I found a 36 inch used metal lathe for sale for 350. What would this be
good for? I like working with metal. I have a couple of welders and am
wanting to increase my tools in my garage!

Ignoramus16317 wrote:


Some things you can do with lathes are, making various conical shapes,
making threads, drilling holes along the axis of rotation, etc.

i

IIRC I've heard more than once that, "The lathe is the only (common)
machine tool which can reproduce itself." - With a little help from a
human.....

Given that you can turn, drill and mill with a lathe and some proper
attachments, I suppose that's true for the machining steps.

Though I wonder if say a 36" lathe would have enough capacity to handle
the parts needed to make another 36" lathe or whether you could only
make a smaller size lathe on it. Sort of like most living things, except
that baby lathes don't get larger as they grow older, huh? G

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia

(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)

"As long as there are final exams, there will be prayer in public
schools"

Ignoramus16317 wrote:


Some things you can do with lathes are, making various conical shapes,
making threads, drilling holes along the axis of rotation, etc.

i

IIRC I've heard more than once that, "The lathe is the only (common)
machine tool which can reproduce itself." - With a little help from a
human.....

Given that you can turn, drill and mill with a lathe and some proper
attachments, I suppose that's true for the machining steps.

Though I wonder if say a 36" lathe would have enough capacity to handle
the parts needed to make another 36" lathe or whether you could only
make a smaller size lathe on it. Sort of like most living things, except
that baby lathes don't get larger as they grow older, huh? G

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia

(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)

"As long as there are final exams, there will be prayer in public
schools"

How do you drill with a lathe?

wrote:
I found a 36 inch used metal lathe for sale for 350. What
would this be good for? I like working with metal. [...]

Making round things, with or without threads. Some people make
fittings, steam engines, brass cannons, telescope/camera adapters...

On 22 Apr 2005 05:34:32 -0700, wrote:

I found a 36 inch used metal lathe for sale for 350. What would this be
good for? I like working with metal. I have a couple of welders and am
wanting to increase my tools in my garage!

Normally...a "36 inch lathe" means (at least in the USA) a lathe that
will swing an object 36" in diameter. A huge monster of a lathe
suitble for making battleship parts, locomotives and such.

Now if its a lathe that can spin a part 36" Long...then thats exactly
what you can use easily at home.

You can make pins and bushings, bolts, threaded items, flashlights,
earthworm shockers, clocks and watches, dead falls, blunt instruments,
test equipment, diamond cutters, sex toys and sex machines, G

Look around you. Virtually anything round can be made on a lathe.
The uses are endless.

I just made a bunch of contact tips for my several MIG welders a few
weeks ago. I think I now have a lifetime supply G

Gunner

Rule #35
"That which does not kill you,
has made a huge tactical error"

Can you "mill out" with a lathe? Like make a rectangle hole bigger in a
pto yoke?

Another simple project that can only be done on a lathe. I recently
repaired the sintered iron bushings in the front wheels of an old
riding lawn mower. First I removed the iron bushings and usin the
lathe, bored out the inside to exactly 1" diameter. Then turned brass
rod to 1" diameter. I cut off pieces of this rod to the length of the
bushing and pressed them into the iron bushings. Then using the lathe
again, drilled the brass in the bushings and then bored them to exactly
3/4" to fit the mower axel.

Took about 4 hours per side, 8 bushings total, done over two Saturdays
and all the wheel wobbeling is gone.

Keep the lathe, buy lots of tooling. Find lots of scrap metal and go to
work!

Paul

Similarly, my project for the weekend is repairing the blower motor for
the outside unit on my heat pump. It's a fairly unique GE 1/2 HP, which
would cost about $125 to replace. Only thing wrong is the drive-end
bearing is barking.
I took the aluminum endplates off last night to see if the bearings
were replaceable. Turns out the bearings are part of the aluminum
endplate, bored out to the 1/2" shaft size. I am going to bore the hole
furter and press in 1/2" bronze or oilite bearings. I'd use sealed ball
bearings, but I don't think there is enough meat in the casting to
support them.
But that's one thing a lathe will be useful for.

- -
Rex Burkheimer
WM Automotive
Fort Worth TX

wrote:
Another simple project that can only be done on a lathe. I recently
repaired the sintered iron bushings in the front wheels of an old
riding lawn mower. First I removed the iron bushings and usin the
lathe, bored out the inside to exactly 1" diameter. Then turned brass
rod to 1" diameter. I cut off pieces of this rod to the length of the
bushing and pressed them into the iron bushings. Then using the lathe
again, drilled the brass in the bushings and then bored them to exactly
3/4" to fit the mower axel.

Took about 4 hours per side, 8 bushings total, done over two Saturdays
and all the wheel wobbeling is gone.

Keep the lathe, buy lots of tooling. Find lots of scrap metal and go to
work!

Paul

On 22 Apr 2005 07:06:08 -0700, wrote:
How do you drill with a lathe?

I do that by holding the drill bit in the tail piece, (either a chuck
with the right taper, or a drillbit with the right taper), and the piece
being drilled in the chuck (or held to a faceplate, I suppose). Works
very well for then tapping that hole, to make sure it's exactly aligned
with the hole you just drilled.

Look at it this way - lots of metalworking is done by rotating one thing
while another thing is held still. Either the tool rotates, or the work
rotates. It doesn't matter which is moving, it's just the relative
movement between the two that makes it work. Figure out how to hold the
tool, figure out how to hold the work, and make some chips.

On 22 Apr 2005 07:12:37 -0700, Dave wrote:
wrote:
I found a 36 inch used metal lathe for sale for 350. What
would this be good for? I like working with metal. [...]

Making round things, with or without threads. Some people make
fittings, steam engines, brass cannons, telescope/camera adapters...

