Wanting to learn how to run a lathe...Books? Update PICs

I'm near Clive and can show you a few things to get you started. Also keep in mind there are a lot of good used machines out there better quality and cheaper than new. I went with a new 12x36 and am happy with it but I wished I would of waited for a larger used one.
Stephen

Oh and be careful cutting wood, wood dust mixed with oil are not good for the ways. Also protect the ways if grinding or sanding on the lathe abrasive dust is not good ether.
 
Last edited:
If you are interested in them as they generally apply to gunsmithing, and use bittorrent, then AGI has videos on both running a lathe and milling machine. I tried watching them recently but found them pretty boring, but if you don't have any experience, or history with this type of machine, then I would say they are the best thing for you (I downloaded them to pass on to a fellow doing an apprenticeship, and he found them useful)

Demonoid Torrent info for the lathe : http://rs40.rapidshare.com/files/30039832/lathe.rar
Just download and open the file. Its by Darrell Holland, something like 12 hours of video there, covering everything.
 
Lathe Operation ????

You would be best off takeing a collage course and learn from someone who has experience as a machinist , you may be able to read a book or watch a video on the net on the operation of a machine tool but there is a lot more to it than that ,
For instance chooseing the proper cutting tool for the material you will be machining ,
What feed and speed to use for said material ??
How to grind / sharpen a drill or cutting tool ??
How to set up ??
When to use a four jaw or a three jaw chuck ??
How to dial in a job ??
How to thread on a lathe / properly measure threads ?? internal /external.
How to read a micrometer ??
How to cut a taper ??
What steps to take when you get chatter during machining ??
And the list goes on.
 
If you know or can find someone who will teach you, that is better than a book. You will learn way more in a couple of hours with a skilled teacher than you will in a week of trying to piece it together for yourself.
 
Thanx for all your comments so far. I really would like to try this the hard way...figuring it out as much as I can by my self. I am a real sucker for punishment. :D


I do have a knack for being self taught with most things...we will see if this is one of those things. If not, I can guarantee it will never progress beyond a hobby. If I like it enough to do it as a job I will find a way to get an apprenticeship.


In the mean time I will have to throw my self to the fire, and crash & burn as necessary.



BTW I have finished reading South Bend's "How to run a Lathe" and "How to Cut Screw Treads" Books. Basic but good.
 
A reference book you will not want to be without is the Machinist Handbook. They're available in searchable digital form now but if you are going hard copy, get a used one. They *really* have not changed much in the last couple decades.

And get some free fractional/decimal/number/letter/tap drill size charts for the walls. Your tool supplier should have plenty to choose from.

Oh, and my personal favourite... a Rigid Tool calendar for the wall directly behind the lathe.
 
The link at the bottom of page 2 for the American Machinery online book shows a lot of the basics. The parts for grinding your own tool bits will need to be changed unless you are using the latern style tool post. But the angles and such shown where the tools meet the work are spot on. You just need to modify the shaping to suit the sort of tool post you have.

This stuff can be learned on your own to a large extent. And one of the finest ways to do so is to make a lot of your own machine accessories. I've made tailstock tap and die holders so tapped holes or rods can be threaded on axis to the holes just drilled moments before, morse tapers that mount my milling cutters with a satisfying low pressure instant lock and many more things. Solving the steps to making such things is a great way to learn for the more serious stuff later on. And in many cases these accessories will make those later jobs easier or more accurate.

If I was looking to make a living at this I'd take a course. But if this is intended more for your own personal intrest with some eventual plan to offer some limited to moderate gunsmithing services as you gain skill and experience then there's nothing wrong with self learning. A touch up advanced course can always be taken later. It's not like some skills, like shooting, where you have to unlearn bad habits before adopting new ones. With metal working it's not hard to adopt better ideas instantly.

Oh, did I mention that it's rewarding and a whole heap of fun to do this stuff? Just be prepared for cases where you know you want to machine something but you figure that you'll need a holding fixture or some other jig or tool or gizmo to do the job. Often, in fact MOST times, these home made fixtures, tools or gizmos that you have to make to do the job take longer than the time actually removing metal on the final item. Get used to it. That's how metal machining is for the most part unless your pockets are deep and you can afford to just buy all these bits and pieces you find you need.

Oh, and if/when you get pretty good at this stuff it's not just gunsmithing that you can do and charge for. There's world's of one off stuff needed out there and the sort of shops that can do one offs are getting fewer and fewer.
 
That machine should do the trick, you just need to befriend a machinist to show you how to use it, the machine i learned on had a quick change gearbox and a taper attachment, and we had to use hss tool bits, no premade carbide bits were allowed
you might think about getting it checked out,ie ensure the tailstock lines up with the headstock and have the backlash adjusted in the dials
looks like fun thats for sure
good luck
matt
 
Got it unloaded by my self and de-greased. There was some casting sand here and there, pulled some stuff apart to get it all out. Copious amounts of bondo under the paint just to make the bad casting look good. Came with a spec sheet on the various runouts.

Yep, she's made in China allright.

Spent quite a few hours getting my head around the charts for speeds, screw cutting- change gears, thread dial indicator. Don't have power to it yet but spun the chuck by hand and was able to set it up to chase existing threads on a bolt so I must have figured something out.

