Creative use of a drill press

[Nobody]

This is a trick I learned from EBSTEVE. Attach a cutoff wheel to an arbor, and you have an instant milling machine...well not quite. For the most part it works very well. I did find I get a little bit of deflection on the cutoff wheel, but after it wore down a bit, it worked better.

[tekatlarge]

That is a good suggestion there Nobody.

I used to use that same approach approach Untill I finally bought a Mill.

Here is a very cheep way to improve on the drill press mill.

for a mere 40 bucks you can get a machinists cross slide vise that you can crank back and forth like a (mini) mill table. The vise gets secured to the drill table and you feed the part in by cranking the handles. Check out this vice at Harbor Fright!! http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/d ... number=538

For 40 bucks you have basically a milling machine. Next step would be to buy a couple of end mills and away you go.

[dgl6y6]

Could you add in a fender washer above the cutoff wheel to cut down on deflection?

[Lance Skene]

I buy router bits made for use with steel and aluminum, since they are designed with cutting edges on the side of the bit they work very well with a cross slide vise.