My first lathe - don't laugh

[core-oil]

Jaredbeck,

Great that you have got yourself a little lathe, It is a beginning, and when you manage to get her set up you can pick up on experience as you move on, It may only be a small simple lathe, but many a man has achieved excellent outcomes on such a machine, Remember these little lathes were constructed in the days before folks were tearing off metal using "Throw away tool tips " and creating blue chips , at a supersonic speed, For a home craftsman , What the hell is the point, Is one on bonus at home? I think most of my contemporaries nowadays , are high speed merchants and believe using high speed (stellite ) tool steel is mostly for the Dinosaurs, I believe learning to sharpen your own tools & learning the basics is a good beginning , You will no doubt go on to a bigger and more complex machine as you develop .
you will look back in a few years time , & think how you got on with that simple little machine, Do not be in a hurry to send it packing as you modernise, Keep it for the little simple tasks , Especially when your hopefully bigger and more modern machine has work set in the chuck you do not want to disturb, Have fun that is the name of the game.

 

[itsme_Bernie]

Hey Jared

Welcome to the forum, and congrats on getting started! I started on a similar machine about 20 years ago, and haven't looked back. I kept it until about five years ago, still loved it!


I had an Atlas 618 (similar machine, slightly heavier). Awesome starter, and lots of people never want to get rid of them, they're really great little machines. Nice high rpm as well.

Lots of parts available online, but you willl usually pay a bit of a premium as there are a lot of them around, And they are easy to move so people aren't afraid of them.

Motor switch will be great, you might eventually want to go with a switch in front of the machine so you have easier access to switch off the machine

Do you have the jack shaft set up? Is it entirely separate set of Palese with a little lever arm on a cast iron stand that reduces the speed by a factor of 8 or so.

Good luck and keep letting us know what you're up to! Don't be afraid to ask a lot of questions if you want to. Everyone here had to ask somebody at some point in their past.


Bernie


.
Bernie

 

[jaredbeck]

It should be just threaded on. I would soak it from the front and back of the faceplate with penetrating oil and see if you can free it up. Let the penetrant sit overnight, then turn it first in the tighten direction, followed by the loosen direction, counter clockwise. Do not force it or you might bend the spindle. If it does not come free with moderate force, do the penetrant thing again, try to work it loose, lather, rinse, repeat until it comes off, and it will eventually come off. It had decades to get stuck on there, you have days or weeks or whatever to get it loose if necessary. Patience, grasshopper...

Thanks Bob, I did exactly what you said, soaked it overnight in penetrating oil, and it came off with only hand-strength. There are also holes in the faceplate for a two-pin spanner wrench, but I don't own one.

It's threaded Jared .. Try grabbing the belt and twist it up tight with one hand and tug on the faceplate with the other, that might get it. .. Also use the penetrating oil (like Liquid Wrench) or similar like Bob suggested.
I don't think there is a spindle lock on this machine
Mark S

Thanks Mark, grabbing the belt like that worked well.

my first home lathe .. the best part was a new headstock that used tapered roller bearings, the old headstock used bronze bushings. best upgrade to that lathe ever. bill

Thanks for the upgrade tip, Bill. I'm pretty sure mine has plain bearings, not sure what the material is.

Lathes UK said 1/2"-24 spindle thread for Jared's model. Oddball... And small! It will not take much to bend that spindle. Be careful with it!

Yes, it looks like the spindle is 1/2"-24 outside. Inside it may be MT0, I'm not sure.

.. these little lathes were constructed in the days before folks were tearing off metal using "Throw away tool tips " .. I believe learning to sharpen your own tools & learning the basics is a good beginning .. Have fun that is the name of the game.

Thanks, I've watched a few videos on grinding HSS (the one by This Old Tony was great) and I have some 1/4" blanks on order from Grizzly. After watching videos for at least a year, I'm having a blast putting what I've learned to work finally!

Do you have the jack shaft set up? Is it entirely separate set of Palese with a little lever arm on a cast iron stand that reduces the speed by a factor of 8 or so.

Oh neat, no I haven't got that part. I hope I can get it running reasonably slow without it. The motor is 1725 RPM and the slowest ratio between the two cone pulleys is 2" input / 3.25" output, which would be about 1060 RPM? I'm not at all certain about that math.

 

[Bob Korves]

The motor is 1725 RPM and the slowest ratio between the two cone pulleys is 2" input / 3.25" output, which would be about 1060 RPM? I'm not at all certain about that math.

Your math is good. Unbelievably, I can still do that in my head...