Need to bolt it to the floor and level it. The stand is a little flimsy so it will have to be bolted down me thinks.
 
I got power ran to it yesterday, used a parting tool to cut the head off a bolt, ground some HSS and took a few passes off the shank of the bolt. Ground a 60* tool, cut some threads, looked wrong, had the angle of the compound set at 29* to the wrong axis. Farted around with this and that for a few hours.


Started my first project today, made a Cat Head from some heavy walled pipe. Parted off the crap end, turned the outside to look nice/ be true to the chuck. Bored the full length inside to be true to the outside. Bored the end in 1" and left a shoulder to fit against the end of the spindle and got the inside dimension just right for a snug fit over the spindle. Turned around the piece and parted off the side that was in the chuck. Still need to drill and tap for a set screw to the spindle and the 4 adjusting bolts.

The things I learned the hard way... when parting the last end off the dang thing kept cutting crooked. I was sure the tool was square to the work with minimal over hang and not below center but it just would not cut straight, ended up binding, broke off the tool and twisted the work out of the jaws messing the finish up. I am sure it was due to to a bad cutting edge on the tool. When I set everything up again but with a new tool it cut perfectly. ...... When boring there was a fair bit of flex from the tool, this causes the hole to be tapered, tighter in the far end. It was about .004 smaller only 3/4 of an inch in. Of course this will not do if you want a tight fit of the part to a shaft. To fix this I set the compound up on an angle so it compensate for the flexing. I just eye balled it and got it very close.
 
Welcome to metal working. Sounds like you're well on your way.

The reference to the casting sand takes me back a few years to when my own 12x36 machine first arrived. I found a couple of things like you have that worried me so I started taking stuff apart for an inspection and general fine tuning. I was shocked to find sand particles in the tail stock, in the quick change box, in the front apron where all the drive gears live and generally all in and through the machine. I ended up completely stripping down every assembly to primarily clean it and check on the oil point paths (found one was blocked with crud) and secondly to blueprint and deburr all the surfaces and assemblies. I'm glad I did since my machine would have eaten itself due to the sandy grit I found that was almost universally throughout the machine. If you found any similar hints I strongly suggest you follow in my footsteps and do the same.

It'll pay off if you do. I was not only able to bevel the edges that I could almost literally shave with, and thus save myself many, many pints of lost blood but I ensured that the machine would perform for years to come. My own hobby machine is now around 20 years old, sees regular use, and is still able to hold tight tolerances and only requires the odd alignment tweak to the tail stock to compensate for wear around every 8 years. I've done it twice now when I needed the vertial alignment to be dead on. Both times it required the addition of a shim of household aluminium foil (the ultra cheap .001 shim when you're desparate) between the sliding base and the upper body.

I also found that my rubber bed scrapers were junk and were actually letting stuff in rather than scraping it off. I ended up making up my own felt and steel cap scrapers similar to those found on the old timer machines. They've been working fine for almost the same length of time. If yours do not scrape oil up with each pass then they are junk and are doing more damage then they prevent.

Something to consider that I'll be doing in my next shop is to make two pillars for the head and tail stock mounts out of concrete cinder blocks and then fill in the top one with contrete and cast in bolts. The lathe will mount onto these with lower level adjusting nuts and upper locking down nuts. This will produce a far more solid stand than the tin box stock stands will ever be.

These lathes are actually capable of doing some very accurate work. But you (we) need to pay attention to how they are mounted and alinged as well as the other basics to let them perform.

Hopefully this isn't too much for you to ponder along with the flood of other stuff I'm sure you're learning. Lord knows I've made my share of mistakes and taken my share of shortcuts that I later regret but what I've written above is the way I'm going to cure some of these when I mount my baby in it's next home within the next year or so. For now the machine continues to dance around on the same tin stand that you've likely got. Oh, being 6' 1" I found the stock tin box stand was FAR, FAR too short. I jacked mine up with 6 inches of blocking to get the lathe axis up to where I could comfortably work on it. The proper height for these machines is a lot higher than you'd think unless you have had the opportunity to work in a shop where there's knowledgeable machinists that set the tools up. You want the center axis of the headstock to be up around 1/2 way between your belly button and your solar plexus. That's pretty high in most folk's books that don't know about this stuff but your back will thank you after long hours at the machine.

Good luck and be sure to post back pictures of your projects.
 
I would not recommend technical college night courses, they have become very expensive and you would need to take several at least. Grizzly tools has a pretty good barreling video.

There are good and bad gunsmithing books, Modern Gunsmith vol 1 +2. by James Howe is my favorite.
 
BCrider, I just checked out the rubber bed scrapers and the ones at the front are worse than useless, thanx for the good tip. I will have to make something to keep the crap out of there.

You got me thinking of pulling some more stuff apart to check for sand, there very well could be some more of it here and there.

I am only 5'8" and find the stand to be too low. I was thinking of leveling the bed but didn't because I want to raise the entire works up to get it to a decent height before I level it.



Buck, I have seen a Y tube clip with Gordy Gritters chambering a bbl, taken from the Grizzly vidio and it looked real good and made sense to me. I was thinking of ordering it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom