My First Lathe - HF 9" x 20"

KevinM said:
The sticker says that you should have the lever toward you (tension off) before starting.

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I can see this if I was on the higher speeds. Since I have never used them(600rpm seems my sweat spot) I leave it engaged/tensioned all the time and never have do slip start it.
 
C-Bag said:
I can see this if I was on the higher speeds. Since I have never used them(600rpm seems my sweat spot) I leave it engaged/tensioned all the time and never have do slip start it.
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BC3... I think that is where I have mine now as I practice with some material...
 
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Bi11Hudson said:
Two items:

First: The intent of the instructions is to start the motor with the belt released. It probably has to do with a weak starting winding, cap, et al. I have started mine without releasing the belt for 20 years or more. I have destroyed the belt acouple of times, but with my homade pulleys, I attribute that as much to poor workmanship as wear. Keeping in mind that a belt will take a "set" if left tight during occasional use, it might be advisable to release the belt when not being used. Your photo of the belt routing is correct, BTW. Mine uses only one belt for both ranges. A matter of specific pulley sizes and motor mounting.

Second: There are occasions where reversing the lead screw has advantages. In "normal" use, one makes a cut from RIGHT to LEFT. If you desired to cut LEFT to RIGHT, you would need to do it by hand. An example would be dressing the left side of a part. Or, more significantly, cutting a LEFT HAND thread. The stock machine, as delivered, cannot to this. There are many articles on the web about making a "reverse tumbler". The only one that comes to my slim mind is a Steve Bedaire. Mine is built to a slim profile to provide clearance for the home brew planetary gear head. Most tumblers are thicker.

Reversing the motor has its' own purpose, not the least is so you can leave the threading engaged during multiple passes on metric gears. The lead screw on most imports is 16TPI. When doing metric threads, the threading gears must remain connected so that multiple passes remain in registration. A whole 'nuther subject, the rabbit hole gets deeper and deeper.

The "rabbit hole" is very deep, a novice machinist will spend more time asking questions than producing. This board is an excellent source of answers, but is only one of many. A key phrase is "The only stupid question is the one not asked".

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Thank you. I am far, far away from making threads... But I will get there eventually... hehehehe always the eternal optimistic. :cool:

Right now I am just happy that I was able to remove the tool bit that was on the tool post and installed a second one at the right height. So proud, so proud. :D
 
Bi11Hudson said:
Two items:

First: The intent of the instructions is to start the motor with the belt released. It probably has to do with a weak starting winding, cap, et al. I have started mine without releasing the belt for 20 years or more. I have destroyed the belt acouple of times, but with my homade pulleys, I attribute that as much to poor workmanship as wear. Keeping in mind that a belt will take a "set" if left tight during occasional use, it might be advisable to release the belt when not being used. Your photo of the belt routing is correct, BTW. Mine uses only one belt for both ranges. A matter of specific pulley sizes and motor mounting.

Second: There are occasions where reversing the lead screw has advantages. In "normal" use, one makes a cut from RIGHT to LEFT. If you desired to cut LEFT to RIGHT, you would need to do it by hand. An example would be dressing the left side of a part. Or, more significantly, cutting a LEFT HAND thread. The stock machine, as delivered, cannot to this. There are many articles on the web about making a "reverse tumbler". The only one that comes to my slim mind is a Steve Bedaire. Mine is built to a slim profile to provide clearance for the home brew planetary gear head. Most tumblers are thicker.

Reversing the motor has its' own purpose, not the least is so you can leave the threading engaged during multiple passes on metric gears. The lead screw on most imports is 16TPI. When doing metric threads, the threading gears must remain connected so that multiple passes remain in registration. A whole 'nuther subject, the rabbit hole gets deeper and deeper.

The "rabbit hole" is very deep, a novice machinist will spend more time asking questions than producing. This board is an excellent source of answers, but is only one of many. A key phrase is "The only stupid question is the one not asked".

.
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On the tumbler reverse... found Steve's website that goes into the making of one... not that I will do it anytime soon... but good to keep as reference...


And I think that I finally understand the difference and where my confusion was... It is similar to what you wrote, but it took time to click in my brain...

"The reverse tumbler allows the direction of the leadscrew to be reversed without changing the direction of the motor / chuck. ( This should no be confused with the motor reverse ) This allows you to make cuts away from the chuck and also to cut left handed threads."
 
The relationship between the chuck and the leadscrew. . .

Just a thought, especially if you have never run a lathe in the past. Plastic (PVC) pipe is a very good source of practice material. It is messy, building a rat's nest of shavings in just part of one pass. But you can learn much that way at a fairly low cost without endangering the machine. Including external and internal threading. Grinding and setting attitude of tooling takes a lot of "hands on" practice. PVC is very forgiving of such adjustments. Just keep your hands away even when the machine is stopped. Use a hook, a piece of steel wire taped to a piece of broom stick. I have reacted to a snarl with my hand and had my knuckles laid open by the chuck jaws. Blood is highly corrosive to the machine and must be avoided whenever possible.

I have run depth of cut upwards of 0.050 in soft (annealed) material. The 050 cut is deep, the machine is much more comfortable at half that. But I do smaller (models) work for the most part. My normal roughing cuts are on the order of 020. A reasonable learning depth with plastic stock. Be aware you can just as easily use acrylics to learn on but they are brittle and cost much more. Find a stick of 1/2 or 3/4 pipe and hack away. Save the metal stock for useful projects.

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@Bi11Hudson has it exactly right, about everything, in the post above, especially the part about blood!

Do practice on some pvc pipe, it's cheap, cheap, cheap and very forgiving. Great to learn single point threading on!
 
Hahahahahahaha blood stains!!!:D:D If I did not know any better, I would have said that you know me well... I am blood brother with all my vehicles and most of the tools in the garage! :D:D:D:D

I bought some Delrin to play with. But I also have some PVC pipes here... did not think about using those. Will play with that!
 
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All joking aside, a lathe can kill. You need to keep your body parts away, or suffer the consequences. Take heed to Bill's admonition of using a hook, or long nose pliers, or something that is NOT YOUR HAND to clear swarf. It could either cut you up very badly, or pull you in, or both. If the swarf starts whipping around, hit the E-Stop. Then clear the swarf.
 
Fully understand the risk. I am taking off my watch, using short leave shirt, no gloves, being careful to make sure the wrench is never left in the chuck, nothing in the path (on the table) of the cut I am making...

I have much to learn on workflow and layout of the tools needed... so I avoid clutter while working...

And watching again the lathe skills series videos from Blondihacks... and anything else I find here in the forum...
 
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