Requests for: “You can make /that/ with a lathe?!?” examples

I guess it depends on the lathe. This part comes out exactly as shown, in about 4 minutes. :grin:

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But really you are only limited by your imagination. I have seen some awesome work done on small manual lathes, stuff that I would say is impossible. :encourage:
 
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I've heard that your first machine should be a lathe. So I got a lathe first. It turns out that I need a mill for the work I do far more than a lathe. Most of my early work was making fixtures, jigs, and fabrication. Not a lot of lathe work in those - so I ended up in one or other friend's shop to do more than half the work.

That being said, I don't regret getting my lathe first, but I waited way too long to get the mill. I still use mills more than lathes. So there it is.
 
Probablygrigsby said:
I’ve heard it said that your first machine purchase should be a lather and not a mill*, and that with enough work/steps, you can more or less make most things that you could make on a mill.

I can visualize some basic operations that are equivalent of milling. For example, and I’m not speaking from experience, so forgive me if I’m wrong, I think you could true the face(s) of a block of steel with a face plate by center mounting the steel and facing like you would the end of a cylinder. I’ve seen examples of people turning this sphere/plus-shaped cube thing.

I am interested in other, perhaps surprising, operations you can do with a lathe. I can’t imagine cutting a keyway with one, at least without a milling attachment, which I assume is kind of cheating by this definition.

*I think the first place I heard this was Quinn aka Blondihacks in her mill skill series where she says, if you’re new to machining, watch her lathe skills series first, as she recommends people start with a lathe. I’ve seen her mentioned before, a on the off chance that someone new to machining sees this and doesn’t know of her: She’s great. The $5/month I pay to be a Patreon supporter is money better spent vs. a streaming service.
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Long ago, I missed the memo about the lathe, I bought my first mill and I have owned 4 mill and now a lathe. I found that with a good rotary table and indexing head I could do 95% of the machine work I needed to do. Love my lathe, with both a mill and a lathe there isn't much I cannot accomplish. If I had it all to do over I would do the same with the exception of that big clapped out Bridgeport I rebuilt.... I would skip that; yeah, I'd skip that one.....

I like Blondiehacks along with Mr. Pete, Abom, Inheritance Machining, etc... I follow 7 or 8 of them and support 4 or 5 of them on Patreon, I stopped watching 99% of broadcast TV crud....
 
@verbotenwhisky I have about 400 machining bookmarks saved, with about 20 Canadian channels, and the rest from else where. I regularly poll about 50 of them for new content, and the rest occasionally. I don't subscribe (I don't log in to youtube at all) but I check often.

You might also like "Keith Rucker" for regular high-quality vids, and "Stefan Gotteswinter" for some pretty great techniques.
 
verbotenwhisky said:
Long ago, I missed the memo about the lathe, I bought my first mill and I have owned 4 mill and now a lathe. I found that with a good rotary table and indexing head I could do 95% of the machine work I needed to do. Love my lathe, with both a mill and a lathe there isn't much I cannot accomplish. If I had it all to do over I would do the same with the exception of that big clapped out Bridgeport I rebuilt.... I would skip that; yeah, I'd skip that one.....

I like Blondiehacks along with Mr. Pete, Abom, Inheritance Machining, etc... I follow 7 or 8 of them and support 4 or 5 of them on Patreon, I stopped watching 99% of broadcast TV crud....
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same here, I don't watch much broadcast TV. as my mom said when I was growing up, it's the idiot box.. and now I get it.
I watch Youtube like you, but much more than your list. Keith Rucker is a favorite of mine, because he tackles so many different things.

https://www.youtube.com/@VintageMachinery Keith Rucker
https://www.youtube.com/@joepie221 Joe Piezynski
https://www.youtube.com/@CaLem Ca Lem
https://www.youtube.com/@EngelsCoachShop Carriage making, involves woodworking/machining / forging... just a neat guy
https://www.youtube.com/@Clickspring machining
https://www.youtube.com/@bcbloc02 Diesel guy and BIG MACHINES, and a barn redo that has to be seen.
https://www.youtube.com/@KeithFenner Turn Wright Machine Works
https://www.youtube.com/@Preso58 A hobby guy former shop teacher excellent
https://www.youtube.com/@oxtoolco One of my favorites, but he hasn't been putting out new content lately. He bought a new house because his lease was up on his shop.
https://www.youtube.com/@OldIronMachineWorks
https://www.youtube.com/@StefanGotteswinter Excellent but could lose the attitude..
There are many more. I have some new guys, but am reserving them for another time.
 
I'm most partial to watching guys like "Everett's Workshop", just a hobby machinist, learni9ng as he goes along. (with the arrival of his second kid, he's not posting much either).

Of course I could watch "Clickspring" all day long! I'll be checking out "Presto58" in just a minute or 2. [Edit: I've been watching Mark Prestling since he started. A really good channel!]
 
I would like to add that many toolmakers, at least the good ones, exhibit similar attitudes. The presumption that the pursuit of the best possible precision is assumed. It just doesn't occur to them that wider tolerances are desirable.

THAT is what makes watching Stefan so great.

I almost never machine to those tolerances, but I love to watch a very skilled person doing their thing!
 
Firstram said:
Thats not attitude, that's just German!
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yes, I know, I'm a mutt, Russian, German, and a few others.
Steffan, at times gets pretty snobby.. Something that I don't like.. yea, I've been there, and done it. I don't like it in myself when I do it, and I don't like it in others.
 
Dabbler said:
I would like to add that many toolmakers, at least the good ones, exhibit similar attitudes. The presumption that the pursuit of the best possible precision is assumed. It just doesn't occur to them that wider tolerances are desirable.

THAT is what makes watching Stefan so great.

I almost never machine to those tolerances, but I love to watch a very skilled person doing their thing!
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+1

What I take away from Stefan is: when something annoys you fix it. My tolerance for annoyance is far lower. My shop would make him faint. But I don't take it personally.

tim
 
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