Vertical Mill

Tim23

Member
Hey guys. Alright, I know this sounds bad, but I just bought a vertical milling machine and now I'm wondering if I have a use for it. I know what it does, but I'm not sure what I would use it for. Its an Index 645. I'm thinking I will probably just sell it but thought I would post here first and see what the community thinks. I do a little hobby work on old fords mostly, and tinker with anything else that catches my eye. So, any thoughts? What can I use it for? How much of a learning curve is there on such a piece of equipment? I'm pretty good with hands on stuff but I would be starting from scratch on this one. Thanks.
 
Keeping it depends on many things. It will come in very handy if you build anything out of metal or restore old tractors. I bought a mill/drill which is sort of a vertical mill. When I bought it, I wasn't sure I would use it. Now I want a better mill. This is one of those tools that once you start using it you will think why did I wait so long. The only real minus to this the cost of the tooling too use on the mill. By time you get a set of bit in various sizes, clamps, indicator and other tooling you can have a lot of money invested. Check out Enco. They have a huge selection of stuff and the prices are pretty good.
 
One of the best drill presses you can find if you use it for nothing else. The quill may not be all that long but you can crank the table up with an extra long drill. It seems when repairing car parts something always needs notched or shaved.
 
Last thing I used mine for was using a 1/4" end mill to drill out a stud in a Ford head the owner had broken off a drill bit in.

If you have a lathe a mill is a nice complement. If you only get a chuck (which you may have), a clamp set, vise, and a fly cutter or boring head you can trim anything flat, and mill out round holes any size you want.

Of course end mills are easy to cut slots with.

I don't use mine often, but when I need it there is not much for a substitute.
 
I learned what a milling machine was when I was about eight years old, and have wanted one ever since. I am 56 now. I do have a decent lathe. Still hope to have a Bridgeport or similar someday.

If you have the shop space, keep it. I would think it would be a fun learning experience.

Garry
 
This is it. Index model 645. As far as I know it works. I don't think it has been used in a while.

27F4723B-301A-49ED-9FF8-64ABE78051FA_zps7tk3mh1l.jpg.html
 
Old Fords?
Looking for something to make. The hydraulic adapter kit for a Ford 600 series tractor is a good get to know the machine part.
Hydraulic Adapter Kit Part Number HV4902 in the online store.
 
Link below will give you some starters, and a perusal of Home Machinist, Practical Machinist or any of the other internet discussion boards related to such things will turn up a lot more. I believe you can still get manuals and other stuff for it as well. A lot will depend on how much and what kind of tooling you got with the mill--many had oddball (or at least not terribly common) tapers, and finding accessories that will work can take some looking. As DickL said, if nothing else, they make a heckuva drill press--just the ability to firmly clamp down your work and move it a few thousandths at a time to get your hole where you want it is a tremendous advantage. Other things that are simple on a mill but difficult without one are making slots for that hole that's JUST off a smidge from where it needs to be to line up, relieving or flattening a section of something for clearance for something else, and even little things like squaring up one edge of a workpiece relative to another. The more you'll use it, the more uses you'll find for it!
Some info on Index mills
 

Those are good machines, my dad had a couple of them. That one looks a bit dirty, but it looks to have a powered table, which is nice. Look up the machinist forums on the net. It's basically a Bridgeport clone. Any R8 tooling for a Bridgeport will work on that machine.
 
That is a very handy tool to have. You'll need 3 phase power for it, or an inverter.

Did you get any tooling? The basics will include a vice, a set of collects, a drill chuck, an assortment of 2
and 4 flute end mills, an edge finder, and an indicator set. This stuff is expensive if bought new, but there
are tons of it used. Most machine shops have gone with CNC equipment, so the old conventional stuff is on the
used market or laying around under the bench waiting for you to go ask for it! Check Ebay, Craigslist,
friends and neighbors...

To get an idea what it will do, go to Youtube, lots of how to videos.
 
The adapter plate will work on an 850 I believe. I have one on a Ford 2000.

A decade or more ago I bought scans of original engineering drawings of the tractor+attachments from the Henry Ford Museum. Not the complete tractor or attachments just what I was interested in. They shipped me a DVD of stuff. Pretty cool I thought. I have it all saved somewhere.
 
Wow, you guys have given me a lot of good uses for my new toy. I do need a drill press, and that will probably be its main function at least for a while. Yes it is very dirty, everything here is very dirty. I'm not sure why we even have it. I got it from a silent auction at work, and I don't think anyone has ever used it here. All that is included with it is in the pic (thanks Den N Ms for posting that for me) and the wiring including the starter. My wife's cousin works as a lineman for the local co-op. I'm gonna ask him about getting 3 phase in my workshop. I'm not sure if it will be worth the cost, but the substation is right across the street so I don't see why it would be a problem. I also got a 3 phase welder. The conversion for the welder to single phase is cheap and doesn't look to hard, but if I'm gonna need it for more than one piece of equipment it seems worth checking out. ... Correction, there are several tools with it. at least 2 collets, some stepped wedge lookin things, the bolts that hook into the carriage to clamp stuff down and a lot of other stuff covered in about 10lbs of dirt. I'll update when I get it all home and cleaned up.
 
