New to me lathe, got some questions...

[Boswell]

Care to share any tips on centering with the 4 jaw?

one tip to rule them all : YOUTUBE

 

[matthewsx]

Thanks! I suppose my difficulty in the 4 jaw is just a lack of familiarity. I have never had any training with metal working formal or informal and I'm buying books to read when I can to try and figure it all out. This place has been more helpful than the books though!

Care to share any tips on centering with the 4 jaw? It seems I can get it close but when I try to true it up with a gauge I can never get it acceptable and I just keep shifting it around.

Just like the man said to the NYC tourist...

How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice Practice Practice

The thing that helped me most was to realize that 3 jaw chucks are called "first operation" for a reason, you can't remove your workpiece and get it back to where it was in the beginning. You can do that, and a lot more in the 4 jaw. However, if you're doing the first operation in a 4 jaw it doesn't need to be absolutely perfect. Remember, if you're starting with raw stock it might not be perfectly round in the first place. When you're measuring thousandths of an inch a very small increment can look huge on the indicator face.

John

 

[Jmsvickers]

Well it's been a while... shortly after I posted here I had a tree fall on my garage directly over the lathe during a storm. Rain rusted up some spots on the lathe and I hadn't touched the lathe till last week.

I got the lathe leveled(ish) again from having to move it for the repairs to the garage. I also got the headstock dialed in as much as I could. There is about .003 of play in the bearings I can't get out.

I bought some tailstock tools but none of them fit, found out it has a Jarno taper or very close to it for the tailstock. Luckily the taper attachment works and my goal is to make some adapters.

I also became comfortable with the chuck it's a 4 jaw with an adjustment that draws all 4 jaws in at once but I can also adjust each jaw independently.

I also plan on adding a compound to the cross slide. It would be a cheap Amazon one for now.

I am trying to talk the wife into allowing me to get a axelson but she doesn't see the difference haha!

Anyhow glad to be back at the sadle!

 

[Shotgun]

A larger taper has more holding power (resistance to rotation) and strength. My lathe has an MT2 tailstock, the largest drills available with that taper are about 3/4 in. A large drill on a small taper would be prone to spinning, shearing off the tang or shearing the shank.

Conversely, larger tapers equal more money.
Ain't no free lunches.

 

[Shotgun]

Thanks! I suppose my difficulty in the 4 jaw is just a lack of familiarity. I have never had any training with metal working formal or informal and I'm buying books to read when I can to try and figure it all out. This place has been more helpful than the books though!

Care to share any tips on centering with the 4 jaw? It seems I can get it close but when I try to true it up with a gauge I can never get it acceptable and I just keep shifting it around.

Lots of videos covering it, but here's one:

 

[great white]

Keep at the 4 jaw, you’ll love it once you learn it. Its a little slower to true up stock, but its far more versatile than a 3 jaw scroll chuck ever could be.

That chuck looks like a jacobs multi-craft chuck. Those usually came on hand drills and typically were threaded on, not tapered. If you don’t plan to reuse the arbor it’s mounted on, chuck the whole thing in a drawer somewhere and forget about it…

 

[Jmsvickers]

I am keeping the 4 jaw chuck. I have been watching lots of YouTube videos and just drilled the bore out of an old 22 that was in bad shape to reline it.

I don't plan on spending alot on it as it won't do what I want as easily as a newer lathe. I have my heart set on an older axelson but will need to expand the garage before I can do that. I'll just keep learning on the Reed.