New (to me) lathe and mill, now what are some good projects that will help me learn?

bfk said:
First of all, welcome.
For buying materials, HobbyMetalKits, https://hobbymetalkits.com/, stock a lot of smaller stuff in 12” lengths. For bigger stuff, onlinemetals.com has a vast stock, they recently cut shipping cost to $9 for lengths under 36” and under (I think) 50lbs. They also sell protoboxes: you get 5lbs, or 10lbs of off cuts of the metal (not necessarily the shape or alloy) of your choice, about 12” long for a very good price. Great way to get practice material. You can also keep an eye on the For Sale section here, often good stuff going cheap.
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Hobbymetalkits is a website I haven't heard of before, thanks. I'll check them out.

Also, I definitely need to check out the protoboxes, since most of the largest parts I can run in my little lathe are what most machine shops classify as offcuts.

Thanks!

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STEMtheMachining said:
My grandfather gave the same advice when I was young:

"Don't ever ask to borrow a tool more than once. If you need to borrow it more than once, you need to own it."

And then I usually buy the best tool that I can justify.

"Buy once, cry once."

Especially when it comes to metrology.






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I should have also mentioned - a good heuristic is to never skimp on cutting tools, vises, or metrology. There's some nuance to that. I have some cheap indicators, but I also have some premium tools that I can use to check them. I have also found a handful of good cutting tools that are, in my estimation, premium - but not premium brand - that's a tough one to suss out. I don't buy vises right and left, but Glacern looks like a good risk (I use a Kurt and don't regret a penny of that purchase). Not skimping doesn't necessarily mean buying the most premium brand available, nor does buying a premium brand guarantee a good fit ( reference size, machine power requirements, and suitability to your work - you can still go wrong with top-quality gear... ).

GsT
 
GeneT45 said:
I should have also mentioned - a good heuristic is to never skimp on cutting tools, vises, or metrology. There's some nuance to that. I have some cheap indicators, but I also have some premium tools that I can use to check them. I have also found a handful of good cutting tools that are, in my estimation, premium - but not premium brand - that's a tough one to suss out. I don't buy vises right and left, but Glacern looks like a good risk (I use a Kurt and don't regret a penny of that purchase). Not skimping doesn't necessarily mean buying the most premium brand available, nor does buying a premium brand guarantee a good fit ( reference size, machine power requirements, and suitability to your work - you can still go wrong with top-quality gear... ).

GsT
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Vises is a good point. My issue regarding vises seems to be that Emco custom built theirs to match their custom built cross-slide, so the t nuts that hold it are bespoke.

So I'll probably have to get their vise for my lathe ($$$)

I have a milling table inbound right now so I'm going to wait till that gets in to buy a vise for it. (Is there a rule for vise size vs table size?)

That's a good point regarding cutting tools.

I think the biggest difference between HF and high end isn't first cut capability, but subsequent cut capability as well as durability.

Even the cheapest drill bit will make a hole. Once.





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STEMtheMachining said:
My pawnshop score of the century was this for $20, A mitutoyo 6 inch digital caliper.
I'll probably never be a good enough machinist to justify needing it's specs, but a deal that good, you can't pass up.
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A sweet deal like that - Wow. Its the sort of thing that that might provoke the " BTW - You suck" meme that is sometimes posted here with the best ironic envy humour. I still live with the surprises when my friends find out I got my South Bend lathe for £147 when a eBay auction faltered and had to be wound back to near the starting bid.
 
I still live with the surprises when my friends find out I got my South Bend lathe for £147 when a eBay auction faltered and had to be wound back to near the starting bid.
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BTW - you suck. LOL.

seriously, that's a hell of a lot of machine for the price of a new Starrett dial caliper.



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STEMtheMachining said:
Can I ask why, since I have to reset concentricity every time I convert from lathe to mill, and I have no intention on buying an additional mill?

