Lathes &Mills

[duncmc]

I have given up watching TV at the moment as it's so rubbish.

Instead I find that I watch videos on YouTube. In particular I have come across a chap in the USA called Keith Fenner who has a channel with a lot of videos on his job making and fixing stuff. Mainly it's using his old lathe and milling machine, with a lot of torch and TIG welding or brazing thrown in.

Makes me want a lathe and a mill, as well as learning how to TIG.

Now I need a bigger garage, or workshop!

[miketomcat]

I bought a myford ml4 recently for making bushes, spacers etc. It's not very big but will do most things I want to.

Mike

[vulcan bomber]

If you get a lathe with a vertical slide on it you won't need a mill unless you want to make reasonable size stuff.

I'm a Turner by day and I'm pretty handy with a milling machine as well and so is EJParrot and a few others so holler if you want to know anything.

[pete3000]

I have given up watching TV at the moment as it's so rubbish.

Instead I find that I watch videos on YouTube. In particular I have come across a chap in the USA called Keith Fenner who has a channel with a lot of videos on his job making and fixing stuff. Mainly it's using his old lathe and milling machine, with a lot of torch and TIG welding or brazing thrown in.

Makes me want a lathe and a mill, as well as learning how to TIG.

Now I need a bigger garage, or workshop!

Here you go Dunc another few hours of quality lathe/metal action from John aka Doubleboost. The guy is a master craftsman IMHO.

https://www.youtube.com/user/doubleboost/videos

Pete

[Cynic-al]

I recently bought a hobby sized CNC mill and a hobby sized lathe for home and spend hours making swarf. I absolutely love it but you can waste hours doing what doesn't look like a lot. I love watching people who can just do it, to me it is an art! I learn most stuff from youtube

Next on my list is the ability to be able to weld ali, copper brass etc but I'm undecided on the best way to do it.

This was my first attempt of a part on the CNC. It's a steering bar for my sons RC offroader to replace the plastic one that bends even easier than a Land Rover one . The holes arn't concentric as I hit the end stop when turning the part over

My second attempt was a winch bumper, I need to weld on the mounts but can't get it hot enough with a plumbers blow lamp so have taken it to a friend with tig.

Next project is a bulk tipper trailer for an RC truck (purely for my sons enjoyment you see!)

[pete3000]

Nice work

[simonr]

I wouldn't be without a lathe! Most useful tool I own!

Si

[Hybrid_From_Hell]

spend hours making swarf.

Oh this is soooooooooooo spot on

[Shackleton]

Dunc I got an old Drummond round bed lathe from a friend who needed space. It's small (but heavier than a small planet), and old (somewhere between 1907 and 1915), and related to Mike's Myford. They seem to be popular with hobbiests and there are always parts and accessories going on ebay. There are also some youtube videos, one in particular where the guy gets the runout on his chuck down to "less than 1/4 of a thousandth of an inch". Which as a novice sounds very impressive to me. Anyway if space is an issue, these things can be got floor standing and are compact. Course that's directly proportional to what you can turn out. I also got my hands on a Marlco original knurling tool which is a nice thing.

Al which CNC machine did you get? That looks like fun!

Yup TV is so so bad these days. I subscribe to a Canadian engineer chap called AVE (as do 1/4 of a million others!) and he makes seriously interesting videos like home making a keyway broach on a non concentric shaft to use on a pillar drill. But my favourite are his tool reviews where he'll get a new tool and take it apart and explain what components have been used so you can quantify how good it is. Watch this review of a DeWalt angle grinder and tell me you didn't learn (powertool designers need not apply)

[simonr]

CNC mill and a hobby sized lathe for home and spend hours making swarf

It's funny how CNC seems to generate 100x as much swarf as a manual machine doing the same job.

I guess it's just one of the unanswered mysteries of the universe like toast landing butter side down!

Si

[duncmc]

My first job is to get the current project finished and the garage sorted. Hopefully I will then have some more space. The intention is to get that done by the end of the year, and then.........

My dad was a fitter for a long standing family run firm (not our family) and his brother was a machinist for the same firm. Sadly my uncle has now passed away, but there is a font of knowledge to learn from out there. It's great that these people now have things like Youtube to pass their skills on.

I'm even tempted to not do "the car stuff" and just make swarf. Sounds good.

[simonr]

I'm even tempted to not do "the car stuff" and just make swarf. Sounds good.

If you're short - I'd be happy to send you some! I've got lots (and lots and lots)

Si

[duncmc]

If you're short - I'd be happy to send you some! I've got lots (and lots and lots)

Si

Now now, there is no need to be sizeist. I'm 5' 10" actually.

[simonr]

5' 10" - You're a giant! I'm a midget by comparison!

Si

[Cynic-al]

I think it's because manual machines you take off as little material as you can get away with as you have to stand there and do it, CNC you think yeah I'll round that off and clear the middle to save weight as you can wander off and do something else. That's usually when you come back after eating your tea to learn that you've broken a £30 tool, crash the collet into the chuck and wrecked the job

My mill is a warco rf40, ie a Taiwanese machine that's sold under a multitude of brands. It's a gear head mill on a round column which from memory does around 500mm x 290mm y and 190mm z. It's got a bigger spindle motor and converted to CNC with the usual ball screws, stepper motors and the mach3. I bought it off a guy who did cnc machining as a living and he'd converted it for home, it looked like a good starting point to learn off . He was selling it as he was in the process of converting a denford with a tool changer to mach3 The coolant pump is a submersible pump in a bucket with a sieve for the swarf and works really well!

[Davo]

Dunc I got an old Drummond round bed lathe from a friend who needed space. It's small (but heavier than a small planet), and old (somewhere between 1907 and 1915), and related to Mike's Myford. They seem to be popular with hobbiests and there are always parts and accessories going on ebay. There are also some youtube videos, one in particular where the guy gets the runout on his chuck down to "less than 1/4 of a thousandth of an inch". Which as a novice sounds very impressive to me. Anyway if space is an issue, these things can be got floor standing and are compact. Course that's directly proportional to what you can turn out. I also got my hands on a Marlco original knurling tool which is a nice thing.

Al which CNC machine did you get? That looks like fun!

Yup TV is so so bad these days. I subscribe to a Canadian engineer chap called AVE (as do 1/4 of a million others!) and he makes seriously interesting videos like home making a keyway broach on a non concentric shaft to use on a pillar drill. But my favourite are his tool reviews where he'll get a new tool and take it apart and explain what components have been used so you can quantify how good it is. Watch this review of a DeWalt angle grinder and tell me you didn't learn (powertool designers need not apply)

Wow, that Canuque really seems to know what he's doing. Should I ever upgrade from rocks and hammers to really nice power tools I'll check his channel first.