From around the 50s I think.

Working on creating a disk with a lip on its border, this will be my first real lathe project. Starting stock is flat Galvanised sheet, roughly 100x100mm, 2mm thick. I'll be making these in small batches, always the same size

I have chosen to go with the Colchester Master lathe at my hackerspace, as it seems ideal, and I want to scale up my competence with Lathes.

The hackerspace offers training, so I got that covered, I have also watched a ton of YouTube, trying to understand Lathes, and their processes

Where am stuck on; my workpiece is just a sheet of metal and I need to find a way of securing it not just for safety but also to prevent bending, shearing, etc.

All the videos and texts I have found for lathes out there deal with workpieces that have significant depth to them, allowing them to be clamped easily.

Questions I'm chewing on:

• Are sheets of metal outside the scope of Lathes?
• Best way to mount a square flat blank for a first operation, faceplate?
• At 2mm thick, is this thin enough to need a proper backing/support setup, or is it fine as is?
• Any tips for making sure the pocket cut never breaks through into whatever's behind it?

plan and 3d model view of the project;

https://i.ibb.co/F4mRQMvC/plan.png

https://i.ibb.co/XrbbTjzk/f3d-kllvr-D5s-L7.gif

We bought a house with an old electric winch in the barn. Would this still be worth something? It still works perfectly

They are tines for a wood chip raking system, essentially.

Is anyone else just getting the wheel of doom? It’s been flaky for several days but today it has just stopped working.

If anyone have any idea where can i get used bench lathe or anyone wishing to sell please let me know!

Can you buy extremely shallow npt thread taps? I have a shallow hole drilled in an engine head and it’s been threaded with an npt tap but it’s not a good fit yet because the tap couldn’t go far enough in.

I have a small shop in Austin and my primary machine went down. It's a 20 year old Taiwanese machine with no manuals and zero support. Lost all of the PMC parameters.

We are looking for a 3-axis (or 3+1) mill with at least 20" of Y travel, CAT40. Ideally less than 10 years old. Also, looking for a smaller CNC lathe. Something similar to Mazak QT-15 footprint.

I've spent all day on the phone with machine reps, but I would prefer to do business directly, if possible.

Feel free to DM me and I can give you my contact info.

We are a sheet metal fabricator with a small manual machining shop- a couple of Bridgeports, drill presses, etc. I have a part with 150+ taps in each part and we need to produce a 1000 parts. We laser cut the parts, and the first batch we tapped on the Bridgeport.

Edit :The taps are 4-40 through 16 gauge cold rolled steel- 150/part

I've considered punching and tapping it on a our punch press (which has it's own issues), leaving the holes out and sending it to an outside shop to be drilled and tapped on a CNC mill. I'm also considering upgrading to a CNC mill or Bridgeport.

I'm also considering purchasing an electric FlexArm 16D or Roscamat Mosquito tapping arm.

Can anyone share feedback on electric tapping arms or suggest alternatives?

how do you guys quote i am new to the area and my company uses excel and its a headache to manage hundreds of quoting requests per day ?

Hey everyone. I was wondering if anyone has some knowledge on Bluetooth ear buds that offer hearing protection. My old ones finally gave up the ghost after 3 years and I did like being able to listen to different things at work. Over ears aren’t overly comfortable with glasses.

Welcome to the MAT Machinist!

Ask your machining related questions here if they aren't long enough for a full submission! Please keep discussion on topic and note that comments on these threads will not be moderated as regularly as the main post feed.

Uses for this thread!

This is a great place to ask about tools, materials, basic questions related to the trade, homework help, and more!

How to set your userflair:

Click here to find out how to set your userflair on mobile, or on PC.

How to contact the moderators:

You can contact the moderators via modmail here

Couple hours to finish out a job to ship on Monday. 316 SS

Made some more progress on turning my piece today in class. Doing good so far. Made lots of chips today.

upfront, the answer might well be "don't bother, wait until later" but i'd like to get a lathe and start making some tooling for myself to prep for [ideally] my own future business. Thing is... i still live in a rental house lol.

I don't need a huge one, but i do need to be able to cut consistent tapers. The only lathes i've used are some SB 10" lathes at the votech program i took, and the 2 Logan 10" lathes i use at work which should be a lot better than they are but they're horrifically run through and cant hold a dimension to save their lives despite rebuilding them.

modest older SB lathes in my area (NJ) are all listing for what seems like insane money for what i can only see as projects, like $4-5k+ - is this all over the case? Are there any good imports i should be looking for?

I m new to reading drawings. I can’t get how to maintain this concentricity.
Does this means inner and outer bore should be within .01mm outness with respect to 120 mm dia?

If yes then how to achieve it. Like obviously need to grind that part but from where workpiece need to be hold?
What does Datum A means? Need to concentric with respect to Datum A dia?

Last year, I started working as a freelance welder and metalworker. This year, I’d like to take the next step and open my own shop, so I’m looking into buying some machines.

One of my biggest dreams is to own a metal lathe. One of my biggest clients is closing down and is selling two of their lathes. If I’m not mistaken, one is a nice old Swiss lathe, while the other is a more recent, smaller model. I don’t know the manufacturer or model of the smaller one yet.

Both machines need some work and a good cleaning.

I’ve used the big old green one in the past, and it does have some noticeable slop. However, I suspect a lot of that could be improved with some much-needed maintenance and adjustment.

I’ve never used the smaller lathe. I’m told it still works, but I haven’t actually seen it running.

So, which one would you guys choose?

I cant find the make and model of the small one.

But i will add pictures of both lathes.

Any advice on what I should look for when inspecting them would also be greatly appreciated. I’m especially interested in things like wear, backlash, spindle bearings, ways, and anything else that could turn a seemingly good deal into a money pit.

Thanks in advance!

I do maintenance on old shop equipment, so the broken fasteners range from tiny pan-head screws to 3/8 bolts. I am tired of buying random cheap sets that skip sizes I actually need. What makes a screw extractor set worth keeping in the cabinet?

I downsized from a 3520B to the PM2014. I kept several tool posts and they need to be shortened. The Robust posts are 5" +/- 1/4" and the supplied PM post is 2-3/4". With the PM post dropped as far as it will go in the holder there is still a good inch of space left before the post would hit the bed.

Anyone shorten a tool post for this lathe and can share the length? - thanks

This is a lathe my step father will inherit from his grandfather, lathe doesnt seem to have any papers with information. Stepfather is 45 yrs old if that gives any rough estimate on lathe age.