Enough of COVID...what are you doing to the house?

mimico_polak said:
I don’t even know what one would make with that thing? Something round I guess…

Although the seller did tell me you could make square items with it.
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There are lots of things you can do on a lathe. It's not just round stock, you can do some milling operations as well as long as you can grab the part in a chuck.

Simple operations:
turning - add grooves, part bars to length, taper
facing - cleaning, flattening, sanding and polishing
threading - add a threaded end to a part, make threaded rod, make lead screws (vices, slides)
tapping - threaded holes
Drill - anything you can chuck
Boring - for ID's bigger than a drill can handle.
Knurling
 
I’ve thought about night school classes to learn more about machining, not sure I want to allocate $6-700 a course and invest the time yet . Right now I mostly make shavings .


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crankcall said:
I’ve thought about night school classes to learn more about machining, not sure I want to allocate $6-700 a course and invest the time yet . Right now I mostly make shavings .


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Avoiding breaking something (equipment or your body) covers that quickly. If you don't want to invest in the course, never take your hand off the chuck key when it is in the chuck, keep shavings small, don't crash the tooling into the chuck and have some form of deadman switch that kills power if you get pulled in (could be as simple as a power cord across the work area that unplugs if you press on it) and you can learn in relative safety.

I wanted studs for tux and couldn't find any I wanted. My old high school had a tabletop CNC lathe and some friendly teachers that I knew were still there. Banged out a handful of studs in a couple hours. Sadly, that tux and those studs have gone awol.
 
GreyGhost said:
Yes. Even better when you dad is providing the space. The 3-jaw chuck is faster to get ok results with round parts/stock but if you learn how to use a four-jaw well you can do a lot of crazy stuff.
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Well I'm going to help him move it into the shed after work today...if you don't hear from me I'm probably dead squashed underneath it.

Been nice knowing y'all.
 
mimico_polak said:
So according to @crankcall , @Mad Mike , and @GreyGhost ... I should just keep this monstrosity to learn?
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To be clear, that's not a monstrosity. That's a useful size. Table tops have their place but it's not hard to find a job they struggle with. For instance, you could use your dads to check and straighten fork tubes. A table top lathe is too small for that.

Here's a monstrosity (for home use). Side benefit of him setting up a lathe after it was moved. If you just plunk it down, don't expect perfect results.

 
GreyGhost said:
Avoiding breaking something (equipment or your body) covers that quickly. If you don't want to invest in the course, never take your hand off the chuck key when it is in the chuck, keep shavings small, don't crash the tooling into the chuck and have some form of deadman switch that kills power if you get pulled in (could be as simple as a power cord across the work area that unplugs if you press on it) and you can learn in relative safety.

I wanted studs for tux and couldn't find any I wanted. My old high school had a tabletop CNC lathe and some friendly teachers that I knew were still there. Banged out a handful of studs in a couple hours. Sadly, that tux and those studs have gone awol.
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Safety is important on any high HP lathe.

We use like self ejecting chuck keys, let your hand off one and it gets spit out of the chuck. Chip guards (for your eyes and face), and an accessible emergency stop from where you operate the lathe. Gloves and goggles are critical PPE, I also use a jizz shield.

Breathalizer Interlock is also a handy safety option for some.
 
Mad Mike said:
Safety is important on any high HP lathe.

We use like self ejecting chuck keys, let your hand off one and it gets spit out of the chuck. Chip guards (for your eyes and face), and an accessible emergency stop from where you operate the lathe. Gloves and goggles are critical PPE, I also use a jizz shield.

Breathalizer Interlock is also a handy safety option for some.
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One thing the previous guy said ‘make sure you never ever use this with gloves. It’ll tear them right off and if you’re unlucky it’ll pull your hand in with it. Bare hands only.’
 
mimico_polak said:
One thing the previous guy said ‘make sure you never ever use this with gloves. It’ll tear them right off and if you’re unlucky it’ll pull your hand in with it. Bare hands only.’
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I'm with the previous owner. In a production environment many things are different but at home, I don't want gloves or guards. Learn to stay out of the path in case a part comes loose, don't grab swarf out of a spinning lathe (even better if you adjust speed or feed to get chips instead of danger snakes), etc. I would not use coolant either. Hell of a mess and rarely required for a home gamer. Learn to love the smell of rapid tap.

If you are clamping many things that end up with the jaws outside of the chuck,a colorful chuck sock isn't a terrible idea. The jaws aren't easy to see at speed. Always assume the jaws are out and the sock doesn't matter as that is a no go area.
 
mimico_polak said:
One thing the previous guy said ‘make sure you never ever use this with gloves. It’ll tear them right off and if you’re unlucky it’ll pull your hand in with it. Bare hands only.’
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Did his hands look like leather boots?

At our shop the guys use 10mm nitrile gloves - not big floppy work gloves. They keep the tiny chips, shavings and coolant fluid (if you use it) off the hands. Nitrile gloves fit tight like skin, they tear away easily so it's unlikely they would pull you into a machine.
 
Mad Mike said:
Did his hands look like leather boots?

At our shop the guys use 10mm nitrile gloves - not big floppy work gloves. They keep the tiny chips, shavings and coolant fluid (if you use it) off the hands. Nitrile gloves fit tight like skin, they tear away easily so it's unlikely they would pull you into a machine.
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I never used gloves on a lathe. Paint brush and/or metal hook with no handle for angry snakes. If it got caught, it easily slides out of your hand. If I used coolant often I see the advantage to nitrile but for cut protection or heat, nitrile does nothing. Eye protection is a great idea.
 
GreyGhost said:
I never used gloves on a lathe. Paint brush and/or metal hook with no handle for angry snakes. If it got caught, it easily slides out of your hand. If I used coolant often I see the advantage to nitrile but for cut protection or heat, nitrile does nothing. Eye protection is a great idea.
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It sure does. I just grabbed a handful of chips barehanded, like you might when clearing the machine.

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Those red circles are around the swarf I have to pick out of my skin after a hand wash. Nitrile prevents that.

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Also keeps these curly bastards from cutting you -- they're sharp like a razor !
 
GreyGhost said:
Dont grab chips. That's what the paint brush is for.
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I guess you could use a paintbrush when you're turning model engine parts on a Unimat. On a man-sized lathe, you're getting dirty -- hands are getting chips from the tool, touching the part, and while clearing and cleaning. Turning any decent-sized project makes a lot of swarf.

We use coolant because it's way cheaper than tools, wet chips don't sweep up nicely.

Your mileage may vary, I'm sticking with my gloves!
 
Now for your first projects:

1) Simple metal scribe. You need 5/8" x 8" aluminum rod for the barrel, and a tungsten welding tip (tig consumable) for the scratch point.
www.instructables.com

Handy Aluminum Scribe!

Handy Aluminum Scribe!: Hi all! I've decided to come back from my years of hiatus to bring you this beautiful beginner project that can teach various lathe operations and fundamentals! Here we have the Handy Aluminum Scribe! A scribe is a super useful tool for woodworking,…
www.instructables.com www.instructables.com

2) Machinists hammer. Many tutorials on YouTube.
 
I needed a brass hammer for a project then a copper hammer , buying scrap at metal super market let me make a basic club head , my small wood lathe made an acceptable handle . Nobody from Lee Valley is going to call for samples , but you can beat stuff and leave no marks .


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