John Lawson invited me over to his shop a few days ago and showed me some pretty amazing things he’s made over the years, including his Atlas vertical milling attachment that he made from Taig parts. His vertical attachment really caught my eye because I am in the process of restoring an Atlas MFC mill and I’ve been looking for a good vertical option for a while now. I think the design is in some ways an improvement over the Marvin milling attachment. Apparently John got the idea when he saw a Taig mill being parted out on eBay. He bought the spindle and motor for a fraction of what a Taig mill costs new and he had everything he needed (except for a mounting plate which he made) for his conversion.

Here’s a video of the attachment in action.

And here are a few pics.

I know what some of you Atlas purists are thinking. “How could anything be better than a Marvin?!” Well, for one thing, it’s available. I’ve never seen a Marving on eBay or anywhere else for sale (although they do supposedly show up for sale occassionally). And I’ve heard that when Marvin milling attachments do show up for sale they cost a fortune. Unless you’re a collector the Marvin isn’t practical. John’s attachment is.

Got a better idea for a vertical milling attachment conversion for an Atlas (or similar) horizontal mill? Share it with us by visiting the forum and leaving a comment/pictures/etc. We’d love to see it!

To leave a comment join the forum discussion on this post

Kyle Crane submitted his drawings for a carriage stop that fits his Grizzly G0602 10×22″ lathe. I also own the G0602 so I was excited to see these plans. As soon as I get my Atlas horizontal mill rebuilt I will be building one of these. Or maybe 2, one as a stop and the other to hold a dial indicator.

If you’re not a G0602 owner you can certainly adjust the size of this stop to fit your lathe’s dimensions.

A few additional pictures and a description of the machining process can be found on Kyle’s site.

Thanks for sharing Kyle!

  Grizzly_G0602_Lathe_Carriage_Stop.pdf (43.4 KiB, 495 hits)
NOTE: You need to be a registered member (and logged in) to download this file. You can register or log in using the "Log In" section located in the upper left corner of the site (don't worry, it's free to register and your email address will be kept private). Please note, subscribing to the RSS feed is not the same as registering. Also, registering for the site will grant you forum access, allowing you to log into the forum using the same username and password you used to register for the site.

To leave a comment join the forum discussion on this post

I recently rented “Operating an Atlas Horizontal Milling Machine” by Rudy Kouhoupt from SmartFlix and I wanted to take a moment to review the video.

Topic: Operating a Horizontal Milling Machine (Atlas MFC)
Level: Beginner
Format: DVD (2.5 hours)

Overall I think the video is definitely worth renting, especially for anyone who owns an Atlas mill, or anyone who is new to horizontal mills in general. However, more advanced machinists might find parts of the video a bit slow.

There are two projects included in the video. A saw arbor and a clamp block (basically a fixture plate) – both are of Rudy’s design. Plans for both projects are included with the video and Rudy spends the second half of the video showing how to make the clamp block step-by-step.

ProjectsInMetal readers can now sign up for Machinist University through SmartFlix and get the first month free! That’s a $23 value. There is no obligation and you can cancel at any time. I’ve been renting from SmartFlix for a few years now and I have never had anything other than positive experiences. Click on the link above or the image below for details.

To leave a comment join the forum discussion on this post