My new lathe and first product

Dimitri said:
Saskatchewan is a good place then I take it ?? :D

Dimitri
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Alberta is good.Not all of Sask is good,I'm working for a shop in the Potash capitol of the world so there is a good demand here.I lived in Nova Scotia my whole life until last year.Just to give you an idea,as a journey man machinist with 7 years CNC experience I was making 16.00 an hour back home.i'm making 22.00 here.
I did recently turn down a foreman position in Grande Prarie for 35.00,only cos the guy wanted me to worl 12 hrs a day 7 days a week,and also there's no place to live in Grande Prarie.

Bonus:CFO's in Sask are much more liberal here than NS..and I don't mean Liberal as in Liberal party of Canada:D
 
The damn thing is broken. Some gears inside have worn off and make buzzing noize when tool touches stock. Initially the motor would shut itself off if it was too hard for it to turn, than all of a sudden it stopped doing that and instead started spinning with those gears grinding. That is after less than 3 weeks of pretty gentle and seldom use...
 
svt-40 said:
The damn thing is broken. Some gears inside have worn off and make buzzing noize when tool touches stock. Initially the motor would shut itself off if it was too hard for it to turn, than all of a sudden it stopped doing that and instead started spinning with those gears grinding. That is after less than 3 weeks of pretty gentle and seldom use...
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Metal or Plastic gears I hear a few of the imports the size of your lathe actually have plastic gears. ??

Dimitri
 
Metal :( The only two plastic gears I could see were the ones, that translated torque to the feed.
On the positive side I managed to make everything, that I urgently needed...
 
I swapped out all the pot metal gears in my Atlas lathe with steel gears. Cost me a pretty penny but no more chipped gear teeth. Sounds to me like too much slop in the gear train. It isn't the using of the lathe but the start up that will grind off the teeth. Next lathe you get, check out how well the gears mesh with each other and always keep a oil can handy. A spot of oil makes a big difference. Good luck.
 
Funny how this particular lathe has variable RPM and you have to start from zero, otherwise it won't start. I think it's too much play. It was skipping one tooth from the very beginning, I just was not too experienced/paying enough attention/too excited to notice that.
 
Ripstop said:
NEVER stand in front of the chuck.

It's machining time! Do you know where your chuck key is?

Play safe and have lots of fun.
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Great thread, svt 40, you might be better off with a TAIG or Sherline. I've got a TAIG, except for the fact that it's a little small, and it won't cut threads, I have had no problems with it. You do have to jury rig it to get the proper speeds for metal working with an idler pulley that has to be made up, and all else that goes with that. I had one of those ones you had for a while and it didn't last very long. Gear spider broke, gears were plastic except for the ones in the headstock, none of the plastic gears would mesh, also the tailstock setover was a crude joke. I eventuall sold it to a person who worked at Hermes, he had access to the machine shop crew there, they basically rebuilt it for him so he could get into model steaming. You get what you pay for. Even one of the ones advertised in Home Shop Machinist would be better. Me and my friend went through the machine shop course at Dartmouth Regional Vocational School a while ago, he went on to go into engineering, I went into the Army, so since he had this course under his belt, when he started going to TUNS, they had a segment of the training where they learned how to operate lathes and mills. Since he had this course under his belt, he was teaching his buddies in the course how to use them. It was late in the school year, there was this guy who was operating a Colchester lathe about 10 inch swing, he had it cranked up pretty good, he was wearing one of those baggy muscle shirts which were popular back then, so this guy leans over the chuck and ZIP! no more muscle shirt, it was just like it magically disappeared! My friend laughed his arse off. I myself was once guilty of the crime of leaving the chuck key in a Harrison Lathe also about 10 inch swing and turned it on. :redface: Damned chuck key narrowly missed the instructor! He kind of was leery of me for a while after that!:D

My TAIG is a very wee lathe, some would not consider it a lathe, it's so small. Nice to have regardless. Someday, I'd like to get a 'real' lathe. Have you ever looked in the old Popular Science and Popular Mechanics magazines circa 1950's and earlier? There's tons of ads for metalworking gear. Must have been a nice atmosphere for small metalworking shops and inventing! Too bad our government is turning it's back on this important part of the economy.

If you ordered one of these from the states the shipping etc. could be prohibitive. Might be better off getting one locally or maybe you could check out the gov't auctions. Just a little while ago, the NS gov't was selling off a few Colchester Bantam lathes and some other neat stuff including a heat treating furnace.
 
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If a Taig is big enough to handle what you need done, I would recommend them. I've never used one of the Taig lathes, but I do have the mill. It's a tight little unit, and Kurt is excellent to deal with.
 
The Sherline 4400 is a bit more reasonable in size. Gives me 17" between centers, and a 3" swing. The Taig is a little small.

I had a quote for one of the sherline mill packages, it was around $1350 or so.

NS
 
I tried a mini machine for awhile but it made me frustrated when I wanted to do anything bigger or cut threads. I bought a well cared for old Southbend 9" x 48" lathe and it is a whole world better. I can do anything on it including barrels. I have to go slow with anything large, but it's just a hobby for me not production.
This did end up in my wanting a dedicated mill/drill, but I have seen milling attachments for the older lathes too.
 
69 SANTA, your Dad's Colchester looks like a 13-24 not a 36.

For most gunsmithing, Suputins $3400 lathe is excellent. I have found this type of lathe wanting only when making recievers (up to .50 cal) and chambering and tapering long .50 BMG barrels. I f you want something to make parts for your tractor or farm stuff, it is way to small and light.

Calling chineze stuff crap when compared to used american -british machines can be wrong. Most used machines are for sale because they are worn out, and it takes an experts eye to quickly spot wear on a lot of machines.

I am in the process of buying another lathe, it is probably around my 30 th. I would never recomened a newbie buying a used machine unless somone who knows what to look for has run the machine..

I have american and british machines, but I always have at least 2 lathes. When dealing with used stuff, you have to be able to make parts, and if you only have one lathe, and it don't work?...

Ask yourself if you want to buy a machine to make-modify guns, or do you want to spend time and money learning and making repairs.
 
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