Wheel turning on a Milling Machine?

alan@york
Posts: 27
Joined: Tue Apr 05, 2016 7:38 pm

Re: Planning to buy a modellers lathe

Postby alan@york » Tue Nov 16, 2021 10:13 pm

I don't own a lathe, but do have a Proxxon milling machine and XY table.
I'd like to be able to turn some OO wheels to P4 standards: would it be possible to do this reasonably easily, as surely the milling machine is just a lather on its end?
Or should I actually try and get a small lathe? (may of course be cheaper to get someone to turn the wheels?)
a@y

Stephan.wintner
Posts: 109
Joined: Sun Mar 15, 2020 11:04 pm

Re: Planning to buy a modellers lathe

Postby Stephan.wintner » Wed Nov 17, 2021 2:52 am

Curious what the more experienced folks say.

If you own a Proxxon MF70, as I do, even with the upgraded spindle from usovo I'd say your out of luck. I'm not convinced it can take a decent size wheel holding fixture (e.g. from Fohrmann) and be rigid enough to do the job, especially if your trying to use a form tool. Then again I've not tried. Gentle efforts may work?

I've not used Proxxons larger mills....

Steve

Terry Bendall
Forum Team
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Re: Planning to buy a modellers lathe

Postby Terry Bendall » Wed Nov 17, 2021 8:58 am

alan@york wrote:I don't own a lathe, but do have a Proxxon milling machine and XY table.
I'd like to be able to turn some OO wheels to P4 standards: would it be possible to do this reasonably easily, as surely the milling machine is just a lather on its end?


No I am afraid it would not be possible to do this. On a lathe the work piece is held in a chuck of some type and rotates against the cutting tool which has to be held firmly in the tool past. The tool is then fed into the work piece under control by turning a screw thread. To machine a wheel on a milling machine the wheel would have to be held on a rotary table which is then rotated against the cutting tool. There is a slight taper on the tread of the wheel of 1 in 20 so unless the milling machine has the facility to tilt the head this could not be achieved. The milling cutter would have to match the correct wheel profile of the tyre and flange which might be done if you made a special fly cutter. (See the article on milling machines in the series) I would not even attempt to make that at home but it might be done with a spark erosion machine which is how the recently introduced form tools were made.

If you have not already done so you may find it useful to look up the series of articles that I wrote in 2007/8 and published in Scalefour News. These can be seen in the members section of the web site. Issue 155 dealt with the basic machine and advice on purchase. Issues 166 and 167 dealt with the turning of wheels with a rotary table shown on page 25 of issue 166.

I think this is a case where the right tool for the job, in this case a lathe needs to be used. The lathe used needs to be sufficiently robust to take the strain involved and such a machine will of course cost more money.

Terry Bendall

Jeremy Suter
Posts: 359
Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2009 6:56 pm

Re: Planning to buy a modellers lathe

Postby Jeremy Suter » Wed Nov 17, 2021 8:59 am

alan@york wrote:I don't own a lathe, but do have a Proxxon milling machine and XY table.
I'd like to be able to turn some OO wheels to P4 standards: would it be possible to do this reasonably easily, as surely the milling machine is just a lather on its end?
Or should I actually try and get a small lathe? (may of course be cheaper to get someone to turn the wheels?)
a@y



It is easy enough to use a Milling Machine as a Lathe as it is a Lathe as a Milling Machine the knack is being able to see what you are cutting.
I am just setting up some Heljan driving wheels with 2mm axle holes on a home made arbour to run on a 2mm axle fitted in the small watchmakers Lathe. The art of converting wheels to P4 is not allowing it to spin in the arbour when the cutter hits the flange and do not do it all with the form tool but just use it to finish with.
Tips and tricks in machine tool practice viewtopic.php?f=132&t=6350

davebradwell
Posts: 1174
Joined: Fri Jan 18, 2019 3:48 pm

Re: Planning to buy a modellers lathe

Postby davebradwell » Wed Nov 17, 2021 9:18 am

I can't see this ending happily - aren't the speeds all wrong and the Proxxon collet tiny? You'd probably need a lathe to make up an arbour. I've heard of a professional doing something like this just for a bit of fun but that was on a much bigger machine.

DaveB

Stephan.wintner
Posts: 109
Joined: Sun Mar 15, 2020 11:04 pm

Re: Wheel turning on a Milling Machine?

Postby Stephan.wintner » Thu Nov 18, 2021 2:13 am

Dave B,

Yes, the MF70 has speeds from 5k to 20k rpm, and the stock collets Max out at 3.2mm. There is a spindle upgrade available from Usovo that allows for ER11 collets, which can go bigger. And a reduction gearbox is also available. Even with them, I'd be hesitant about rigidity.

But Proxxon also offers a larger mill, which should be more capable.

Stephan

alan@york
Posts: 27
Joined: Tue Apr 05, 2016 7:38 pm

Re: Wheel turning on a Milling Machine?

Postby alan@york » Wed Jan 05, 2022 4:48 am

Thanks for your views. I shall now actively search out a lathe.
alan@york


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