Thread: No holiday down south, but a new lathe!!!

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Happy Easter Everyone----. I have been playing hard with my new toy, doing all the simple set-ups for facing, center drilling, parallel turning, etcetera. I broke the bank and bought everything necessary for me to do milling in the lathe as well---the picture is of a very simple milling set up. I am "milling" a block of wood in the picture, because my fancy lathe stand with cabinet and drip tray are on back order, and I can't use any coolant or it just drips all over the floor right now. (The lathe is currently set up in my office). The equipment for milling in the lathe basically consists of a "worktable with Tee slots" which bolts onto the cross slide where the top-slide normally sets, an angle block, and a two way vice that gives that much needed third axis of movement for milling a part. I don't anticipate doing a lot of milling anyways, but its nice to have the equipment if I want to.

lathe are very handy i make alot of parts not just for the cars but for my other machines in the shop. like my honing cabinet made every thing for it and re powered my tobin arp seat guild machine made other thing even made parts on the lathe to fix the lathe i made a new face plate for it on it .yep a drip and chip pan is a must i have told my self i would build one soon ? i have been telling my self that for five years? here are some of the tools i have made or fixed with the lathe i have

The wall has risen!!! This is my answer to "stinky lathe syndrome". Its too damp to keep the lathe in my garage, so its setting in my office. Wife is complaining about the smell of varsol and packing grease wafting thru the house, and I have to agree with her. My engineering office is L shaped, and nothing ever happens in the far end of the L except everything gets piled there. Today I framed in a wall and tomorrow I will drywall it and put a door on it. The little window in the wall is to let a bit of outside light into my office.---Going to set in the hot tub now. I spent all damned day framing that little bit of wall and I'm pooped. Jeez---25 years ago I could have framed half a friggin house in a day----.

So now the lathe has a room of its own!!! Not a really big room, but big enough to do, and with any luck will keep the majority of "Lathe smell" out of the house. The room is heated, is relatively airtight, and has an outside window. It took 2 days labour and about $150.00 to complete it.

It isn't high tech, and it isn't pretty, but its my first tool made on my new lathe. Right in the middle of finishing the trim on the new room I have built to keep the lathe in, I realized that I didn't have a nail set of the correct size/diameter for the nails I was using. So---A light comes on---thats what I bought a lathe for!!! Out into the garage to grab a bolt that looks close to the right size, and Voila!!! A nail set.

Glad to see your having fun with the new toy! Im sure with your skills and knowledge, we will be seeing alot of cool stuff coming out of your shop soon.

Well, the lathe has a home of its own!! I have been drywalling, painting, and wiring for the last 3 weeks, and I'm done!!! I got up early this morning and hooked up all the electrical wires into the main panel, and that was the last thing I had to do. It is very difficult to get a decent picture in the lathe toom because of all the light coming in through the window, but as you can see I have added a galvanized steel backsplash to protect the drywall behind the lathe, and a chip guard behind the chuck just to keep chips from flying in that direction. All the walls and ceiling are painted with an oil based enamel paint (latex based paint soaks up splashed oil or cutting fluid like a friggin sponge). The room is virtually air tight when the door is closed, with rubber gasketing all around the door to keep the lathe smell out of my office. I am very pleased with how it turned out---Now hopefully I can get back to my REAL job---the one that pays money!!!

Brian,
I was just wondering could there be a new car project in your future?
Ken

If you saw your aluminum, don't use a steel cutting blade, We use a wood blade only, it has 3-5 teeth per inch. put wax on the blade, not oils or water bases on it, it will work better & cleaner. We cut .050 plate to 6.0 blocks with the same thing, just about everyday. If you ever buy aluminum, and they have to cut a sheet, watch, it's a waxed table saw with a wood blade.
Any saw you want will work, just don't use a fine tooth blade, it will load up. If you use a lube/coolant, it will be everywhere.

The one thing I have to have on a lathe is a Buck chuck with removeable jaws. It moves off center by about .050 so you can get your part back on exact center again.

C9x "In fact, one of the handiest tools you can own is a 6" long machinists ruler"
Sorry, we only use machinsts scales! Look at the one your buying, there are different scales on them, get one you can see to read!!!

Most of all! Have fun, & be able to count to 10 when your done!

Pat

Originally Posted by Ken Thurm

Brian,
I was just wondering could there be a new car project in your future?
Ken

Ken--I really don't know the answer to that. One of the worlds greatest mysterys to me is myself!!! I don't just create because I like to----I create because I have to. And I never, honest to God, know what direction that "need to create" is going to take me!!! I'm a lot like Dorothy, when the whirlwind picked her up---I never know just where its going to set me down. All I know is that wherever it is, I will be designing/creating/building something new. I can't help myself!! Brian

Dorothy eh? Just make sure Toto's tail doesn't get caught in that new lathe Brian.

That shield is a terrific idea, I was wondering how you were going to keep stuff off those nice new walls. Looks like a great tool to play around with.

Don

Brian,don't you need a vent system to move the fumes out side? Cutting and cooling fluids are a menace. Safety First,JMI.

Originally Posted by Don Dalton

Brian,don't you need a vent system to move the fumes out side? Cutting and cooling fluids are a menace. Safety First,JMI.

don---It doesn't show up in the picture, but there is an outside window that can be opened in the room.---Brian