Newbie looking for advice

[Old Iron]

Being in Wisconsin you shouldn't have a had time finding a good vintage mill, K & T were made there and others I believe.

I have a 13" South Bend lathe I went to VA.and picked up, Payed about 700.00 been a great machine. I use it more that the 13" Leblond that is a gear head I just like it better.

My mils are K & T Milwaukee heavy but have power feed on all axes. I just rather have the older machines.

Paul

 

[Vince_O]

As someone new to working with metal, a few things I have learned while being here real quick!

6 in lathe is no where big enough to work on small tractors, kinda like carts

The more you read the better off you will be, fast

And the bigest thing Ive learned here, is that the folks here are willing to help in every aspect. Ive had more help from people here than I can begin to type.

Im curently looking for a bigger lathe. Maybe one day the mill but just a little at a time.

Have you ever heard of the company JEX MFG? Jess is a personal friend of mine, real nice guy.

 

[brasssmanget]

Folks,
I'd appreciate any thoughts on good starter machines. My garage shop isn't huge, and my needs for now are simple - fabricating small parts for old woodworking machinery, go karts and perhaps my Harley. I don't see myself needing a 40" lathe or a Bridgeport now. But I don't want to sell myself short either. I have 60amps in the garage and have the parts to build a 5-10hp rotary phase converter. So, if 3 phase is in my future, no worries..................
So, armed with that info, I'd appreciate hearing your thoughts on good machines to look for. I'm in SE Wisconsin and am very willing to travel for a good deal and good conversation........................

Thanks in advance for your guidance, and thanks to all for a really cool site!
Rick

Welcome Rick - from another SE Wisconsin member. I'm probably not in position to teach anybody anything, but I can offer the info from my perspective. I just got into lathe work about 16 months ago. I found a pretty decent SB Hvy 10L in Iowa and picked it up. It's been all learning experiences ever since, but the machine will take on most anything I need to do. My mill is a RF31 bench top, heavily weighted in the base, with power table feed on the x axis only. It is definitely bare minimum, but again, reasonably priced and if I go slow, it works. I'm not doing micro-precision work, so I can get by - I'm not sure +/-.001 is doable with either machine with consistency, but they are both older machines.......... the only reason I say this is because budget restraints dictate what I could afford, and I compared cost effectiveness vs what I planned on doing in the final outlay of $$. Good luck in your search for machines - who knows - maybe someday we'll get together for a bit and compare notes!

Oh - I watched a LOT of YouTube videos - plenty of good info there, JFYI......

 

[restorick]

Resto,
Got any specific plans for doing stuff like live axles, spindles,discs, steerin knuckles for the karts? I think a lathe in the 12X36 size range is about right for karting. A lathe can build a mill so You would probably be better off learning to operate a lathe first then progress too a mill as stated by the others. Machine costs are usually about 1/2 of what you will ultimately have invested. You will acquire rotary tables, bits, claipers, DRO's edge finders, vices along the way and they contribute to the overall cost pretty quickly. Depending on your ultimate level of commitment to machining you can still get in pretty inexpensively and have a darn nice set up with a little time and patience. So look around for auctions and mortgage/ tax sales. Sometimes good used equipment goes for the price of scrap when no one bids because they are real estate or bank types. We are always here abouts and willling to help, so dont hesitate to jump in, ask questions, and start looking for equipment. Good luck, and welcome to the group and a new addiction. Have fun, and hope you visit often

Bob

Bob - thanks for the feedback! I do plan on visiting often and I already know too well the iron addiction...

Over the years I've picked up a number of mikes, calipers, end/ball mills for a J head (was supposed to go on the Hardinge horizontal...), drills, and other tooling. Not much on lathe specific items, but hopefully I'll find something with the basic tooling kit included.

No specific plans for axle work - I'm able to find them fairly cheap already made. But then again, once I have the machine, all bets are off. Definitely will want to fabricate as many parts as I can, if for nothing else to gain experience.

It's been a while since a "sad bastard" machine followed me home... Looking forward to getting back out to the auctions and sales now that spring is in the air!
Rick

- - - Updated - - -

Welcome Rick - from another SE Wisconsin member. I'm probably not in position to teach anybody anything, but I can offer the info from my perspective. I just got into lathe work about 16 months ago. I found a pretty decent SB Hvy 10L in Iowa and picked it up. It's been all learning experiences ever since, but the machine will take on most anything I need to do. My mill is a RF31 bench top, heavily weighted in the base, with power table feed on the x axis only. It is definitely bare minimum, but again, reasonably priced and if I go slow, it works. I'm not doing micro-precision work, so I can get by - I'm not sure +/-.001 is doable with either machine with consistency, but they are both older machines.......... the only reason I say this is because budget restraints dictate what I could afford, and I compared cost effectiveness vs what I planned on doing in the final outlay of $$. Good luck in your search for machines - who knows - maybe someday we'll get together for a bit and compare notes!

Oh - I watched a LOT of YouTube videos - plenty of good info there, JFYI......

Thanks brass...

Definitely chomping at the bit to go find something. Like you, budget is an issue if the finance committee gets wind of it... )

Would be happy to meet and compare notes - I'll bring the beer!
Rick

- - - Updated - - -

Have you ever heard of the company JEX MFG? Jess is a personal friend of mine, real nice guy.

Just took a look at the website - very cool! So far, my karting experience is building off-road stuff, but I'm into racing as well and would love to build a racer sometime.

Thanks for the feedback - great to meet you!
Rick