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- Sep 8, 2019
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Maybe the OP has need of a (micrometer) carriage stop.
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Useful Lathe Accessories?
- Thread starter Spokerider
- Start date
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- Nov 14, 2016
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- 3,289
True, there are things other than cutting bits where being able to fit a larger shank than the ideal cutting bit would be very helpful.
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- Oct 10, 2018
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- 545
Robert, generally I take your word as gospel but I'm not sure about the above. I've got a 0XA QCTP on my Atlas 618 and I have a mixture of 1/4" and 3/8" HSS tooling in Shars toolholders. The 3/8" bits fit perfectly. I don't have any 1/2" tooling but I think it would be adequately secure. More than half the width of the tool bit would be within the body of the tool holder and the set screws would have sufficient 'meat' to clamp down on.
I don't think there is any advantage to using 1/2" tooling but I don't see any significant drawback. Certainly 3/8" tooling has worked well-enough for me. (As has 1/4" tooling.) Am I missing something?
Craig
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If I had to guess, I would say that having a surface completely under the tool bit would optimize rigidity of said tool bit.
I have the same lathe and am learning the basics on it. Sounds like you've got a good handle on the chucks and QCTP cutters and such. For this lathe, i'd focus more on HSS tooling/cutters. It's a light duty lathe and relatively slow - not ideal for carbide cutting.
I made a carriage stop that holds a dial indicator. I use it all the time. I keep a 2" indicator in it for most of my work, but sometimes swap it out for a 1". I also have a milling attachment that never gets used. And since they cost about 1/3 or more of what a factory reconditioned benchtop manual Taig milling machine (which works much much better for milling) goes for, they're not worth it in my book. Before i got my little benchtop mill, i found light milling on the drill press with a cross slide vise worked better than the milling attachment on the little lathe.
Other things you'll probably want/need:
magnetic base or two,
dial indicator(s),
a test indicator,
micrometers (i usually use a 0-1" and a 1-2"),
calipers (a 6" ought to cover you),
a machinist's 6" steel ruler,
center drills,
a surface gage,
a bottle of dykem fluid,
a tube of prussian blue (for test fitting / finding high spots),
a decent grinding wheel with a good tool rest to sharpen your HSS tooling,
some honing stones or diamond sharpeners (also for the HSS tooling),
way oil and spindle oil,
some sort of chip tray (i use a small plastic tray from IKEA),
good work lighting,
an acid brush and old paint brush (for sweeping away chips),
a work apron to keep your clothes from getting too messed up),
and, if you don't already have one, a threading dial.
I also find that a set of T-handle allen wrenches is easiest to use for the various lathe adjustments.
Also, regarding collets, i picked up an ER 25 / MT 2 collet chuck and set of collets. If you use the MT 2 collet chuck, you'll need to make or buy a draw bar for it. I made one up using some threaded rod, which is OK. I do plan to make an ER 25 chuck that threads onto my spindle, which will allow long pieces to pass through the head stock.
I'm also making up a clamp for my rotary tool that will mount in my QCTP. Not ideal, but it will allow me to do some light tool post grinding when i need to. I've got a little Proxxon rotary tool with good bearings and a 20mm diameter ring machined on it at the working tip. It should work well enough.
You may or may not find a reversing switch for your motor useful. I've used mine more than once, but it's not necessary.
Have fun with it. I enjoy using mine. I'm learning a lot.
paulh
I made a carriage stop that holds a dial indicator. I use it all the time. I keep a 2" indicator in it for most of my work, but sometimes swap it out for a 1". I also have a milling attachment that never gets used. And since they cost about 1/3 or more of what a factory reconditioned benchtop manual Taig milling machine (which works much much better for milling) goes for, they're not worth it in my book. Before i got my little benchtop mill, i found light milling on the drill press with a cross slide vise worked better than the milling attachment on the little lathe.
Other things you'll probably want/need:
magnetic base or two,
dial indicator(s),
a test indicator,
micrometers (i usually use a 0-1" and a 1-2"),
calipers (a 6" ought to cover you),
a machinist's 6" steel ruler,
center drills,
a surface gage,
a bottle of dykem fluid,
a tube of prussian blue (for test fitting / finding high spots),
a decent grinding wheel with a good tool rest to sharpen your HSS tooling,
some honing stones or diamond sharpeners (also for the HSS tooling),
way oil and spindle oil,
some sort of chip tray (i use a small plastic tray from IKEA),
good work lighting,
an acid brush and old paint brush (for sweeping away chips),
a work apron to keep your clothes from getting too messed up),
and, if you don't already have one, a threading dial.
