A Lathe is the only machine that can make itself
- Thread starter gnmontey
- Start date
twosmokinspades
CGN Regular
I have a lathe and a mill. I had to make a new drive shaft for it. Most of it was cut on the lathe except for the key slots I cut that on the mill. Not sure how one would cut a key slot on a lathe but I am sure real machinist would tell us how to do it. I am a bit of a self taught hobbyist.
Blastattack
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Winnipeg MB
Mount the cutter in the headstock and the shaft on the cross-slide.
leebuilder
Regular
- Location
- Nova Scotia
The lathe can make itself. The mill can make its self, but cutting threads on a mill takes an inordinate amount of tooling and effort, a universal mill would be my choice.
Your only limit should be your imagination with in the limits of what you are willing to do safely.
Machine tools are made on machine tools made by machines, machine tools and tools.
What do you think happens.
Be safe
Your only limit should be your imagination with in the limits of what you are willing to do safely.
Machine tools are made on machine tools made by machines, machine tools and tools.
What do you think happens.
Be safe
Yup... A 3d Printer can make a 3d printer... but no one machine can make everything, but a couple 3d printers of different types could.
And Yes, 3d printers can print circuit boards and "wiring" but you would still need external parts like motors, and micro controllers.
fingers284
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Alberta Cowboy Ranges
Give a man a file and enough time and he can make anything.
Grizz
Yup the first semi-auto gun "Carbine Williams" manufactured was with a file, a hammer and a pair of pliers...took him a seven year prison term to do it.
There is a photo in one of the Guy Letards bedside readers of a Lathe built entirely from salvaged parts in a Japanese WWII prison camp. It was not much bigger than a shoe box or so and the prisoners made prosthetic limb pieces for other wounded prisoners in the camp. I think it is in a British museum now.
A lathe can make a u-joint and a u-jointed shaft makes a gear cutting attachment. A block of steel can be chucked in a lathe and drilled on a lathe for a lathe-made t-nut, making a holder for the cross slide. A lathe itself doesn't need to run off electricity but can be rigged to run off a treadle. A lathe truly can make itself.
It was David J. Gingery.He published Build Your Metal Working Shop From Scrap series. In his Book 2 The Metal Lathe, he describes how to make patterns, cast them in aluminum and machine them as he goes on the partially assembled lathe. I wanted to make the lathe, made all the patterns, but never done castings from them. David died a few years back. I have all his 7 books.
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To some extent it's true. Of course you'd have to cast/weld and fit many parts by hand in the absence of other machine tools. I suspect it would take a few iterations to get to a modern lathe. It would be awfully difficult if not nearly impossible to get the fit and finish found on modern lathes without other machine tools.
Waynetheman
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Vancouver.
No machine can make itself. It can make a clone of itself sure. But it has to exist to make anything. 
Give a man a file and enough time and he can make anything.
Grizz
Yup, once you can make a true straight edge (thinking exercise warning) then the rest becomes easier. Of course a source of metal would be handy along with the ability to forge and cast it. No electrics or electronics needed either, any power source could be harnessed and eventually all of the measurement and lay out tools can be made too.
Back to the file thing as it relates to guns, there are guys in Pakistan making some pretty sweet machine guns with not much more than a forge and some files. Too bad they aren't pen pals with Wendy-kins so they could send her some pics of their craftsmanship.
