I have a small grizzly mill/drill. it has some bells and whistles like DRO in the Y and tilting head.the taper is R8 and the machine itself has been ran hard and put away wet by others. i think the bed is worn. i try to keep it clean, oiled, and the ways adjusted tight-ish, but it obviously is not a quality machine and so somewhat frustrating to use at times. getting a metal lathe is not really in the cards, so I am considering trying to do some light turning with it. I have already done stuff like strange bolts and some random brass pieces by clamping a bastard file or angle grinder in the vice and putting the bolt in a collet or drill chuck. I have been doing this method for years with everythng from cordless drills to my large rockwell drillpress but the mill allows for cleaner cuts and tighter tolerances for this kind of thing. I am not trying to build a spaceship but I am trying to get tolerances in the range of say .005. what I am looking to do right now specifically is machine the inside of a 1.625x.083 4130 tube for a press fit for a sealed bearing. as well as other sizes, mainly for press fits for bearings or other tight tolerance type fits. i would probably try to clamp the cutting tool into the vice in such a way that I could down feed for the cut and control the size of the cut with the X. FWIW I have not used a lathe since highschool metal shop so I don't remember any specifics really. I have been using the hell out of my mill though.
Here's a few questions if anyone wants to take a crack at them.
-what kind of attachments, if any could be used to chuck up pieces of 1-2" OD tubing into my mill?(R8 spindle)
-am i risking damaging the mill in any way with this kind of operation? it probably needs new bearings as it sits. the spindle bearings(i think) are noisy but there is no discernable play if I grab a drill chuck mounted to it.
-what type of cutting tools should i be looking at getting? you can buy just the tool stock and custom grind it correct?
-what are the chances I will be able to get the tolerances I am looking for with this setup?
-how deep of passes could i make with this type of setup?
Here's a few questions if anyone wants to take a crack at them.
-what kind of attachments, if any could be used to chuck up pieces of 1-2" OD tubing into my mill?(R8 spindle)
-am i risking damaging the mill in any way with this kind of operation? it probably needs new bearings as it sits. the spindle bearings(i think) are noisy but there is no discernable play if I grab a drill chuck mounted to it.
-what type of cutting tools should i be looking at getting? you can buy just the tool stock and custom grind it correct?
-what are the chances I will be able to get the tolerances I am looking for with this setup?
-how deep of passes could i make with this type of setup?