 

[Bob Korves]

For aluminum or brass, which would be about 400 surface feet per minute (SFPM), 1 1/4 to 1 1/2" would be about the maximum diameter you might try at that speed to get started. With steel at 100 SFPM, about 1/2" would be a useful work diameter. Start even slower than that, or should I say smaller diameter until you get a feel for it. These numbers are for high speed steel (HSS) tools, which I recommend you use with that lathe. A jack shaft to lower the speed would give you a lot more options for work diameter and speed.

 

[silence dogood]

Hey guys, remember your first car that you owned. Mine was a 61 Ford Falcon station wagon, three speed on the column. Always had to fiddle with her, but she always got me home. I guess for many of us the first lathe is like that.

 

[benmychree]

Jaredbeck,

Great that you have got yourself a little lathe, It is a beginning, and when you manage to get her set up you can pick up on experience as you move on, It may only be a small simple lathe, but many a man has achieved excellent outcomes on such a machine, Remember these little lathes were constructed in the days before folks were tearing off metal using "Throw away tool tips " and creating blue chips , at a supersonic speed, For a home craftsman , What the hell is the point, Is one on bonus at home? I think most of my contemporaries nowadays , are high speed merchants and believe using high speed (stellite ) tool steel is mostly for the Dinosaurs, I believe learning to sharpen your own tools & learning the basics is a good beginning , You will no doubt go on to a bigger and more complex machine as you develop .
you will look back in a few years time , & think how you got on with that simple little machine, Do not be in a hurry to send it packing as you modernise, Keep it for the little simple tasks , Especially when your hopefully bigger and more modern machine has work set in the chuck you do not want to disturb, Have fun that is the name of the game.

Stellite and HSS are completely different formulations; Stellite is a alloy of cobalt and chromium only, there are other formulations, but that is what Stellite is, as opposed to HSS which may contain small additions of either element, it is as it's name indicates, is mostly steel. Stellite is pretty much only for cutting cast iron, where HSS will cut most anything within certain hardness limits.

 

[jaredbeck]

For aluminum or brass, which would be about 400 surface feet per minute (SFPM), 1 1/4 to 1 1/2" would be about the maximum diameter you might try at that speed to get started. With steel at 100 SFPM, about 1/2" would be a useful work diameter. Start even slower than that, or should I say smaller diameter until you get a feel for it. These numbers are for high speed steel (HSS) tools, which I recommend you use with that lathe. A jack shaft to lower the speed would give you a lot more options for work diameter and speed.

Thanks Bob. I'll stick with those sizes, and take light cuts.

Hey guys, remember your first car that you owned. Mine was a 61 Ford Falcon station wagon, three speed on the column. Always had to fiddle with her, but she always got me home. I guess for many of us the first lathe is like that.

Mine was a 1990 corolla and I drove it into the ground because I didn't know how to take care of machines then and I was broke. But, yes, despite that it's still a good memory.

Stellite and HSS are completely different formulations; Stellite is a alloy of cobalt and chromium only, there are other formulations, but that is what Stellite is, as opposed to HSS which may contain small additions of either element, it is as it's name indicates, is mostly steel. Stellite is pretty much only for cutting cast iron, where HSS will cut most anything within certain hardness limits.

Interesting, I hadn't heard of Stellite before. I guess there are a lot of alloys out there. What's a good place to learn about them? I'll check my machinery's handbook. I need to learn the numbering system for steel.

 

[Bob Korves]

Stellite and HSS are completely different formulations; Stellite is a alloy of cobalt and chromium only, there are other formulations, but that is what Stellite is, as opposed to HSS which may contain small additions of either element, it is as it's name indicates, is mostly steel. Stellite is pretty much only for cutting cast iron, where HSS will cut most anything within certain hardness limits.

The Stellite company made tool blanks in decades past. I have some, different models. I did some research on them and looked at what they were used for some years ago. I cannot remember the details, but most of them had incredibly high cobalt and chrome content (I have some that are more than 50% cobalt), which would give them really excellent hot hardness, but would also make them stupidly expensive. Mine are probably worth more as scrap as for anything else, and I really would not want to breathe the dust while grinding them...
The first good link I just found confirms that: http://www.chemistrylearner.com/stellite.html
http://www.conradhoffman.com/stellite.htm

 

[benmychree]

The Stellite tools that I have and have seen were blanks brazed onto high carbon steel shanks, like carbide, but the usable blank was much longer than a typical carbide tool, and could be sharpened back very much further.
It seems to me that it was invented and made by the Haynes Company, I think the same company as made the Haynes automobile.