Milling Without A Mill! (On The Drill Press) | Güth Blades

I hope you enjoy this video tip. This little trick has come in handy quite a few times. While it is nothing compared to owning a mill, it works as an alternative while i can save up the money for a proper mill. Post any questions in the comments or contact me through my website (below).
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[geardrivensteam]

I always chuckle when all the experts come out and tell you how you shouldn't do things like this. Great video showing you can do things with what you have. Not everybody has deep enough pockets for a mill. Thanks.

[ultranon]

This is for viewers...I expect since this vid is over 3 yrs old that the creator has figured this stuff out....The x, y vise he is using has gib adjustments on it. If he had of adjusted those gibs that vise would be fine...A drill press works very nicely for milling wood, plastics and very soft metal like aluminum. Not so good for harder metals.The higher quality that your drill press is and the softer the material...The less chatter you will get. Most drill presses are not made to take a side load. If you try to cut hard materials the chuck will come out of its taper unless you have one of the few drill presses that the chuck is fastened. If you are wanting to mill soft materials like wood and plastic and softer aluminum there is no point in spending allot on a mill. Buy a cheap drill press and a cheap x, y vise and look into getting some high quality bearings that can take side load if you experience allot of chatter... Get a mill if you are gonna be doing allot of milling on anything harder than aluminum. Also on a drill press you are limited on the size of material that you can cut by the drill press and the vise size.

[hermesjackle]

Very basic but some times a guy in his shed has to find a way of doing something with minimum tools, been there.

[travismcallister]

I guess you have never seen a real mill. Slow steady small cuts from the TIP OF THE TOOL. amazingness

[assignmeanameplease]

Just be careful because too much side load could cause the chuck to fall out. The only thing holding it in is friction. When you use the drill press normally (vertically) the chuck is always being forced into the taper in the press tightening it.

[jaredbarsuglia]

He’s not a machinist, he’s working with what he’s got. I will say that the lateral pressures the drill press is taking will cause damage.

[ldwithrow]

I've torn up a few drill presses trying to mill on them. If you keep your feeds really light and stay with small diameter cutters you can get away with it but sooner or later you get over confidant and too familiar with it and hurt the drill press. The really old heavy duty drill presses seem to handle it better. My primary use for an x-y table is when I need to do really precise hole locations. And in a pinch I have clamped one to the ways of a wood lathe, played with the pulleys to slow it down, improvised a tool post and done some emergency metal turning jobs. As long as you don't need power feed it works great.

[mikesavad]

i'm not a machinist, but i'm certain you are supposed to take many passes going in like a 1/16th or 1/8" at a time. Just a bit at a time so you don't stress the sides. I've done this with drill bits with not so accurate results, but it worked, though it came out wonky.

[stevelamperta]

Buy the way, good job with your drill press mill job. Mills are very expensive, an unless your going to be milling all the time and only need a mill once in a blue moon, I say good job ! This guy gets the job done without spending thousands ! never thought about it that way did you guys with the negitive comments !

[disband_thebbc]

There's these old school contraptions known as hand tools, that can accomplish almost any task in the workshop but they require three things that are almost lost forever.

Willingness, effort and patience.

[jmac]

The "Riser blocks" you speak of are typically referred to as parallels, just fyi.
Cheers!

[grahampalmer]

outstanding film to watch we never stop learning and have great fun .

[bweber]

The things that raise the work piece are call parallels or pillow blocks

[danah]

The direction of cutting vs the flutes orientation is important: upmilling vs downmilling. Oh and since your end mill, chuck and arbor could come loose highly recommend you wear a face shield that includes neck coverage.

[Spartan]

Thanks for the video, helpful indeed.

[curtishaughton]

to calculate correct speed, formula is cutting speed x 4/diameter of endmill

[shadowcard]

So although it's horrible and sloppy, you might be able to fix some of that by tightening it up, there's adjustment screwes that are obviously lose for shipping, and yeah it's gonna be a bit crappy cuz they have not great finishing cuts, but you could always take it apart, hit the faces with a bit of file backed 100 grit or so and fix that.

[facereader]

Your honest appraisal is worth all! Great! Thank you very much!

[bigcountryvet]

Nothing wrong with the HF vise you just have take it apart give it a good cleaning and adjust and tighten it up to take any slop out. I have used a few. Even milled out an AR 80% lower years ago.

[francismumaugh]

this guy really dont know what he is doing needs to tighten up the vice and make small passes and not try to cut on the return motion