On 2008-11-24, Bob La Londe wrote:
"DoN. Nichols" wrote in message
...

[ ... ]

Chips -- and heat. Probably not a problem with the limited
motor size of a Taig or a Sherline, but larger tools can benefit from
that -- including not having to wait for a workpiece in the lathe to
cool down before you can accurately measure the diameter. :-)


Depends. A small cutter turning at max RPM gets pretty darn hot if you do
not cool it, but carrying away chips is paramount when cutting aluminum as
they are work hardened and will damage your work piece if not your cutter.

I was thinking more along the lines of turning in a lathe. I've
turned some 6" diameter by 6" long 12L14 steel, and when I needed to hit
a particular diameter it was the heat buildup in the steel workpiece
which was the problem -- I was not using coolant (not set up for it),
and once I got close in size I had to wait for a couple of hours (went
up to dinner) before re-measuring it and taking the final cut. 6"
diameter stock grows a *lot* when hot from machining.

Enjoy,
DoN.

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