Using a Vertical mill as a Lathe.

[Todd Mann from Fastech]

Has anyone ever tried to use the vertical mill as a Lathe? By chucking the part in the spindle.

[Storkman]

Seen it done on a Bridgeport before.

[iowajim62]

Back in the 80's we used a right angle head in the Bridgeport for small short parts. And put lathe tool bits opposite each other on the table.

Also seen mill work done on a Chucker lathe where the drills/endmills were in the chuck and the parts were on the cross slide. Small 3 man shop just trying to get the job done on shoestring. Not something I would wanna do all the time.

[Matthew Hajicek - Singularity]

Done it plenty on a MaxNC-10, which is a little hobby CNC mill. You can put all kinds of toolholders on the table, and a part catcher under your parting tool. One nice thing is that the chips fall out nicely when working on the ID. I suppose if you're doing this on a real CNC mill you can use the toolchanger to change stock. (The MaxNC doesn't have a toolchanger.)

[robk]

We actualy do it quite often for building our own custom tool holders... We use horizontals, but same concept.

[Bob W.]

I did it in my Haas VF2 using an ER collet. I needed a profile in some delrin pieces so I clamped a HSS lathe tool in my vise, offset accordingly, and programmed 2 axis (X and Z) plunging toolpaths with the part in the spindle. It really worked well and I would do it again. I did several proof runs with the Z offset set up several inches so there wouldn't be any surprises.

 

Bob

[Todd Tracey from Fastech]

Need to think a little inside out on the programming, but it can be done. We had 50 taper machines and turned 1.25 stock. Unfortunately, company decided we didn't need a lathe if we could do that.

[Eeyore-nonhuman forum member]

Done it on Sharnoa and HAAS with Cimatron ,but you can use Mastercam too .

We `ve done it similar to Bullet Bob way .

I used Contour toolpath with 0.001 mm tool

You play your X coordinate like diameter offset .

wE MADE SPERICAL AND CONE HEAD SURFACES MOSTLY ON

hardened extractors

HTH

[FLIPPER™]

I have done it many times in the bridgeport style mills. works great if a lathe is tied up and u need one asap.