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Stuff needed to get a new lathe up and running?
- Thread starter HMF
- Start date
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2010
- Messages
- 1,043
Hey Turbo,
There are hundreds of things one can do with a lathe and thousands of tools and gizmos to make them do those things better, faster and more accurately.
Give us an idea what kind of lathe you have and the things you would like to do with it. I have multiple items that I never use, based on input from others. They meant well, but they did different things with their lathes, some of those things I thought I was going to do on mine one day.
Randy
There are hundreds of things one can do with a lathe and thousands of tools and gizmos to make them do those things better, faster and more accurately.
Give us an idea what kind of lathe you have and the things you would like to do with it. I have multiple items that I never use, based on input from others. They meant well, but they did different things with their lathes, some of those things I thought I was going to do on mine one day.
Randy
- Joined
- Jun 17, 2011
- Messages
- 2,062
Since Nelson mentioned that it was a new lathe, start by cleaning it thoroughly, using paint thinner or Varsol. Wear gloves. Crank the saddle, crossfeed and compound from one end of travel to the other, cleaning as you go.
Then oil all the contact surfaces with a good machine oil. Follow the instructions to oil bearings, etc.
Check and adjust gibbs to eliminate any slop in the moving parts. You should feel a slight drag as you turn the cranks, but not excessive resistance.
Read the manual and any other information that comes readily to hand. Lets face it, the internet is loaded with information. Then, play with your lathe. Don't try to make anything critical in the beginning. Just take a piece of mild steel or aluminum and change it's shape. Try stuff. Short of a major chuck collision, you won't break much. Take light cuts at different speeds and feed rates, then try a slightly heavier cut.
Have fun. That's why we do this stuff. BTW, I assume you are using non-metallic buckets.
Then oil all the contact surfaces with a good machine oil. Follow the instructions to oil bearings, etc.
Check and adjust gibbs to eliminate any slop in the moving parts. You should feel a slight drag as you turn the cranks, but not excessive resistance.
Read the manual and any other information that comes readily to hand. Lets face it, the internet is loaded with information. Then, play with your lathe. Don't try to make anything critical in the beginning. Just take a piece of mild steel or aluminum and change it's shape. Try stuff. Short of a major chuck collision, you won't break much. Take light cuts at different speeds and feed rates, then try a slightly heavier cut.
Have fun. That's why we do this stuff. BTW, I assume you are using non-metallic buckets.
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2011
- Messages
- 2,082
Get a copy/reprint of "How to Run a Lathe". Takes you through all the basic steps and gives a good idea of the tooling that you will want for a particular job.
-Ron
-Ron
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2011
- Messages
- 8,031
- Joined
- Sep 22, 2010
- Messages
- 7,223
Based on that thread, I put together a list. Then I added the items I could afford to my cart at www.use-enco.com, waiting for the usual summer discounts to come into force. When I could afford them, I started buying the things on the list.
Nelson
Nelson