Beginner lathe projects?

[ddickey]

I think Mr. Pete has a good video on making a wiggler.

 

[ttabbal]

So, I made the fire piston with my kids. We got some bad finish on the bore with the HF drill bits. Bummer. I got some better bits and found a decent 10mm reamer I thought I'd try. I made a new outer cylinder, and there's a bit where you bore out a through hole most of the way through. I needed a bit more depth, so I carefully, I thought, ran the reamer down. It ate my threaded section. Sigh. On the up side, the reamer made a really nice finish. I need to make a new end cap with larger threads. It looks like a 7/16 thread should work. Maybe this time it will hold compression and work.

Also need different o-rings. The plumbing box from HD doesn't have many in the right size range.

 

[Ray C]

So, I made the fire piston with my kids. We got some bad finish on the bore with the HF drill bits. Bummer. I got some better bits and found a decent 10mm reamer I thought I'd try. I made a new outer cylinder, and there's a bit where you bore out a through hole most of the way through. I needed a bit more depth, so I carefully, I thought, ran the reamer down. It ate my threaded section. Sigh. On the up side, the reamer made a really nice finish. I need to make a new end cap with larger threads. It looks like a 7/16 thread should work. Maybe this time it will hold compression and work.

Also need different o-rings. The plumbing box from HD doesn't have many in the right size range.

Lots of good learning going on there. It was nice to hear about it. Stick with it. You'll get there and if you get in a pinch, post pictures here and somebody will help.

You can never really rely on drill bits to give a good finish. That's what reamers are for.

Oh, go to Harbor Freight. They have kits of screws, springs and all kinds of misc fasteners. One of the kits is big assortment of O-Rings. For 5 bucks, you'll get about 200 O-rings. You'll make fire-sticks for the next year or two...

Ray

 

[ttabbal]

Thanks Ray. I hope that posting about my learning might help other students of machining. I could try to pretend that I never mess up, but I don't think anyone would believe me.

 

[TakeDeadAim]

You don't end up with anything at the end but if you have access to some 1" or so cold rolled about a foot long you can do a nice project by dividing the length into 4 equal sections, face and center-drill each end. Cut the "4 steps" into progressively smaller diameters, say 3/8", 1/2", 5/8", and 3/4".
Cut a thread relief groove between each step then cut NC threads on each diameter.

Lather rinse and repeat for NF threads. By the time your done you will have learned to cut to diameter, (hold yourself to a reasonable tolerance). How to cut a groove and how to set up and cut various size threads. When I was in school we had to do this as an exam each semester and they added things like acme threads, left hand threads and even double start threads. Of course the cut to diameter got a tighter tolerance as did the length of the steps. Tools were hand ground HSS and were part of the grade.

Material is cheap and if you screw up you can go to the next size smaller, (at a reduced grade of course!)

This advise, like all I offer is worth exactly what you paid for it.

 

[The_Apprentice]

When I was in high school the thing to make was a Steam Engine-- back when we thought the Western world would still produce products in the future.

The most interesting project I've heard of as late on the forum here is a yo-yo. I am thinking on toying with that idea myself.

But personally, you could try playing with making some jewelry. Gives you some fun and practice with boring bars, etc. You can even make your own expanding mandrels (or buy them).

Just promise me one thing, if you do make your own rings, please do NOT wear them while machining.

 

[tjb]

When I was in high school the thing to make was a Steam Engine-- back when we thought the Western world would still produce products in the future.

The most interesting project I've heard of as late on the forum here is a yo-yo. I am thinking on toying with that idea myself.

But personally, you could try playing with making some jewelry. Gives you some fun and practice with boring bars, etc. You can even make your own expanding mandrels (or buy them).

Just promise me one thing, if you do make your own rings, please do NOT wear them while machining.

Making a yo-yo sounds like it could be an interesting learning exercise. Couldn't find anything on a 'Search', so can you provide a link to that project?

Regards,
Terry

 

[ttabbal]

Thanks for the ideas!

I'm not sure if I want to do jewelry projects, but it is a good point that it would teach some important skills. And yes, absolutely no jewelry, loose clothing, loose hair, etc. while machining.

I've considered trying a yoyo, gyroscope, top, etc.. They look like they could be interesting.

I'm planning on getting the fire piston done next, need to hit harbor freight tomorrow for the orings. Then finish getting my milling adapter set up.

 

[Tony Pisano]

Thanks Ray. I hope that posting about my learning might help other students of machining. I could try to pretend that I never mess up, but I don't think anyone would believe me.

If you have a local industrial supply store, check them out. They usually have a really wide range of stuff at reasonable prices and good quality if they are supplying local shops. And when you drill and ream, if you cant use a scale on the tailstock or don't have one, mark your depth on the drill and reamer with a pc of masking tape.

 

[The_Apprentice]

For the YoYo....

Making a Custom YoYo on the Mini Lathe

Though you could always improve that by adding bearings, etc.