Hello all, above in the first picture is the drill press I have right now. It's 1/2hp, I forget the top speed but it's somewhere in the range of 3000-3500 RPM, nothing extraordinary. It seems fairly rigid, that doesn't mean anything obviously but at least there is no super evident jigglage when everything is locked down. Spindle is MT2, obviously no drawbar which may be a problem.

Current chuck is mounted with a JT3 arbor, obviously that can't be trusted for lateral milling forces. But I was thinking of getting an MT2 ER collet chuck to bypass the JT problem. That obviously still leaves a self-holding Morse taper keeping the whole thing together. How much of a concern is this for my purposes?

I am thinking I'll mostly be doing soft materials/plastics with smaller end mills (probably mostly 1/4" HSS) and taking very light cuts. Is there anything I can do to keep that Morse taper from falling out? I don't really want to Loctite it, but if such a thing is necessary I will.

Obviously that x-y vise in the second picture is gonna need some adjustment to make it actually suitable even for light work, it's straight from China. Yes I know this is a stupid idea, but having a crappy mill that can barely do anything is better then having no mill at all. What do you think?

Thanks!

Been thrown onto this old lathe, been a while and can’t for the life of me remember how to engage the auto feed. Any able to point me in the right direction? Cheers

As a dentist looking to evaluate dental materials, my primary expertise is clinical rather than in materials science engineering. I am exploring a budget-friendly testing setup and would appreciate insight on its validity : Can I measure micro hardness using a force gauge mounted on a sturdy rail along with a Vickers indenter, later to be evaluated using a microscope and Imagej software??

Why am I having trouble finding a shop (in the US) that will heat treat 954 aluminum bronze? The spec doesn't look complicated. What am I missing?

From ASTM B505:

Anneal not less than 2 h followed by air cool, 620 to 660 °C.

Solution treat not less than 1 h followed by water quench, 870 to 910 °C.