Can you chuck an end mill or dovetail mill in a drill press? If so, what speed would be appropriate for brass, 416 stainless, nickel silver? I know this may be a silly question, but I have a Clarke Metalworker drill press, and see the potential for some milling and want to know if I can "get by". Thanks ;)

You can use a drill press for light milling jobs but I have to warn you that a drill press does not have suitable bearings that can take the high side loads involved with milling operations. I would stick to milling the brass & nickel silver and forget the stainless.

Also I would not advise you to put an end mill into a jackobs chuck directly but to use the end mills that fit into an arbour first and then secure the arbour into the chuck, end mills can easily get pulled from jackobs type chucks.

Try also to eliminate as much play as possible in your milling slide ( X/Y table ) this will make for smoother cuts.

regards,

Andy....

All those things Andy said! Plus, I have seen chucks simply fall off the drill press during milling operations with some of the smaller drill presses. Might not happen with the larger ones but there's really nothing holding the chuck on except a little friction. That's all that is needed for drilling straight down but it can be a problem when a side load is applied.......

I have tried it with nothing but nightmare results. Any lateral pressure breaks the morse taper friction fit and lets the chuck fall out spinning like a top and bouncing off and ricochetting like a pinball around the shop. Also the side play in your average drill press makes holding any kind of tolerance impossible.

Just say "No".