Is The Andrychow Lathe A Good Brand. Newb 1st Real Lathe Q.

Thanks so much Dave/Chipper. So in your opinon, what are the first basic tooling items I would need? I'll go dig in later in the week. I'm on the road and will be heading home this afternoon. Thanks again!! J
 
"First basic tools?" That is a tough question to answer. What are you going to use the lathe for? Do you have any existing tooling, such as drill bits, measuring tools, drill press, bench grinder, cut off saw - and so on. I ask because when you are starting out you may defer purchasing tooling, if you have another way to get the job done (for example, if you have a cut off saw you may hold off buying a parting tool for a while).

The list is pretty well endless. Where to start really depends on what hope to make, what you got with the lathe, what opportunity purchases are available to you, and so on. You have a pretty good sized machine, which usually means the tooling is a bit more expensive.

The most useful item for getting good results is experience. Having the right tools helps, but skilled individuals can do excellent work with minimal equipment. All the equipment in the world isn't going to automatically produce perfect parts. Take you time and be safe.

I'd recommend you start by getting the machine up and running. Go through the machine and get it cleaned up, sort out the lubrication and figure out how everything works. Level the machine (can you borrow a machinists level?) Develop a tooling list that supports the first dozen or so projects you hope to work on - and be cruzing the bargain opportunities that are available to you.

SAFETY GLASSES, SHORT SLEEVED SHIRT, CLEAR YOU WORK AREA.

When I look at a lathe, I think of four tooling areas: head stock, carriage, tail stock and off lathe items.

Headstock: what spindle mount do you have? Do you have the items necessary to remove the chuck? Your earlier comment about needing jaw tops is correct. A 3 jaw chuck is handy, but if that is all you have, it is very limiting. A 4 jaw independent chuck opens up a lot of options. There are plenty of other spindle tools, but having those two is a good starting point.

Tailstock: drill chuck and a live center. Also drills, taps, center drills etc to suit the work you do.

Carriage: I suggest you stick with the 4 position turret. It is a bit slower than a QCTP, but a very good, and widely used arrangement. Make up a bunch of shims and packing so as to set you tools and away you go. You will need some sort of cutting tools. What size does that turret accept, to bring the cutting edge to the center height? You need to check this out before you go and purchase tools. It will probably accept 1" tools, with a shim underneath. Perhaps you can get some from an industrial surplus place (too large for most hobby guys). To start you need a RH and facing tool. If you want to go cheap, you can get a set with several tools and a smaller shank, then shim it up to height. If you have a bench grinder HSS is a very good option (and learning to grind tools is a good exercise). Pretty quick, you will need to acquire some sort of boring tool (what sizes and features reall depends on what you need to do). Parting and threading tools will be needed, but could be deferred.

Off lathe: another endless list. Calipers, micrometers, dial indicator with mag base.

Over time you will end up with multiples of everything I described above - different sizes and features. Right now you just need to get set up enough to start. Think things through carefully. Be safe.

Let us know how you make out (pictures please).

David
 
Wow! She's a beast but I'd take her! :) Good luck with her.....now how and where ya gonna move it to?
 
Nice LATHE on my wish list someday ,looks like a well made LATHE great size to have .Good luck and be safe.
 
Thanks. I have started doing some reading on engine lathes. My son wants to also be a gun smith or learn gunsmithing. I have been following a Precision Matthews gunsmiths lathe thread here on HM in another forum here and it simply looks AMAZING! Being so new I have no clue on the difference ? I wonder which lathe is more versatile.
Anyway, We have years and years ahead of us to learn and grow. Fun father son stuff for now.
 
Looks like a quality industrial duty lathe.

Precision Matthews while a good firm has Asian machines made to a home shop price point.

Stuff u need:
Tool post with holders Phase II wedge type or Aloris
Live center
insert tooling and HSS tooling
Check on u tube for how to videos including gunsmithing (That's what I do)
Smiths use mills too especially pistol smiths
Drill chuck for tail stock
Dial indicator for centering stuff in 4 jaw chuck
For cheap tools: Shars tools.com

Cheap metal to practice with try scrapyard some will sell stuff.

I learned on my own and learned alot just doing stuff, you can learn speeds and feeds that way

Ask questions folks here are friendly and willing to help
 
That's a great looking machine, and for $1200 I'd say you stole it. Most machinery from that part of the world is well made stuff. Congrats on your purchase, your son I'm sure, will be delighted. Cheers, Mike
 
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