Milling on a drill press with a cross sliding vise.

Widerstand

Widerstand

Joined
Feb 23, 2010
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I was wondering if anyone here has tried basic milling operations using a drill press with a cross sliding vise?

I got rid of my small hobbyists drill press and good a 3/4 HP grizzly, which is much nicer then my el-cheap-o 1/4hp one that I had and its about 5 times quieter.
 
I looked into it when I started buying my equipment. I wanted to avoid the cost of a mill. In the end what I found was that the quality of cross slide table needed would have cost nearly as much as a decent used mill.

I finally decided the trade-off wasn't in my favor.
 
ron_m80 said:
I looked into it when I started buying my equipment. I wanted to avoid the cost of a mill. In the end what I found was that the quality of cross slide table needed would have cost nearly as much as a decent used mill.

I finally decided the trade-off wasn't in my favor.
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What quality level of cross slide table were you looking at?

I am not really interested in keeping a tolerance, mostly just looking to be able to drill holes in a straight line, cutting some groves, and slots.
 
A drill press does not have the correct bearings for side loading (milling).

The drill chuck is a taper fit in the drill press. Side load the chuck and it will exit the press while spinning at high rpm. This could badly hurt you.

Chuck
 
I tried it and exactly what Chuck explained happened within a few minutes. Not a good idea.
 
i got a mini mill for jsut that (you can drill with a mill but you cant mill with a drill safely)
 
Okay so milling on a drill press is a bad idea, what about a cross sliding vise just for drilling accurate holes and moving the work around without having clamp, move, and re-clamp for each hole?
 
You can take light cuts with small cutters, but the runout is pretty bad so cutter life and finish are not good. It would take an experienced machinist to recognize warning signs of danger. This is not a great way to learn how to mill. As already mentioned, it is hard on the drill press and can very easily be dangerous to the operator. The best use of a cross slide table on a drill press is to allow accurate hole placement.
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
You can take light cuts with small cutters, but the runout is pretty bad so cutter life and finish are not good. It would take an experienced machinist to recognize warning signs of danger. This is not a great way to learn how to mill. As already mentioned, it is hard on the drill press and can very easily be dangerous to the operator. The best use of a cross slide table on a drill press is to allow accurate hole placement.
Click to expand...

Thanks Nathan. I think the one I am looking at will be worth it to have the ability to get accurate hole placement.
 
usig a cross slide is a gret way to make sure you have your work clamped down and easy to move. it will saver you from tring to work faster and not having your blank locked down (blade copters suck at best and at worst send you to the ER for stitches ) for hole location its hard to beat but jsut dont think that you can take even light side cuts and it wil serve you well
 
Alpha Knife Supply said:
A drill press does not have the correct bearings for side loading (milling).

The drill chuck is a taper fit in the drill press. Side load the chuck and it will exit the press while spinning at high rpm. This could badly hurt you.

Chuck
Click to expand...

Above is 100% correct.

The cross-slide vises are really only suitable for centering up on a hole, or simple hole patterns. Actual milling operations are scary and dangerous at best, and extremely dangerous at worst.
 
Thanks, for all the input folks.

After reading all the comments I will not be attempting to mill with my drill press.

However I will be getting a cross siding vise for safer and more accurate drilling.
 
I tried it, and my drill press chuck is no longer square. I have wobbling drilling now.
 
I am able to do shallow milling on micarta using my drill press and a router bit. But only shallow. I move the piece by hand so I can feel if the resistance is too great. I would not try it with metsl however, too much side load pressure.
 
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