What do you guys use? I have a project where it'd be great to use my lathe and Palmgren milling attachment instead of the mini mill, but I think collet's in general might be usefull for repetitive operations.

Thought about 5C collets with a closer, but this would be in the way whenever I have to use cat head or change lathe gears.

Anybody use ER40 collet setup? It looks pretty good.

Appreciate any other suggestions.

Are you using a mini lathe? I use mine with a headstock holder which I made to the taper for the mill cutters. A draw bar in made to pull the #3 Morse and then bore the hole to fit the end mill size. Use a 3/8 in. set screw to hold the mill cutter in the headstock end. Maybe this will give you an idea.

Les,

Thanks for the reply! I have a 12x36 Grizzly lathe. I'm trying to avoid the drawbar (at least the complicated Quick Release Grizzly system) since I frequently put barrels through the headstock or do deep hole drilling with lower gears or Metric Threading and would have to disassemble the apparatus.

I made a 5C hand wheel style collet closer for my lathe, the outboard end slides right inside my cathead.
On and off in a minute.

Used 4130 tubing and cut the internal thread to match a 5C.

I have a vise that mounts on the cross slide and I just put the end mills in the 3 jaw chuck. I have not used it in years though.

I use ER40 collets in my lathe quite often because the chuck on my 16x54 Pacemaker won't hold the small stuff.

I put a square ER40 collet block in the four jaw and center up a piece of round stock. Then the collet block stays in the four jaw until I need to turn something larger.

I use the lathe and Palmgren attachment to make extractor cuts for Model 70's. I have had no issue just holding the cutter in the 3-jaw chuck. For most milling, I use the mill. For the occasional job where I use the lathe, this works just fine. Regards, Bill

I started using ER style collets in my Clausing lathe and Bridgeport mill a few years back and I highly recommend them.

I don't have a mill and don't really have the
space for one. There's times I've needed to make
an end mill cut.

Which Palmgren vise do you have? A picture would be great.
They only make about 50 of 'em.

Thanks,

George

georgeld, I think the Palmgren that leeper was reffering to is not a vice but a lathe attachment that is used for milling in the lathe, they have been around for a very long time. I am not sure if they are still made do a search.
bb

All,

Thanks for the responses.

Building a 5G collet and drawbar might be a good way to go. Had thought I'd buy the collet closer system if I went that way, but a simple drawbar through the cathead would be good.

I also was thinkng of getting an ER-40 chuck, but just putting the ER-40 block in the 4 jaw is a great idea also, especially since as you mentioned, it also allows using small diameter material with the precision of 4 jaw vs 3 jaw (or even having to switch chucks).

I've also used the end mill directly in the 3 jaw, but I've read it's a no-no, and I've had some work slip with heavy cuts with no shoulder, so I was looking to do something else.

Bill, the main use for my palmgren is exactly that: cutting the extractor slot on a barrel. Too long to do easily on my mini mill.

Georgeld, here's a link to the Palmgren milling attachment. As bigbull says, it's not a standard vise, but one that attaches to the compound with an old style tool post; don't think they make them anymore:

https://www.travers.com/lathe-...chment/p/61-253-082/

Thanks for all the great ideas.

about as simple as you can get
https://littlemachineshop.com/...w.php?ProductID=4315

Thanks, James!

Thank you guys.
This has the best picture I've found so far.

I did a search after reading the first post.
E'bay showed up with a 100 or more of such things. All had various vise's shown. And some showed that forked mount base. I haven't been able to get that page opened again.

There's no reason such a base couldn't be made to fit these quick change mounts. Once the opening is wide enough to fit, the fork on each side could be clamped down with the set screws same as a tool bit is.

That's what I'm looking for. Without a mill to cut that slot, it would be hard to get it right.

I've thought of welding some flats together the right size and drilling a couple mounting holes. Doing it that way would be a whole lot
easier than trying to cut the notch right in a
heavy piece of angle iron. Say: 3/8"x4"x4".

A few years ago I turned a 10" disc of 3/8" plate and laid out "pie" lines from the center out all around. Then drilled a 3/8" hole every inch to mount a vise on it. All it lacks is the fork mount and deciding which vise to buy.

This link shows 36#, that's pretty heavy. What I've made so far with this disc, just bolting a small machinists vise on wouldn't be anywhere near that weight.

Trouble is, most vise's in MSC, WTT's catalogs don't have bolt down bases.

Thank you for trying to help.

George

more food for thought for the lathe only guys!!
https://mlatoolbox.com/index.html

I did a search after reading the first post.
E'bay showed up with a 100 or more of such things. All had various vise's shown. And some showed that forked mount base. I haven't been able to get that page opened again.

There's no reason such a base couldn't be made to fit these quick change mounts. Once the opening is wide enough to fit, the fork on each side could be clamped down with the set screws same as a tool bit is.

George,
That is exactly what I have. The forked base is cut to just fit the indexing toolpost and is clamped in by the tool holding screws. I use a quick change toolpost for turning so I just switch toolposts when I need to cut an extractor slot.
It's a useful attachment. Regards, Bill

I use a 5C collet with endmills, a 3-jaw chuck always has a little offset. A 4-jaw chuck can be adjusted to a smaller offset.

Thanks Bill:

I don't have a way to cut that notch is the thing here.

Believe I can cut some bar stock and weld
them up.

Not sure yet which vise to get though.
Any suggestions?

I don't have a collet set up, out of my reach
for funding too. I used to use them on the job
many years ago.

Thanks,

George

I've a Grizzly as well (G4003G).

The one time I milled with it, I just used a 5c collet the size of my endmill and put it into my ATS-Sjorgren collet chuck. I was able to find one with a D1-5 backplate, so I don't have to use an adapter.

My chuck has about .0006" of TIR. For what I was doing (cutting down indexible tool holders to fit my Aloris QCTP), that's not even noticable.