I also find that a set of T-handle allen wrenches is easiest to use for the various lathe adjustments.
Also, regarding collets, i picked up an ER 25 / MT 2 collet chuck and set of collets. If you use the MT 2 collet chuck, you'll need to make or buy a draw bar for it. I made one up using some threaded rod, which is OK. I do plan to make an ER 25 chuck that threads onto my spindle, which will allow long pieces to pass through the head stock.
I'm also making up a clamp for my rotary tool that will mount in my QCTP. Not ideal, but it will allow me to do some light tool post grinding when i need to. I've got a little Proxxon rotary tool with good bearings and a 20mm diameter ring machined on it at the working tip. It should work well enough.
You may or may not find a reversing switch for your motor useful. I've used mine more than once, but it's not necessary.
Have fun with it. I enjoy using mine. I'm learning a lot.
paulh
Last edited:
- Joined
- Mar 26, 2018
- Messages
- 2,725
I have a 12x36 lathe. Here are my most used accessories (nearly all are Shars imports):
Machine Accessories
Machine Accessories
- 6" 3 jaw chuck
- 8" 4 jaw chuck
- Live Center
- AXA Toolpost and maybe 15 total holders (don't need many to start)
- 1 lb dead blow hammer
- Little cylinder of lead melted inside copper pipe (1.5-2" Dia x 3" long), great for centering parts in a 4 jaw
- 5/8" keyless drill chuck
- Noga style magnetic indicator base
- .001" Dial Drop Indicator 1"
- .0005" Dial Test Indicator (Fowler extended travel, I use this every single day, if I could keep one tool, this would be it)
- .0001" Dial Test Indicator (Interapid, get one when you start thinking of higher precision stuff)
- Thread pitch gauges (cheap and very useful)
- Calipers
- 0-6" Micrometer set
- 6" Steel rule
- 115 piece drill set
- Center Drills
- Taps
- Assorted indexable tools 1/2" shank (HSS is perfectly fine if you prefer)
- CCMT RH (most used)
- CCMT LH
- SCMT 45 Deg Chamfer
- VCMT RH
- VCMT LH
- Ext Threading
- 3/8" Boring Bar
- 1/2" Boring Bar (most used)
- 3/4" Boring Bar
- Grooving Tool
- HSS Parting Tool
- Over/Under Reamer set
- Assorted Reamers
- Needle bottles with various cutting fluids
- Bottle of Steel Blue layout fluid
- Copy of Machinery's Handbook, particularly for the threading tables (very useful)
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2020
- Messages
- 47
Thank you for sharing your lathe accessories info. It's useful.
I have some of that already. I just bought a CBD wheel and EZ Lap diamond pads for grinding some HSS tooling.
I plan on making a carriage stop, although, since I don't own milling machine, it will likely be a crude version of one.
What is a "threading dial"? My lathe has the oem threading screw......
I Have spindle oil, 3 in 1 oil for the time being. My way oil is a mix of ATF and chainsaw bar oil. Most of you will prolly scoff at that, but, hey, it's what's available in my parts. No machine shops here locally and I ain't buying a gallon of it from the USA somewhere.
Thanks for your thots on the Craftsman 6" milling attachment. It just re-affirms my decision to not buy one. I will be buying some form of a bench top mill or mini mill in the future......but that's a whole different topic!
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2020
- Messages
- 47
Thanks for your post macardoso.
I do have a couple of dial indicators.....the ones with the post and nub on the end...….travels back into the dial unit itself. No, I don't know the correct terms for these instruments yet. What is a Fowler Extended Travel Indicator?
I've been looking at the dial indicators with the little flipper arm [ vs the kind I just described ], but I'm not sure when this type's use is indicated over the post and nub type. Clarification please anyone?
Cutting oils. I need to get some and some dispensing containers, like needle oilers perhaps? I do have a bottle of sulfur cutting fluid, but, it's got that big flip up tip on the cap that is rather large and non-accurate, as far as putting the oil just where it's needed on the work piece, goes.
