converting my drill press into a mill
 

hello guys, I was on the net earlier today and was looking for parts for my mini cnc mill project. and I found this mill table that bolts on to the table of a small drill press like mine so i just got done ordering it tonight so it should be here this week. so after it gets here and i get it bolted on to my drill press i will have a mill. and I think that I might see if I can bolt some stepper motors on to the mill table and then one onto my drill press to move the spindle up and down. and then it should make a decent cnc mill I think. here's the link to the mill table that I bought let me know what you guys think. it was kind of pricey but looks to be well built.

LittleMachineShop.com - X-Y Table Assembly

Re: converting my drill press into a mill
 

Drillpress is made to move up and down not side to side.so you will see some play and could even blow up.

Re: converting my drill press into a mill
 

i have used my drill press for a mill before it works rather well, it didnt move a hole lot. but that table would of made it soooo easy!

Re: converting my drill press into a mill
 

What kind of drill press? does it have an r8 taper? The cross slide vices i've seen are poor quality and adding stepper motors would be pointless unless you plan on making engraved wood signs with it.

Re: converting my drill press into a mill
 

There are a few threads here on using a drill press for milling. The vibrations can loosen up the taper and the chuck can come free while it's spinning (It's been done here at work before :roll:). A drill press is not designed to carry the side loads that a mill can.

There's a reason a drill press and a mill are two different pieces of equipment.

Re: converting my drill press into a mill
 

"thumbsup"

No one said you can't use a milling machine as a drill press!

Re: converting my drill press into a mill
 

Yea I agree with everyone else. The cheap lead screws they use in those slide vises will not be good for CNC application because they have too much backlash. All true CNC machines have tight tolerance ball screws with virtually 0 backlash to be accurate.

Re: converting my drill press into a mill
 

The issue isn't with the cheap lead screws/backlash of the compound slide vise, the issue is with the taper lock in the drill press not being able to deal with the side loads that the sliding vise will put on it. Putting a side load on the drill press chuck will make it come apart, separating the spindle from the chuck.

Re: converting my drill press into a mill
 

I was just talking about the CNC part of it. Even on an actual mill converting it to CNC isnt as simple as bolting on some steppers and hooking it all up to a controller. With traditional manual mill lead screws the thing will go crazy the first time you make a cut and self destruct will all that backlash in the lead screws.

You are correct the taper on the spindle will probably get loose regularly not to mention a host of other problems...The bearings in the spindle will go out, the column is not stiff enough, etc. Even with those problems its still more practical to use a drill press as a manual mill rather than a CNC mill.

Re: converting my drill press into a mill
 

well guys i got my mill table for my drill press today. and i must say it's built rather well. no play in the table and has the adjustable gibs. I need to order a small vise to bolt on to it now though, so when i get the vise for it I will post up some pics. i will probably use it as a manual mill for a little bit just to see how good it works. but from what i see now it should be a really good little mill table.

Re: converting my drill press into a mill
 

I dont use my collets very often ,Most of the time I just chuckup an end mill in the drill chuck .yes the drill chuck can come flyin off but only had it happen one time ,Used the wrong paralell bars [ wrong heighth] Set my DRO at 1" and ran the endmill into the new vice,the chuck an endmill came flyin off ..Just more carefull now and still use my drill chuck for most my side cuts , 0.25 depth,, pass max ,, just be carefull end mills are very sharp ,I use a shop vac while maching to remove chips and keep end mill cool ,a small amout of lube to save life of endmills ,,Wttool , I use the most to buy my tools ,,,Dont tap under power on the drill press mill just trun chuck by hand pulling down ,it will start and tap straight ,USE TAP MAGIC alum tapping fluid for alum it is the best ,i dont have cnc... I use DRO,,, KMS "thumbsup"

Re: converting my drill press into a mill
 

I do it, but only on plastics and lead. I take slow, shallow passes, at best I'll take a couple thousandths off. Anything more and there is a lot of vibration and chatter.

It takes me about an hour to carve something like this out.

http://i50.tinypic.com/2ns5obd.jpg

And a good part of a day to make these.

http://i39.tinypic.com/t8979g.jpg

I've thought about buying a x-y table, but that would most likely allow me to go harder and faster and screw something up, so I'm going to stick with hand feeding until I have an actual mill.

You've also got to consider how straight and true and solid the drill press is. That is the other reason I haven't bought any parts to convert it. My table sits at varying degrees below or above square in relation to the chuck, depending on how tight you crank it down. It also won't stay level side to side. Every time I move the table I have to go through and make sure everything is square again. Its not worth the hassle to convert it for mill use.