Horizontal mills are excellent at what they do, but what they do is limited. Vertical mills can tackle a much wider range of jobs.

Horizontal mills were good for production work, typically where a channel or face is run along a workpiece. They're stiffer than verticals, allowing lots power to be put into the job, including gang-milling, where more than one cutter is mounted on the spindle to make more complex forms. In production, common for a line of horizontal mills to each apply a particular cut, so no time was wasted resetting work-holding or cutters.

Vertical mills can do everything a horizontal mill can, but take longer. However, verticals gain versatility in exchange for speed which makes them far more suitable for general purpose work. Depends on the type of work you do but I'd much rather have a vertical than a horizontal. If I had space for a horizontal, I'd rarely use it.

Dave

Hi Steve355, there was a fair bit of info about horizontal milling in parts 27, 28 and 29 of Newnes Complete Engineer, which was sold in weekly parts from the end of 1939 and into 1940 with a total of 40 parts. You can find individual and complete sets and bound volumes on ebay for instance. Newnes Complete Engineer They can be found elsewhere also. Just to add, the milling practice is from page 417 to 456 of volume 1, each weekly issue had about 16 pages of each volume of four volumes in all.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 08/12/2021 12:38:13

I am a big fan of Lyle Peterson, it's like a history trip. Horizontal mill looks to be the mutts' nuts for gear cutting, also magical when you want to work on the top side of something tall.

Hi Steve,

There is a bit about horizontal milling and milling machines here and cutters here.

Thor

Yes, the B&S book is very good reference Steve – my edition is from 1941.

Also "Running a Miling Machine" by Fred Colvin is quite useful (reprinted by Lindsay Publications). Both are aimed at 'industrial' users but you can always skip over the bits that don't apply to your needs.

However, I'd suggest that as a starter, you read a few articles published in Practical and Popular Mechanics magazines back in the 40's & '50s. They were sponsored by the Atlas Press Company and were really promotional items for their 'benchtop' MF horizonal mill. They are very useful for the basics and I think you would find them useful. As the happy owner of an old MF Horizonal mill, of course it's no coincidence that I have these scanned as PDFs. If you PM me (with your email) – you could probably have them too!

My two pennies about 'mills' – if you only have the space for one mill – then a vertical type makes good sense.

However, if you already have a horizontal mill, then the obvious thing to get (or make) is a vertical quill for it and then you have the best of both worlds. I've got two horizontals, the little MF and a far heavier Victoria H0. Both have vertical heads, in fact my MF has two. They are both 'knee' machines and are pretty rigid in use.

As already mentioned, not too many folk use horizontals these days, so they don't tend to be appreciated that much but they can be very useful tools – you just need a slightly different mind set.

Regards,

IanT

Example below – end milling a part held in an ER32 block

Not a really problem with the smaller MF machine NDIY but the Victoria's head is very heavy. Holding it in place whilst locating the holding bolts was quite a struggle for one person – even the 'younger' me.

The solution was a MT3 taper with a square steel plate on the end. For stability, this was screwed to a larger ply board. When inserted in the head's MT3 spindle (and the spindle bolt done up) the table can be raised until it supports the weight of the head. The head can then be unbolted and lowered by the table. Mounting is the reverse process. The head can then be slid on and off the table without too much effort. A very simple idea but it makes the process so much easier (and safer) especailly once you get on a bit.

Regards,

IanT

Both of the 'milling treatises' mentioned, and some runs of the journals, are available to read or download through the internet archive;

Internet Archive

..'milling' and 'Brown Sharp' will get you started as search terms..

Does your 4 have the original parts and (especially) geared motor fitted? ..I was wondering whether Tony Griffiths might like some pictures – his 'Burke' pages are a bit thin and the 4 doesn't feature at all, tho' seems to be the most commonly-seen model…

Steve , Sent you a PM . Trevor.

Loved the When used in this publication "he," "him," "his," and "men" represent both the masculine and feminine genders, unless otherwise stated.