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Thus this is something that could be done on the drill press. However chucks are not adequate when holding end mills when really milling. Now if you were to try and mill a slot, then we would be talking about significant side loads and avoiding end mills flying off the drill press taper and laying waste to everything in sight.
However, in researching methods of using a drill press for milling, I found that several people claimed success with epoxying a tapered shaft mill holder into the matching taper of the quill. To ensure the best fit the mill holder needs to first be lapped into the quill using a fine valve grinding paste.
It can happen....but hasn't happened to me yet in 6yrs using my drill press as a miller. I do both surface and side milling all the time. Just have to take small cuts and slower feeds. Plunge cuts also. It all depends on the drill press and the chuck. my chuck holds endmills very tight.
So it does take a lot longer to make some things than if it was an actual milling machine. But since I got the press for nothing and the table only cost me $120 the price was right with me being on a fixed income. But it all depends on the Drill Press. The chuck has been on this machine since it was new so it is pretty well stuck there.
Kept the chuck from flying off,and was a good design if you ever use your drill press for routing,or light milling. Well,that Chinese chuck wasn't any good,and ran way out. Fortunately,I was able to still buy the same design in a real Jacobs chuck,and it was fine. Too bad to have to re fit a NEW Rockwell machine. All is Asian,by now,though.
I also contemplated this for an 1980's Taiwanese drill press. I stopped because the only tool holding I could sort out was using the Jacobs drill chuck to hold an end mill. I tried it on aluminum. Once. The cutting forces involved are very high for a drill chuck that makes contact in only three small areas on the tool.
Lou the use of a drill press for milling has been discussed in other threads. Most advise against for the bearing issue you mentioned, plus not recommending using a milling cutter in a drill chuck. Having said that I have been using a bench top JET circa 1970's made in Japan drill press with an X-Y table for over 5 years with good success.
One thing that has been overlooked here. Typically in the drill press, the piece is tightened in the vise the then the vise is located with your hand and held in place by you to drill the hole. Yes it can be bolted down but this will allow you only one position till you relocate it again. On the milling machine you have X&Y movement to locate.
The chuck is at least 25 years old and came on a import no name floor drill press. It is a keyed 5/8 inch and the arbor is mt2 and j3 in the chuck. In the past it was used exclusively for wood and it really didn't matter if the runout was high.
The Jacobs taper is very similar in concept and is used to attach a drill chuck (which has a female taper at one end) to a drill chuck arbor (which has the identical male taper). This is an example of a drill chuck arbor with Morse taper #3 (MT3) at one end, and Jacobs taper #6 (JT6) at the opposite end.