Another Bloody Australian

[NedsHead]

G'day Hobby Machinists,

My name's Ben and as the title would suggest, I am from Australia, South Australia to be exact. I have always been fascinated with machining but never knew how or where to begin, I came to the realization that the only way I'm going to be able to make a start in hobby machining is if I take the plunge and purchase a lathe, so that's what I did.

I'm now the proud owner of a used Taiwanese LANTAINE LAM-350B lathe of 1980's vintage, specs: 250mm(10") swing over bed, 609(24") between centres and 35mm(1 3/8) through spindle.

The lathe came from a retired hobbyist who owned it from new and he also did me a great deal on tooling, I think I have just about everything I need for now, e.g. micrometer, dividers, dial indicator, dozens of taps, dies and drill bits, set squares, knurling tools, dead centre and live centre, drill chuck, 3 and 4 jaw, HSS steel, etc.. too much to mention it all here!

I'm told Taiwanese lathes of this vintage are quiet well made copies of English made machines and have a bit of a following here in Australia, time and experience will tell.

While browsing the site I spotted some familiar names, people of YouTube fame so that's a great sigh of what to expect around here.

I'm still finding my way around the lathe, learning what all the knobs and leavers do, I've been trying out some of the different cutting/knurling tools that came with the lathe and hopefully one day soon I will be capable of tackling a small project or 2, I did however manage to turn down the OD of a plastic bore guide I purchased but didn't fit the action of my rifle, now a perfect fit, it's not a huge achievement but I was pretty pleased with myself.

Well that's all for now and Thanks for taking the time,

NedsHead.

 

[savarin]

G'day Ben, welcome from North Queensland

 

[Ozwelder]

G'day and welcome from Mackay N/Qld.

 

[NedsHead]

Thanks savarin and Ozwelder

 

[turnitupper]

Top rate knurling, bloddy show off Croweater. How long have you been machining?.
Puts my work on the Sieg C6 to shame. Oh, nice lathe as well.
John from Perth, formerly a Banana Bender.

 

[NedsHead]

Thanks John, I've been machining for a week now and don't worry, I did a few atrocious knurls before I got this good one, my attempts at straight knurling are really hit and miss, I'll put up some pics later so you can have a good laugh,

Cheers.

 

[kingmt01]

Welcome to the forum. Sorry I wasn't able to view your pictures. It looks like you got a great size to learn on lucky enough to get set up with tooling. One of the hardest parts is figuring out what you need to get started. Of course it never ends that when you think this is the last thing you'll need there is something else that comes up.

 

[NedsHead]

Thanks Kingmt01, I think the size is about perfect for my needs, I was considering smaller but a friend talked me out of it.
I got really lucky with the tooling, the bloke I bought the lathe off spent 30 or so years building up an inventory of tools and offered them to me cheap with the lathe, it's all top quality English, German, Australian made gear and Mitutoyo measuring equipment, I hate to think how much it would have cost new

 

[kingmt01]

Is it a gap bed?

 

[NedsHead]

No, unfortunately it's not