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Drilling holes: Hardinge TM milling machine

techymechy

Aluminum
Joined
Oct 24, 2018
I recently bought a Hardinge TM milling machine and am playing with it. I have both the horizontal arbor and the vertical head. I'd like to be able to drill holes when set up with the vertical configuration.

I have a number of MT2 shank drill bits. Does anyone make a 4C collet that can hold a MT2 drill bit?

I have a straight shank Jacobs Super Chuck 11N. This is a very nice chuck but a little limited on the diameter of drills it can grab. I would like to have a 14N or 16N, but then the chucks start to get a little big.

I'd like to have 4C to MT2 adapter, but I can't fine any.

Please let me know if someone sells a 4C to MT2 adapter.

Dave
 
Hardinge makes 4C plug chucks, a collet shank with a cylindrical end that can be machined to make various adapters and tooling. One could be bored and reamed to a Morse taper, or straight bored to fit a straight shank Morse taper sleeve, as used in turret lathes.

ShopHardinge - 17870000000000

Hardinge makes 5C to 0 through 4 MT adapters, but I don't think they still make 4C Morse taper adapters.

ShopHardinge - 10050880000000

On the whole, a TM with the Hardinge vertical head makes an unsatisfactory drilling machine. That is why some people have adapted Bridgeport M heads to their TM or UM mills. The M head has a quill for drilling.

Larry
 
Hi Larry,

Thanks for the response and the links. I agree, the vertical head on the Hardinge TM is not made to easily drill holes. I have a XY stage on my drill press for drilling a lot of holes, but I was thinking it would be nice to have this capability on the mill if the part does not require a lot of quill work.

I agree, the Bridgeport M head on the Hardinge mill would be nice. I just got the mill operational at my home and would like to get more skilled before investing in a M head. Also, it seems that M heads are getting harder to find - I haven't seen any advertised on eBay nor Craigslist for some time.

I was hoping to find an adapter to go from a 4C to a MT2. I like your idea about using a straight shank Morse Taper sleeve. I wonder if a MT2 could fit into a 3/4" OD sleeve? I have the 3/4" collet. I'll have to go look for one or maybe use and existing MT2-MT? adapter and turn it straight.

Dave
 
I had a pretty beat up MT2-MT3 adapter on the shelf and decided to try to use this. The adapter was pretty dinged up. I roughly placed the adapter between centers on my lathe and machined it to a little over sized. I cut the end with the larger diameter with a 1/4” thick flange and the small diameter end straight. I then chucked it up in my 4 Jaw chuck and centered the taper on both ends with an indicator. I then cut a chamfer on both ends. I then placed the part between centers again and machined it to dimension (3/4” diameter with a 1 1/4”, 1/4” thick flange). I messed up in that I didn’t sand down the high spots in the MT2 until the last step. I should have done this before I indicated in the insert on my 4 jaw.

I placed the insert in the 3/4” 4-C collet on the vertical head. I then use used the ground MT2 dead center from my lathe to indicate from with my 1/10ths indicator. The dead center measured .0002” TIR. I’m really happy how this turned out. I can use this for my 5C main spindle too.

Dave
 








 
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