I just picked up a lathe today. I'm not really sure what I'm going to do with it, but I got that and a band saw for a steal from a shop that's moving. What have you built with a lathe? I need to use this thing for something. Here's a pic. and the bandsaw
thats a cutoff saw.. I wish I had one.. does it have a hydraulic ram to allow it to drop slowly?? (control cutting rate??)
They are great for the little thing you need and cant find or cost to much like door hinge pins,brass bushings,Knobs for your dash are just a few items.... ...There great to have around i'm sure you will find things to do with it... Enjoy, Steve
That lathe isn't all that big but you will find yourself knocking out all kinds of little pieces with it once you remember you have it sitting there. Build yourself a stand that you can fine adjust the top (roller preferred) to the exact height of the bed of the saw and you will be using it constantly if it is in good shape. The precice cuts you can make on tubing, bar stock or flat bar will keep it busy every time you fabricate something. Plus if you use it to cut off a pice of round stock to chuck in the lathe it won't work harden the round stock like the chop saw does. That saves lathe bits and keeps the machinest happy.
Actually it is a "horizontal" band saw. And that one can handle some big stuff. http://www.google.com/search?client...tal+band+saw&sourceid=opera&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8
That cut off saw will be indispensable for cutting off stock to turn in the lathe. I predict within a year or two you'll wonder how you EVER got along without a lathe and will be looking around to get an even larger one for the bigger jobs that will surely come up. I'm basing my prediction on my obtaining a 10" Atlas years ago and within 2-years, buying a 13"x60" Southbend. Get a copy of "How To Run A Lathe" which is a great manual Southbend provided for many years, to get you started using the lathe. Always reprints available on Ebay. Try and find a retired machinist that could help you learn how to run a lathe. I'm sure he'd be pleased to show you the ropes.
In Machine shop 101, They teach you that the beginning of machinery was a lathe, It is the only machine that can reproduce itself! If you learn how to use it, it will amaze you.
The lathe can build the small milling machine. I pride myself on working with machinery for over 50 years, and still having all of my fingers. Point well taken.
My hot rod. I don't know how guys build cars without a lathe. I am far from a machinist but I have made countless simple parts for my car. Simple stuff like machining down the shoulder of some wheel studs to properly fit after market drums makes my lathe indespensible. And the bigger stuff too, like open drive conversion for a closed drive banjo. Not having a lathe would be like not having a welder, to me anyway. Good pick up. Enjoy. Pete
I just set mine up and I too would like to see some examples of stuff people have made. So far I only cut a square peice of aluminum rod into a round one with various sizes and cuts. I would really like to see an instructional how to cut a knob with it or something with a taper.
The Lathe is an H J Volz I believe and the saw is a Kalamazoo. They're not back at my shop yet, so I haven't had a chance to play with them. The saw does have the hydraulic ram to control the drop speed. I can't wait to play with them and build some stuff. But I'm going to go on Amazon.com right now and find some books on it.
Great recommendation. One of Lindsays best for us amateurs is, "Advanced Machine Work." Don't be put off by the title, it'll fit what you're doing.
When I was a first year apprentice, if the key was in the chuck and your hand was not on it, you got to mop the work shop floor, second time you scrubbed it. That was a clean work shop as there were 60 of us and about 30 lathes. It was mopped at least once a week and scrubbed about one a fortnight. Check out my post for how to books on machining for down load. Things like recutting valve faces, machining pistons even boring cylinders. I highly recommend it. Regards Brendan http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=305423
I've had an Atlas 6" lathe for about 2 months. It was doing good stuff till I broke it. I miss it all ready. Go slow and don't get in a rush (ask me how I know!) And unless you like removing the chuck key form walls, your bed ral or YOURSELF...keep the damn thing off the chuck!
A lathe is prolly the most wanted and yet most under used tool in a shop.Most just sit against the wall for long periods. Yet I gotta admit- If one came my way at the right price, I'd snag it. There's no question about it. There are more lathes out there than there are peoople who know how to use them.
Having a good imagination helps. You'd be amazed at the things you can make. Cutting a perfect cube on the lathe is easy. A difficult job for a newbie is making a flat washer.
My 2 cents as a lathe amateur myself is to use the HSS bits. Way cheaper than the carbide, easier to sharpen and shape don't need a special stone), and I find for whatever reason that the Carbide ones chip. Maybe that's using the cheap import bits, but I say stick to the HSS ones to learn anyway.
Probably is not many parts on a car that I have not used my lathe to modify or make. Have had the same 15" Cardiff machine for years, From simple stuff of just cleaning up of parts, to resizing connecting rod eyes, before I got a mill every thing was done on that machine, I have turned up new parts for suspension, steering, gear linkages, even made my own solid lifters to replace stock hydrualic. The machine has been used to safely compress road springs, shorten drive shafts and so many other things which I am sure it's makers could never have imagined, I would be seriously lost without it most days of the week.
With two lathes in the shop (one a small one like yours) I wouldn't be without either of them. Along with a Bridgeport mill there is little I can't make or duplicate. You'll be saying the same thing after you get comfortable using your new one. Frank
With a lathe like that you can turn some real sweet parts out of wood with your own style. I have made: Shift knobs Headlight housings Hood Orniments Window crank knobs........
+1000 And it's the simple things, like Pete says here. Pins, bushings, studs, washers, bolt modifications, driveshaft tubes and flanges. Small standoffs and spacers. Spuds, plain and threaded. Rods for trans and carb linkage. Suspension pins and bushings. Modifying stuff thats close, but you know you can make it better. Every car project contains a spackle bucket of chips. Frank
why it was just the other day i made simple part on the lathe, i wanted to buy some speed bleeders for a 1930 chrysler, not in this town, so i had a couple small ones and thought, HEY, i'll just whip up some adapters for these ones. so i run a short hose form the bleeder on the car to my brand new custom fabricated inline speed bleeder, an then another hose to an old baby food glass bottle with a magnet attached and bobs your uncle.
Wow, how did you get the lettering and those tiny dots on that thin slice of roundstock... Most recent item I did on my lathe was to turn off the grease collar on a driveshaft part. Or checking the runout of a crank... ...Well not quite in the above case. I just wanted to make a cool photo
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