Vertical mill with 7"+ quill travel

SONICJK · Jan 25, 2018

Hey Guys,
Long time reader first time poster.
I've got an excello 602 vertical with a 6" quill travel.
For a new product I really need a quill travel of 7" to make things easy.
(yeah I know I can just move the knee up but that takes time and effort)

Does anyone know of any machines with a long quill travel?

Project requires boring 7" depth holes in wood actually, so nothing difficult at all, just need a bit longer stroke.

converterking · Jan 25, 2018

Get a bedmill or put a powerfeed on the knee.

Monarchist · Jan 25, 2018

SONICJK said:
Project requires boring 7" depth holes in wood actually, so nothing difficult at all, just need a bit longer stroke.

Kinda silly to incur the spend on a metalworking MILL for what is vanilla WOOD drilling. The machinery gets too big, too heavy, too soon when long quill travel is wanted.

There is all manner of from the top, from the side, from underneath long-travel drilling equipment around for that. The NEED goes back to timber construction, rail and maritime eras, persists in many-at-a-go furniture & cabinetry mass production.

Horizontal drillpress, anyone?

DDoug · Jan 25, 2018

Could you just mount a drill press head ?

Does your mill have like a Bridgeport, the mount on
the back of the ram for the shaper ?

If so, maybe swing the ram around, and mount a quality
brand of drill press head.

SONICJK · Jan 25, 2018

I really need the positioning ability of a compound table to make it feasible, so a drill press without slides adds difficulty.

Andy St · Jan 25, 2018

SONICJK said:
I really need the positioning ability of a compound table to make it feasible, so a drill press without slides adds difficulty.

SONICJK
Reread diggers post he has your answer if you can find a DP head with the travel. What is your budget? If you were going to buy a used knee and turret mill probably around 2 thousand ? There are lots of machines with the required quill travel but most would be overkill and over your price range.

Andy

Richard King · Jan 25, 2018

I just spent 1/2 hour looking at spec sheets of Knee type mills and can't find one with a quill that feeds more then 5 1/2". You may have to order a special machine. Wells Index still makes their machines in the USA. Give them a call.

Wells Index - CNC or manual knee type milling machines, vertical, horizontal and combination mills

SONICJK · Jan 25, 2018

I've got a line on a cincinnati drill press with 8" throw that will work, but I'll have to build a cross slide table to be able to adjust back and forth for hole positioning.

Monarchist · Jan 25, 2018

SONICJK said:
I really need the positioning ability of a compound table to make it feasible, so a drill press without slides adds difficulty.

?? woodchoppers have "slides" nearly as precise as metal-manglers, some that easily move panels the size of a whole wall or glue-lam beams that can span a carpark.

D'you happen to have a beam or joist that spans your space?

Niles made ceiling-mount drills. Hang one over a rail siding or a canal, drill into the roof of rolling stock or watercraft of "whatever" size. Up-from under drilling and side drilling served automotive, railcar, freight trailer construction, etc.

Walker-Turner DP's can hang off the column exiting their TOP as easily as the conventional downward. That maker even stocked OEM clamps to attach them to a steel beam at one time. And they had competition. Plenty of it.

Put any table of choice underneath, spindle to column distance is no longer involved, only the max dimensions of the whole room.

Slide tables in X, X-Y, X-Y-Z are an industry, not a mystery. Seek and ye shall find.

IOW - there are MANY solutions and many building-block gadgets to sort your challenge.

A bigger mill is not one of the better ones unless you have other work that needs that.

SONICJK · Jan 25, 2018

Monarchist said:
?? woodchoppers have "slides" nearly as precise as metal-manglers, some that easily move panels the size of a whole wall or glue-lam beams that can span a carpark.

D'you happen to have a beam or joist that spans your space?

Niles made ceiling-mount drills. Hang one over a rail siding or a canal, drill into the roof of rolling stock or watercraft of "whatever" size. Up-from under drilling and sdie drilling for automotive and railcar, etc.

Walker-Turner DP's can hang off the column exiting their TOP as easily as the conventional downward. That maker even stocked OEM clamps to attach them to a steel beam at one time. And they had competition. Plenty of it.

Put any table of choice underneath, spindle to column distance is no longer involved, only the max dimensions of the whole room.

