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Re: lathe advice

Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2012 11:37 am
by Devastator
I think that most people will get more usage out of a lathe and drill press, than a milling machine. I have an old, (1962), Bridgeport milling machine, a Jet 14X40 lathe, and an upright drill press. Of these, the only one my dad will use is the drill press, which he thinks is awesome. I barely touch the drill press, however, because the mill sits only a few feet from it. I believe that this is because I am well trained as a machinist, and he just wants to drill a dang hole now and then. :roll:
My point here is that I think you should size up your equipment with what you want to do with it. As previously stated, if you want to work on a flywheel, you'll need a pretty big lathe. Big lathes usually cost big bucks, if only to move them. Conversely, you can do work on a flywheel with a milling machine with a rotary table as well, whereas, drilling an off center hole on a lathe is much more challenging. Yes, yes, I know that there are attachments for the lathe that will allow for it to be a used as a milling machine, but these attachments are pretty expensive and usually put you back in a position of wanting something else pretty quickly. If you are looking to learn machining, honestly, take a class. They have already paid for their machines. If you are thinking of taking up machining as a hobby, buy a mid sized, or bench lathe, (8" lathe) and a benchtop milling machine, (4" x 16" for example). If you want to take on the occasional project for others, as well as make some cool stuff for yourself, invest in bigger machines. The tooling and electrical requirements for a bigger machine are pretty high though. Auctions are your best bet here IMHO, although used machinery shops sometimes have pretty decent options and prices. There are a few ways to get around a smaller milling machine table, but very few when it comes to the swing of a lathe. Grizzly is a pretty good resource for just about any size machine you might want.
As I, (and others), mentioned earlier, tooling costs can match or exceed the price of a machine, and quickly.
If you just want something made, send a message to someone on the forums, (like me), or a friend nearby with equipment that he decided that he could make money with. Alternatively, you could take your project to a machine shop. Most are reasonably priced, and will charge you less than the cost of a good set of drill bits.
I must stress the importance of safety if you're going to get a lathe and/or a mill. They can both be lethal. Especially a lathe, IMO. This safety extends beyond safety glasses to complete awareness of all the moving parts of the machine and the material being removed form the workpiece. I would also hesitate to run any lathe bigger than a bench lathe, that didn't have a brake on it.
I'm done rambling now. :oops:

Re: lathe advice

Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2012 11:48 am
by DesertGuy
It's easy... if you get the lathe first, you will want a mill next. If you get the mill first, you will want a lathe. It is a vicious cycle and how the world rotates...


Im still looking for a mill, preferably a Millrite (For space purposes and intended use)

Re: lathe advice

Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2012 12:26 pm
by Devastator
DesertGuy wrote: if you get the lathe first, you will want a mill next. If you get the mill first, you will want a lathe.
Too true!
DesertGuy wrote:It is a vicious cycle and how the world rotates...
Yup. That's how the spindle turns alright. :lol:
DesertGuy wrote:Im still looking for a mill, preferably a Millrite (For space purposes and intended use)
What purpose would that be?

Re: lathe advice

Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2012 2:18 pm
by fusername
Yeah I am not really shopping at this point, so this thread isn't about me (I'm not .so. vain) but I wanted to keep the discussion going. its gonna be atleast a year before I can think even moderatly seriously about anything other than wiring, tables and shelves at this point, but hearing ppl complain about what they don't own really will help others here I am sure.

Re: lathe advice

Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2012 3:05 pm
by DesertGuy
Devastator wrote: What purpose would that be?
No particular purpose... just a 3/4 mill and a quality rotary table is what I am currently wanting....I mean....."needing".

Re: lathe advice

Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2012 4:23 pm
by Devastator
DesertGuy wrote: just a 3/4 mill
Do you mean 3/4 HP?
Both my mill and lathe are 3 phase. I'm running them off of single phase power however. All that's needed to do this is to have an extra 3 phase motor wired into the system to generate the "3rd" leg, and a few capacitors to start it. It can also be started with another motor or even a pull cord.

Re: lathe advice

Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2012 4:47 pm
by DesertGuy
3/4 meaning a 3/4 size mill. The Millrite's have a smaller footprint...don't have room for a huge Bridgeport.

Re: lathe advice

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2012 8:34 am
by Devastator
DesertGuy wrote:3/4 meaning a 3/4 size mill.
You should call it ..... Mini Mill.

Re: lathe advice

Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2012 11:33 am
by hugging corners
Ive got enco
All the tooling for 350 bucks- total barn find
Pic shows it after 2 days of lapping the flat surfaces.
Customer service at enco is GREAT, but not all parts avalible any more
This mill lathe has was mt3 morse taper on both ends.
Mill is located low to the base, but you can swing the head out like on this tread:

I love it!!, but limit your work to 6x6x3 for mill, unless you take orig. base out and figure somehting dirrerent
WITH ALL THE TOOLING it is the user that makes restriction, or makes it happen!

Re: lathe advice

Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2012 1:20 pm
by Ol'fogasaurus
Image

I bought a Smithy Midas 1720 CNC (discontinued now) for a graduation present (retirement from work); Smithy combination Mills and lathes are just about the same thing as the Enco does more that I can. Look on their site for some additional tooling http://www.smithy.com/ http://www.smithy.com/tools/accessories. The Enco site: http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRHI?PMSECT=996 for accessories that should work with what you have. I think there are several other companies such as Jet that carries the same things under their names. I am not sure about Grisley (http://www.grizzly.com/products/feature ... hines.aspx) whether they make their own or it is the same as Jet and HF (HF does sell one also).

Lee

Re: lathe advice

Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2012 9:14 pm
by Getrdone
http://shdesigns.org/Craftsman-12x36/
I got a droid tablet and don't know how to use it. Can't copy a link from photo bucket. But this is what I have. Nothing amazing, but its a Craftsman

Re: lathe advice

Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2012 6:29 am
by Devastator
Getrdone wrote:Nothing amazing, but its a Craftsman
Pretty amazing work done to it. Good score!

Re: lathe advice

Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2012 8:06 pm
by fusername
why do you guys keep bumping a thread like this up to the top? I just got a "refund" check I wasn't expecting, and there is a shop closing down a few miles from here with a laundry list of items I want, and everything but the lathe and mill are very well priced, and even those two aint bad. bead cabinet, horizontal bandsaw, vert bandsaw, TIG, portable blaster, partswasher, fab table.......

thank god I don't have truck to haul any of this home in.

Re: lathe advice

Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2012 8:18 pm
by Piledriver
fusername wrote: thank god I don't have truck to haul any of this home in.

U-Haul has really reasonable rates on local rentals, you could probably fit ALL of it in :twisted:

Re: lathe advice

Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2012 9:39 pm
by Getrdone
I want a new fiber laser. I just need to find a buyer for my star wars comic books.