Re: Drill-press for milling?

[FutureT-at-aol-dot-com (by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>)]

In a message dated 6/3/00 7:43:53 PM Pacific Daylight Time, tesla-at-pupman-dot-com 
writes:

> Dan!
>  
>  I would advise against trying it.
>  
>  The reason is, that there are some differences btwn. milling machines
>  and drillpresses, however alike they may seem. these differences favour
>  the milling machine with greater stiffness, and the drilling machine
>  with longer and faster travel of the main spindle.

Hi Dan,

I milled an armature using a drill press, But as Finn says,
I don't really recommend it.  I didn't have an x-y table, so I just slid
the work around by hand, but the end mill had a tendency to jump to
the side at times due to the flexibilty of the drill press shaft.  One
time I thought the shaft was definitely bent, but It seems to be OK.
It's a good thing the shaft is pretty springy.

I've also used the file method, and especially for an armature that
gets 4 flats, it's quite easy and fast to do (about 1/2 hour as Finn
said), because the flats are not that deep.  I have no special training
in the use of a file.

I've also used the angle grinder method, but this went very slowly,
possibly because the grinder blade was somewhat dull ( I had 
borrowed it from a friend), and because it was a 2-flat motor, so
I made the flats deeper. 

Cheers,
John Freau
--


>  
>  I did 4 years of toolmaking apprenticeship, 14 weeks of filing school,
>  so maby I am forgetting that filing is an art that takes time and lots
>  of practice to master.
>  
>  Perhaps better go by the angle grinder method. 
>  
>  Hope this helps,
>  
>  cheers, Finn Hammer 
>