I got one and, so far, haven't used it much but boy, when you do need it they are the cat's meow. I last used mine to inlet a
blank rifle stock. Compared to the other times I have done it with hand tools I couldn't believe how quick and simple it was and
how accurate it came out.
 
I don't use mine daily or even weekly (I have a drill press also), but when you want a precision hole or something has to be exactly right, you can't beat it. If you have the room for it and a way to run it, never get rid of it. Mine fell of the turnip truck with a boat load of bits and chucks. All I had to do was have a 3 phase converter made to power it. One of the best $100 bills I ever spent. When it was offered to me 10 years ago, I said no thanks. It showed up anyway and now there is no way I will get rid of it. My last project was enlarging a hole on an aluminum pulley from 7/8 to .003 less than 1". Try that on an inexpensive drill press.
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Quill travel looks like it could be six inches, that's longer than you'll find on any drill press. Great find.

All it takes to make a home made three phase converter is a three phase idler motor as larger or larger than the mill motor. Really easy and cheap, run two legs of your single phase from a disconnect to two of the idler motor three leads, and then tie all three leads to the reversing switch incoming power. When you want to run the mill close the disconnect while kick starting the idler motor sheave. When it comes up to speed you can run the mill forward or reverse with about 90% of the power if it was connected directly to three phase. You'll never notice it is underpowered. I've run mine that way for years. My idler was a throwaway because it had one broken foot, but still sits level, it's not even bolted down.
 
I got tired of messing with the idler motor and just got a phase converter and it is much less hassle.
I tried a VFD but did not like it as they have to slow clear down to stop and then speed back up to run.
 
You can adjust the ramp up/down parameters on a VFD or make them brake.

Ramp up as fast as possible without over current, ramp down as fast as possible without over voltage due to regeneration or add braking resistors.
 

For 30 years I would use a hacksaw, files, and a portable drill motor to do all my metal working projects. If I needed a slot, cut both sides with the hacksaw, then drill most of the metal out, then a chisel to remove most of it. Then the files to make it pretty.

Last 18 years fire up the Bport and go at it. What would take an hour, I can do in a couple of minutes with the mill. If you're working metal, you need a mill.
 
what a table saw is to a wood shop, a milling machine is to a metal shop.

It's a very useful item.

Between a mill and a lathe, there's not much you can't do.

There most certainly is a BIG learning curve to use it like a pro.

But it's kinda like welding. Even if you only know a little, you can still do something worthwhile.

Don't wait for a need. Think up a few simple little projects. You'll destroy your first attempts. The next will be a
little better. You'll break something on your third, and by your fourth or fifth project you'll be comfortable and
looking for stuff that needs milling.

go to a big book store and you can probably still get issues of machinist magazine (I forget the actual name) -
they've always got great pointers and ideas.

It's very satisfying and fun once you get a hang of it.

Like other complicated shop tools - it's 90% little tips and tricks that'll move you ahead - figuring out creative
ways of measuring from different reference points - that kind of thing.

keep it.
 
(quoted from post at 11:15:20 01/28/16) I got tired of messing with the idler motor and just got a phase converter and it is much less hassle.
I tried a VFD but did not like it as they have to slow clear down to stop and then speed back up to run.
Yeah I have a buddy that bought an expensive phase converter and after two years it failed. He's getting by with an idler motor too. They are cheap to idle, you just have to get used to the sound, and can't beat the price. Mine will idle for hours while I'm making setups and milling. Idler motor is definitely the economical way to go. What did you pay for a phase converter?
 
I'm not sure how it works, but the phase converter that was made for me includes an idler motor mounted on the machine. The
picture was taken before the phase converter was installed.
 
KEEP IT. The more you use it the more you will use it. Find some books on milling. I think
Brownells may have some. Get on a couple of the hobby machinist forums. Get some tooling and learn
it, a vise, angle plate, boring head maybe, fly cutter, possibly a rotary table, also a clamping
kit, on your lathe make an adapter to use a drill chuck-the chuck can screw onto it. If you can
have collets ranging from 1/8" to as large as the spindle will take, in 1/16" increments. When
working tractors and equipment and making things I am constantly making something on the lathe and
mill that will make the job better. I don't know how you restore/repair antique stuff with out a
lathe, mill, drillpress, and other smaller power tools. A milling machine is as useful as a lathe,
you just have to get into the fact that you have one, what it can do, and you will find you use it
more and more. Tom
 

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