Kerosene?
What you all using for cutting oil dispensers?
I've gotten a lot of my measuring tools and other accessories / tooling used. I avoid used end mills and carbide cutters, but HSS is so easy to sharpen, used is fine in my book. Helps stretch the dollar.
For the carriage stop, i made one of these:
It works great. The website "Deansphotographica" shows how to make it. http://www.deansphotographica.com/machining/atlas/atlas.html
He uses a mill, though i made mine easily with a hack saw, bench grinder, a file, a bench vise, a hand tap, and a drill press. Just get yourself a piece of aluminum and a couple of screws. I picked up a cheap Harbor Freight dial indicator. They're certainly accurate, jut not as durable as higher quality instruments.
The threading dial came standard on this lathe. It's attached to the carriage and engages the lead screw. It looks like this (in red):
If you want to cut threads single point (as opposed to using a die), you'll need one. If you don't see thread cutting in your immediate future, you can get up and running without one and pick one up after you've settled into using your lathe. They show up on ebay all the time. Yours will have the small gear (at the bottom) to engage the lead screw. Later versions used a larger gear (i believe with twice the teeth). Either will work. The Atlas Manual of Lathe Operations (mentioned earlier by someone else) is a great resource and includes, among all the other essentials, instructions for cutting threads on your lathe.
I firmly second the recommendation to get and read the Atlas manual. Reprints and pdf versions are easy to find on line. The VintageMachinery.org site has them here:
You can click on "Pub Type" at the top of the list to sort and scroll down to the "lathes" section. Since your lathe is made by Atlas and is 98% the same as the Atlas 618, the documentation for that lathe is, for the most part, directly relevant.
The South Bend "How to Run a Lathe" book is another time tested standard read, also easily available in hard copy or pdf. South Bend also issued an excellent booklet on grinding/sharpening HSS lathe cutting tools. It's available in pdf here:
For the carriage stop, i made one of these:
It works great. The website "Deansphotographica" shows how to make it. http://www.deansphotographica.com/machining/atlas/atlas.html
He uses a mill, though i made mine easily with a hack saw, bench grinder, a file, a bench vise, a hand tap, and a drill press. Just get yourself a piece of aluminum and a couple of screws. I picked up a cheap Harbor Freight dial indicator. They're certainly accurate, jut not as durable as higher quality instruments.
The threading dial came standard on this lathe. It's attached to the carriage and engages the lead screw. It looks like this (in red):
If you want to cut threads single point (as opposed to using a die), you'll need one. If you don't see thread cutting in your immediate future, you can get up and running without one and pick one up after you've settled into using your lathe. They show up on ebay all the time. Yours will have the small gear (at the bottom) to engage the lead screw. Later versions used a larger gear (i believe with twice the teeth). Either will work. The Atlas Manual of Lathe Operations (mentioned earlier by someone else) is a great resource and includes, among all the other essentials, instructions for cutting threads on your lathe.
I firmly second the recommendation to get and read the Atlas manual. Reprints and pdf versions are easy to find on line. The VintageMachinery.org site has them here:
Atlas Press Co. - Publication Reprints | VintageMachinery.org
www.vintagemachinery.org
You can click on "Pub Type" at the top of the list to sort and scroll down to the "lathes" section. Since your lathe is made by Atlas and is 98% the same as the Atlas 618, the documentation for that lathe is, for the most part, directly relevant.
The South Bend "How to Run a Lathe" book is another time tested standard read, also easily available in hard copy or pdf. South Bend also issued an excellent booklet on grinding/sharpening HSS lathe cutting tools. It's available in pdf here:
- Joined
- Nov 14, 2016
- Messages
- 3,289
That looks like a great use for the cheap plunger indicator I bought when I started out.
I got a copy of this off of Amazon for about $5, the title varies and some don't include South Bend in the title although inside South Bend appears prominently. Possibly due to Grizzly owning the S-B name now? It would cost me $5 to print out a free pdf so buying a hard copy seems quite reasonable to me.
I have this one which is well printed and includes an "oil resistant" cover. There are many others at similar prices. How to run a lathe - The care and feeding of a screw cutting lathe