IOW - there are MANY solutions, and many building-block gadgets to sort your challenge.

A bigger mill is not one of the better ones unless you have other work that needs that.

No beams to hang from.
I only need a couple of inches of adjustability, no need to span the shop.
A large drill press and a cross slide table would do the trick, I was just hoping to find a ready made machine to save the time, and to have it in the future for other projects.
The modified drill press pretty much becomes a one trick pony.

HuFlungDung · Jan 25, 2018

I suppose you could engineer some kind of a pancake air cylinder with 1" stroke to go underneath the knee elevator screw. Drill down the 6" you've got on the quill while the air cylinder is charging and lifting up

Mud · Jan 25, 2018

How heavy is the drilling operation? Could you just park a drill press real close next to the mill and use the mill table to position the part? How's that for outside the box -

Monarchist · Jan 25, 2018

SONICJK said:
The modified drill press pretty much becomes a one trick pony.

One Helluva flexible "trick" though... light enough to be treated as "building block" and moved "wherever" for its next circus.

rklopp · Jan 25, 2018

How about doing the job in a Euro-style (e.g., Deckel or Aciera) mill using the horizontal mode? Likely you will not find one with a 7"-travel quill, but you fill find ones with plenty of headstock travel. Headroom is if no concern in the horizontal mode. Power feed and rapid traverse will help a lot if you have lots to do.

Another thought is to tie your workpiece to the saddle of a lathe and drive the tool with the lathe's spindle. You can move the workpiece fast, as for peck drilling, using this method.

Monarchist · Jan 25, 2018

Mud said:
How heavy is the drilling operation? Could you just park a drill press real close next to the mill and use the mill table to position the part? How's that for outside the box -

7" is not just any DP. My W-T couldn't do that.

The Massive AB5/S Alzmettal can, but that's easily in the same class of investment as a stout mill - if only for the "gone scarce" factor.

The woodchopping / sawdust-making tribe have these challenges nailed best. There's where to look.

FredC · Jan 25, 2018

I still like Digger's #4 post. Your mill does not have a mount for a shaper on the back, like a Bridgeport? If not get another Lagun/Bridgeport or any of the other mills with a shaper lug, mount a long stroke drill spindle then you have another milling machine plus a long stroke drill press.

SONICJK · Jan 25, 2018

Horizontal would work fine, but there's no height adjustability.

Basically I've got boards of varying thickness. Call them 2x12, 3x12 ect variable. I need to be able to drill center of those boards regardless of their thickness, so need to be able to move the table (or spindle) in and out to reach the center. Hole depth needs to be 7".

Needs to be dead simple and not screw-uppable so that unskilled employees can do it unsupervised.

SONICJK · Jan 25, 2018

FredC said:
I still like Digger's #4 post. Your mill does not have a mount for a shaper on the back, like a Bridgeport? If not get another Lagun/Bridgeport or any of the other mills with a shaper lug, mount a long stroke drill spindle then you have another milling machine plus a long stroke drill press.

My mill does not, but I'm not opposed to this idea, but I'm still stuck at where do I find a drill press head with 8" throw? Not as easy as it sounds otherwise I'd already have one lol.

Monarchist · Jan 25, 2018

SONICJK said:
Needs to be dead simple and not screw-uppable so that unskilled employees can do it unsupervised.

Only mills as meet THAT criteria have levers, hydraulics, or air traverse rather than crank handle or wheels. Burke/Houdaille/Powermatic or Barker speciality.

7"? More than that, actually.

Me late Dad wudda hung his left-hand-cut Speedbores off the Dewalt radial saw, laid up a jig, and turned the job over to his ten-year old kid.

Matter of fact, he did exactly that, 1955, to thru-bore Oak planks for allthread rod to keep a benchtop tight and sweet 'stead of trusting to glue, Bally-style.

I didn't mind a bit.

Well I did, actually. Even learnt how to sharpen them. All too easy to burn-up a Speedbore in seasoned Oak.

twin staged · Jan 25, 2018

What hole diameter? Maybe a handheld operation you can take to the work? A parallelogram jig will find the center of anything you squeeze it to. Center pivot of that will be your bit. It would be a one off, but definitely idiot resistant.

Vertical mill with 7"+ quill travel

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