Might be better to go the Amolco route as its self drive leaving you able to mill turned jobs while still in the chuck

My experience is milling on a lathe is grossly inferior to a real milling machine.  Very useful before milling machines became available to hobbyists, much less so today.   Consider this picture from the wonderful lathes.co.uk.

• The Rodney has to be lifted on and off the bed
• Rigidity is compromised because the accessory attaches to the lathes narrow bed ways, never designed to take milling forces.  The Rodney’s height doesn’t help, and the structure is flimsy compared with a real mill – even a small one.
• The size of the table and short quill movement severely limit the size of work that can be tackled.  A nasty non-obvious consequence is that the tiny workspace makes work-holding much harder.  Easy jobs become tricky simply because there’s no room for a couple of clamps.

Combination machines are better – bit more space,  but not recommended unless the owner doesn’t have space for separates.

My advice, save up for a real mill and make space for it.  Not that the alternatives are hopeless, lots of good work done on them in the past, but they are fiddly time-wasters.

Dave

If you were able to find an Amolco I still don’t think it would be recommended even compared to say an X1 mill, and might not be much cheaper.  I used to have a complete Amolco mill and it was the head and column that let it down.  Not very rigid, limited height, not very good speed range.

On 10 September 2024 at 22:34 Nigel Graham 2 Said:

Notice that old advertising photograph is so staged there is not only nary a scrap of swarf or oil anywhere, but the operator has not plugged or covered the top-slide hole to keep the chips out!

And no safety glasses!!!

Tony

All of the above critical comments are valid. I have a smaller version of the Rodney for an ML10. I find it useful for small jobs and use it when my mill is otherwise occupied. I prefer it to my vertical slide, which again gets used on the odd occasion. The small Rodney set up is a bit more rigid than the slide.

If I were in your shoes, I would go for the cheapest option (vertical slide) and save for a mill.

Andrew.

Prices vary widely !!

But this is the book to which I refer:

Rodney/Amolco etc. meh! Unless you are getting it for free or a peppercorn, I wouldn’t bother – all comments above are valid. Flimsy, inconvenient and relics of a bygone era, often peddled at ludicrously high prices well beyond their actual utility value.

Even the most modest small footprint oriental mill, belt drive Seig SX1 size will be miles better. The older gear head ones can be had s/h for £150 to £300 but need care due to use of plastic gears. If you are prepared to be patient and look around you could do even better

By the time you have bought a vert slide, handwheels, etc that Hopper mentions you are half way to the cost of a small mill. Rodney’s seem to be going for £850 and you would still want the handweels etc on top of that. An  SX2PG size machine can be had for around £800 and will offer better capacity and be a lot easier to use and if you get rid of a bench drill you will have some extra space.

I started with a rear mounted drill/mill attachment on the U3 then adapted that to fit my larger Emcomat as well as buying a Myford Vertical slide. They did the Minnie in my Avitar but having now got a mill or three would not want to go back so if you can find the space and must already have the funds I would suggest a dedicated benchtop mill.

More on the Amolco and Rodney: both have a Myford-style spindle nose because they were intended as lathe accessories.  To maximise daylight under the spindle you ideally need to use Myford pattern collets or MT2 single tool holders with grub screw.  Those collets are like hen’s teeth and cost a bomb, and from what I gather don’t hold milling cutters very tightly.  If recall correctly, you can’t use a 3/8 drawbar in the Amolco because the ‘ole is too small, OK for metric finger collets but most imperial ones have a 3/8BS thread.  If you put an MT2 ER collet chuck in the spindle there’s not much daylight left.

As well as the book recommended by Jason, there is another one by Tubal Cain  with a similar title. I find it every bit as good as the Westbury volume and is cheap new.

Andrew.

On 11 September 2024 at 16:17 bernard towers Said:

Why would you dispose of a pillar drill???

To make room for the milling machine

MichaelG.

Having tried a Vertical Slide, and then a Rodney attachmenmt on my (Then) Ml7, i bought a Mill/Drill (Warco Economy – RF25) because neither was rigid enough in my view.

The RF25 was the largest that would fit into the workshop, at the time.

Recently, for another job, which could only be done in the lathe with a Vertical Slide, I made an adaptor and fitted a Vertical Slide intended for a SC6 lathe, to fit it to my larger BL12 – 24.

Although it was suitable for co ordinate drilling; when I started trying to mill, I was forcibly reminded of the flexibility of the set up, compared to the Mill/Drill, even with very light cuts.

Milling is essentially a series of interrupted cuts so rigidity is necessary, and Vertical Slides, in my experience, are not suitable for anything other than extremely light cuts.

Why else would we buy and use Milling machines?

Howard