i plan to get a collect chuck for my lathe, i already own a collect kit i got for the mill.

but il need to make an adaptor plate to mount it.