# Another Bloody Australian



## NedsHead (Jan 13, 2016)

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.


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## savarin (Jan 13, 2016)

G'day Ben, welcome from North Queensland


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## Ozwelder (Jan 13, 2016)

G'day and welcome  from Mackay N/Qld.


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## NedsHead (Jan 13, 2016)

Thanks savarin and Ozwelder


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## turnitupper (Jan 13, 2016)

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.


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## NedsHead (Jan 13, 2016)

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.


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## kingmt01 (Jan 13, 2016)

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.


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## NedsHead (Jan 13, 2016)

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


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## kingmt01 (Jan 13, 2016)

Is it a gap bed?


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## NedsHead (Jan 13, 2016)

No, unfortunately it's not


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## kingmt01 (Jan 13, 2016)

I have a 14" gap bed & have never had my gap open. The one time I thought about removing it the work wouldn't fit in the gap anyway so I paid another person with the correct lathe for the job. I rarely turn anything that wouldn't fit in your lathe so I'm sure you'll find it very useful.


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## NedsHead (Jan 13, 2016)

I think you're right kingmt01, it should be able to handle all the hobby jobs I throw at it, actually the distance between centres is probably the limiting factor but 600mm is still plenty enough for the work I will be doing


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## kingmt01 (Jan 13, 2016)

Mine is 40" of travel on. I love having that much. I can keep the steady & tailstock at the end out of the way. However I rarely work more then 6" off the chuck. So 6" of work & 6" of chuck so I use about 12" for the work & maybe another 14" for the tail stock & drill. So most of my stuff would fit in your lathe. If you find later you need more room then you will be knowable of what your true needs are by then.


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## middle.road (Jan 13, 2016)

Welcome aboard. When I saw the title of this thread, I thought for a sec that we had another 'Lessons Learned' post....
That's a heck of great lathe, IMO. Looks be in very fine shape. It's nice to know it's history that's for sure.


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## brino (Jan 13, 2016)

Hi Ben,

Welcome to the site!
It looks like you're off to a great start. That lathe is much nicer than my first tiny, worn-out one.

-brino


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## NedsHead (Jan 13, 2016)

Thanks for the welcomes middle.road and brino, just like buying a used vehicle it's great piece of mind knowing the history and caricature of the previous owner, the guy I bought it off was a very organized and thorough type. The papers that came with the lathe a quite interesting too, it's from a time in the far East when quality control was high on the agenda, I've attached photo's of the test report done when the lathe left the factory, note on the front cover the company name "LAM" and below is the manager and inspectors family name stamped in Chinese which is also the character for LAM


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## middle.road (Jan 14, 2016)

Looks like it is Taiwanese and I still believe that their castings have been of good quality since the late '80s early '90s.


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## janvanruth (Jan 14, 2016)

sold under the name David in Europe
you could have done a lot worse 
it will beat the **** out of every modern day chinese lathe anyday


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## Str8jacket (Jan 16, 2016)

Another Gday from a Ben in Clermont QLD! Having a nice machine makes the initial experiments much better, I'm a newbie too and spend hours trawling through the info here. Read read read and then dive in head first!


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## Tozguy (Jan 18, 2016)

Gdie mite, from the other side of the world, glad to read about your lathe and jobs.
See you in the gunsmithing section?
 Mike


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## NedsHead (Jan 20, 2016)

Thanks Ben, making time to trawl the forum is a priority, the information and skills here are outstanding. Mike, There's a gunsmithing section! I had no idea, you can count on seeing me there.

Ben


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## Downunder Bob (Mar 21, 2017)

NedsHead said:


> 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.
> 
> ...



G'day Ben. Welcome to this great site. I see you've been here longer than me, I'm a newby too well on this site, but not new to machining, been machining all my life, but only recently got my own lathe Also Taiwanese, but brand new, very happy with it so far. 

Very green with your luck on the purchase of all the right bits and a machine that appears to have been well looked after, you've done well. Ilooked for quite a while and gave up then bought a new machine.

Not sure if there is any one else here from Adelaide, quite a few Aussies as you've already discovered. Looks like you're making a pretty successful start those early jobs look pretty good


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## NedsHead (Mar 22, 2017)

Hi bobshobby, it's good to see someone else from South Australia on the forum, I actually haven't been around much since this first post, it's a great forum with exceptional content, I just haven't had the time to participate, I do frequent the Australian metal work forum and I plan on returning and participating again here in the near future, I have decided it's time for a career change and to learn some proper machining so I'll be starting a TAFE course mid year, I'll do a 10 week introductory followed by an advanced trade coarse, I'll spend more time here when my courses start.

Cheers

Ben


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## Downunder Bob (Mar 22, 2017)

NedsHead said:


> Hi bobshobby, it's good to see someone else from South Australia on the forum, I actually haven't been around much since this first post, it's a great forum with exceptional content, I just haven't had the time to participate, I do frequent the Australian metal work forum and I plan on returning and participating again here in the near future, I have decided it's time for a career change and to learn some proper machining so I'll be starting a TAFE course mid year, I'll do a 10 week introductory followed by an advanced trade coarse, I'll spend more time here when my courses start.
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Ben



Great decision Ben, nothing like a bit of formal training, just don't let it limit your imagination. There is rarely ever only one correct way to do something. Certainly the best forum I've found. 95% of members have a great attitude. and always willing to help, rather than critisize.


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