(My entire wood/metal shop has to fit in one bay of a two car garage, so space is at a premium)



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You don't need additional mill. You need to apply all science to discover exactly why this happens, and we need need a better explanation of precisely what you mean when you say "reset concentricity".

This is the sort of place where you can ask absolutely anything. There is no such thing as a silly question, only folk who are silly in not asking. You will be treated kindly. Another, more or less essential tool you need will be some sort of dial indicator. There are some basic things you check, such as run-out at the lathe chuck and spindle, and setting up the tailstock so you don't end up turning tapers. Know that one can even check run-out with a coat hanger wire, one end sharpened, the other end fixed to something heavy(ish) so it can stay still somewhere. The eye can see run-outs down to about 0.001" if the light is right. Even a cheapo dial gauge is much nicer!

Then for the mill, one has to check the "tramming". You mount a gauge on the spindle vertical, touching down onto the main table, and then make the table move. What to do to go "tramming" your mill, and how it is adjusted is another of those tasks with great stuff on YouTube. The first quick checks need to be made, and do not worry if what you do goes all over the place. It will be sorted out.

In all this exchange, I forgot.. Welcome to HM! :)
 
graham-xrf said:
You don't need additional mill. You need to apply all science to discover exactly why this happens, and we need need a better explanation of precisely what you mean when you say "reset concentricity".



:)
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On the Emco unimats, the head piece (which contains the motor, pulleys, and the chuck comes off of the lathe bed, and gets mounted onto the vertical milling column. So when you put the headstock back, you would then no longer have x-y alignment between the head and tailstock when turning between centers or drilling.

Am I using the term concentricity incorrectly?


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I don't want to mislead; There's actually a much bigger difference between HF (or other low-quality cutters) and high end. Even with that very first cut. Many low-quality carbide cutters will chip or crumble at the mere sight of steel. Others are just incapable of producing a decent finish. A high quality cutter (even without a pedigree brand) will cut and hold up. I have not found one that cuts well at first but suffers in durability - at least in a significant way. I was attempting to say that there do exist some inexpensive cutters that are equivalent to the name-brand stuff, but they're hard to find amongst the plentiful garbage that's available. For example, my favorite insert threading tools, both lay-down and edge, are from Shars. I have been dissatisfied with some other Shars insert tools, though I'm pretty happy with the company in general. My most-used insert tools, aside from threading, are almost all Kennametal. I have some odd bits from Dorian and Aloris as well. My point being that mostly I've found the big brands worth it, but occasionally you can stumble onto a good discount brand. I didn't mention the multiple junk tools that I've bought over the years, seduced by nice finishes and low prices...

One problem when starting out is that "you don't know what you don't know". I have seen people on YouTube demonstrating some odd (cheap) cutter and proclaiming that it works for them, and produces a good finish, when the finish they've produced is visibly terrible. They just don't know. It's relatively smooth and they think that's about what they should expect. Others know that a much better finish is possible and blame themselves when other problems (feed, speed, cutter quality, material selection) are making things hard.

Just as I mentioned having some quality ("known good") metrology to compare / check / calibrate the cheap instruments, I'd suggest having some "known good" cutters. I'm not familiar with your machine, but it's smaller than my tools so I can't really offer any direct recommendations - just that you should seek some high-quality cutters to calibrate your expectations before dabbling much in the realm of inexpensive tools. Also, I strongly recommend learning to grind HSS. You can learn to grind decent cutters in less time than it takes Amazon to deliver a junk "lathe tool kit" and it pays huge dividends in the end. I have probably 20-30 quality insert toolholders and inserts to go with them and I still have (and use) an equal number of HSS tools. Being able to grind HSS with facility means being able to make a custom cutter when you need it, being able to modify a standard cutter, and being able to sharpen any of it. I would think my capabilities greatly diminished if I tried to work without it. (Oh, and HSS is a cutting tool - get brand name blanks. They're only pennies more and the quality difference is striking.)

GsT
 
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