Received my first ever Mini Lathe - now what?

[owl]

The levers on the back are indeed high/low and forward/reverse on the feed. Unless you buy an auxiliary toolrest to turn wood, you should not need to use the high speed, it is simply too fast for most metal work. The feed should be in forward, if you want to automatically feed toward the chuck, and in reverse if you want to automatically feed away from the chuck. It also has a neutral setting, which will stop the leadscrew from turning for whatever that's worth. The dial over the 16T is a thread engagement dial. You will notice that it turns when the carriage engagement lever (immediately to the left) is up, and the carriage is not automatically moving. If you engage the carriage feed (push this lever down) then the carriage will move, but the thread dial will stop. When threading, you must stop this on a particular number so that the tool will cut in the same groove to deepen threads. If you always use 1, then it will generally work for any thread that you have set by swapping all of those plastic gears. Some threads will work on several different numbers, and some won't. Hope this helps.

 

[Smudgemo]

I think I might have sprained my right middle finger lifting it out of its box

Have fun, but do be careful. It's small, but it'll still rip your hand off if you're caught doing something wrong.

-Ryan

 

[muscleflex]

Thanks all - now I'm looking on ebay for cutting tools.
I want:
Chamfering tool
Threading Tool
Facing tool
Cutting tool

I'd like a center drill as well.. i forgot what it's called - it's the one that makes a pilot hole first before using the drill..

 

[JimDawson]

Also, is this wobble normal and nothing to worry about?

Mmmmm, NO. I think that should be investigated. Looks like the inner nut might be cross threaded.anic:

Also Center Drill is also call Combination Drill / Countersink.

 

[ScrapMetal]

I don't think I saw anyone else recommend this yet so I guess it's up to me. Download and read a copy of South Bend's "How to Run a Lathe" (year doesn't really matter as the basic info is all the same). It will answer a lot of your questions, even ones you didn't know you have. I believe there is a copy in somewhere in the "downloads" sections, or there are versions available on the web.

-Ron

 

[Marco Bernardini]

Thanks all - now I'm looking on ebay for cutting tools.
I want:
Chamfering tool
Threading Tool
Facing tool
Cutting tool

I'd like a center drill as well.. i forgot what it's called - it's the one that makes a pilot hole first before using the drill..

Don't be in a hurry!
It's always better to consult the experts, before to buy…

 

[Don B]

Thank you. I'll put the gears away then as I don't think I'm at that level yet to be worrying about different gears.
To be honest, this purchase is too over the top for me as I only bought it so I could clamp my rod (first photo) and thread it using a die by placing it on one end of the rod and push it with the tail stock to maintain the 90 degree of the thread so it's not wonky.

That's really why I bought the lathe.. (to act as a vice for my die threading)..

But hopefully I will learn how to use the lathe properly and fully so I didn't just waste £500 for an expensive vice

I agree with Jim about that nut looking cross threaded, I think it's the only thing that would explain the gap that's present.
I wouldn't pack those threading gears away just yet, when your using a die to finish the thread it's the perfect time to experiment with threading because your not looking for a perfect fit, the die will take care of that.
Select the proper gears for your thread pitch, grind a tool and start cutting threads, take a few passes until its looking like a thread but not to the point a nut will go on, then run the die up the thread for finishing, it's easier on the die, the die will track true and won't go "wonky", you get to practice grinding a tool, setting up a thread and get the feel for cutting one.
I use this trick all the time if I'm making a bunch of things that need treading, I can do the threading at a ridiculous speed on the lathe and not worry to much about the fit and finish becuse I know I'm going to run the die up the part.

Edit: here's a project for your mini lathe, I made this for treading 4mm flybars for my RC heli's, the small end slides on the flybar to act as a guide to keep the die running true.

 

[newq]

First, Congrats on the new Mill! I am positive she will be a great deal of fun! I know I loved my little 7x10 for the little time mine worked ( I got a lemon that kept frying boards inexplicably ). Don't mind my lemon, this is NOT normal for these little machines, I just had one that had some problems. I would suggest a QCTP like this one here:

http://littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=2461&category=

The tool holders are a bit expensive but you will want to buy a bunch of them for all your cutting tools.These types of tool holders are great because they can get you on center repeatedly regardless of how many times you change the tool. Please, before you get to cutting make sure you follow the manufacturers break in procedure. This usually entails running the lathe at various speeds , forward and back for certain lengths of time. Furthermore once you get the lathe through the break in procedure be sure to put on safety eye glasses before cutting any material.

You may want to pick up a bunch of high-speed steel 1/4" or 3/8" tool bits. You can either buy either and I suggest 3/8" for the rigidity unless you need smaller for micro sized work. Make sure that if you have no measuring tools to pickup a decent caliper,micrometer and some dial indicators and holders.

Next on to material. Pickup some aluminum or some steel round stock.

For good practice you may want to practice making something small and productive. I would suggest making something like a knurled hand knob or a hand made punch. This will get you acclimated with how your machine performs. More than anything becareful. Even the powerful DC motor on that mini-lathe can be stopped by grabbing too much material.

As one final note. Buy some of the small fuses that your machine has internally. Sometimes over feeding material will stall the lathe causing the fuse to pop. In the USA those fuses are very difficult to find. I suggest ebay for fuses.

 

[LEEQ]

congrats on your new lathe, looks really tidy.

Have a thorough read of this:
http://littlemachineshop.com/info/MiniLatheUsersGuide.pdf

and generally play around making chips from scrap. That should give you a better idea both of the machine and where there are gaps in your understanding of it.

Second that on the reading material. Read everything they have to share with you on that website. You can also download the grizzly 8688 manual at grizzly.com. It's incredibly similar to your lathe . Nice buy, I like your tach. I wish mine had one.

 

[muscleflex]

Wow! Thank you all for the advice! I'm gonna be busy this weekend reading up on your posts!

The wobble - how do I unscrew it out to check if it is cross threaded?
I did email the shop and this is what they said:
"The cog is at a slight angle on the spindle but the bore is in the centre of the cog so nothing to worry about."

- - - Updated - - -

Thanks! That's cool about your tool here!
This is actually what I kinda had in mind before I bought the lathe... seeing as I'm only using the lathe at work as a vice to keep my rod straight and true when I start the thread... but now that I have the lathe.. might as well use it for more and what it's made for!

Edit: here's a project for your mini lathe, I made this for treading 4mm flybars for my RC heli's, the small end slides on the flybar to act as a guide to keep the die running true.

View attachment 81132View attachment 81133