Camera adapter plates for medium and large format cameras. I think my
machines have been used more for that in the last year, than for anything
else. Having a friend who is a semi-pro photographer, and who knows lots
of people, probably has something to do with that. It's fiddly, one-off,
very occasional work, which is the sort of thing I like. Want one or two?
No problem. Want a couple dozen? I know a guy with a shop, here's his
card...

Holding a concrete pad down!
Seriously tho, check the lathe out for wear and operability. If it is even
a moderately well worn lathe, it will be a valuable item for your home shop.
If you're in the Southern Calif. area, I'd love to come over and do some
work on lens cells for my telescopes as well as eventually doing some mounts
for those telescopes. A 36" swing lathe can handle the large parts that
need to be swung without any problems.
I'd also put a 1 HP. 115V motor on the lathe so that you can use it without
needing 3ph. power although that will mean that you can't take the big cuts
that the original motor would be able to do.

--
Why isn't there an Ozone Hole at the NORTH Pole?

On 22 Apr 2005 18:11:59 GMT, Ignoramus16317 wrote:
I bought a relatively expensive oscilloscope recently, relatively
cheaply, because it had a knob broken. Otherwise it works fine. I am
going to make a replacement knob, maybe from wood, on my
lathe. Hopefully this weekend. It will glue nicely on the knob stem.

Got a picture of the knob you want? I have a bin of 'em...

Stryped sez:

"What is a lath good for?"

A lath is a thin narrow strip of wood useful for building lattices or
holding plaster to walls.

Bob Swinney

wrote in message
oups.com...
I found a 36 inch used metal lathe for sale for 350. What would this be
good for? I like working with metal. I have a couple of welders and am
wanting to increase my tools in my garage!

With the right tool attachments and a little ingenuity, there is little you
CAN'T do on a lathe.
As for your specific question a little more detail is required. If you want
to mill a rectangular hole with rounded corners, then yes, with the proper
tooling attachment sit might be done on a lathe (it might be better done on
a mill). If you want a retangular hole with square corners, then I can't
think of any rotating machine that will do the job. You will need a broach
or punch.

For shaping metal the three fundamental machines seem to be the lathe, the
mill, and the bandsaw.


wrote in message
ups.com...
Can you "mill out" with a lathe? Like make a rectangle hole bigger in a
pto yoke?

I missed the staff meeting but the minutes show wrote
back on 22 Apr 2005 05:34:32 -0700 in rec.crafts.metalworking :
I found a 36 inch used metal lathe for sale for 350. What would this be
good for? I like working with metal. I have a couple of welders and am
wanting to increase my tools in my garage!

If you mean it can hold something 36" in diameter, you got a huge lathe
(I used one a bit larger to turn 31 foot long drill collars. I've seen
some rather hefty prop shafts being turned on others that size.)

If you have one which is 36" between chuck face and tail stock, you
have a "more normal" sized one.
Which means you can turn anything up to 36" long. Or longer if the
machine has a bar feed option (where longer stock is stuck in through the
chuck.)

That size pretty much covers most uses. It is it round, you can pretty
much do it. Thread it, bore it, face it, smooth it, you can make plugs,
bells, whistles, washers, breaches, propeller shafts, new wheels for the
four poster, yea even sex toys. You can even make julienne fries with it,
but you'll need to hold the potatoe just right.

And yeah, you can also injure yourself in methods most unpleasant, even
unto death, faster than you'd ever thought possible, if you don't follow
safe machining practices.


tschus
pyotr



--
pyotr filipivich.
as an explaination for the decline in the US's tech edge, James
Niccol wrote "It used to be that the USA was pretty good at
producing stuff teenaged boys could lose a finger or two playing with."

"bart" wrote in message
...
They're excellent for making little metal bits& spirals that get stuck
in the carpet in the house .
Your wife will comment on the new toy often!
Make sure you're wearing large tread boots for the bit transferral,
bare feet don't work as well (and you'd also have to invest in an
optivisor and fine tweezers to remove the bits from your feet) ;-)

That's what air compressors are for. I use mine more for cleaning my shoes
than anything else.

Bob

Well if you have a bunch more lath's you can naial em on the studs and
plaster over them like they used to do in old days before sheetrock
and gypsum board was invented.......Or you can nail em on your roof
rafters and then install slate or cedar shingles on them......

==============================================
Put some color in your cheeks...garden naked!

Dave Hinz wrote:
On 22 Apr 2005 07:06:08 -0700, wrote:

How do you drill with a lathe?


I do that by holding the drill bit in the tail piece, (either a chuck
with the right taper, or a drillbit with the right taper), and the piece
being drilled in the chuck (or held to a faceplate, I suppose). Works
very well for then tapping that hole, to make sure it's exactly aligned
with the hole you just drilled.

Look at it this way - lots of metalworking is done by rotating one thing
while another thing is held still. Either the tool rotates, or the work
rotates. It doesn't matter which is moving, it's just the relative
movement between the two that makes it work. Figure out how to hold the
tool, figure out how to hold the work, and make some chips.


I've seen pictures of accessories I think are called "tailstock drill
pads" which look like round disks a bit smaller than the swing of the
lathe with a tapered spindle on them to fit in the tailstock ram.

You'd put a drill bit in the headstock chuck or a collet and hand hold
or clamp the part to be drilled against that tailstock pad, then use the
tailstock crank to feed it into the drill. I think the idea was that it
could be more convenient than trying to secure an odd shaped part to a
headstock faceplate and you could also drill holes in long narrow pieces
which couldn't be rotated on the faceplate.

Seemed like it might be a little risky to hand hold a part, but then who
here hasn't hand held parts on a drill press table plenty of times when
drilling small holes?

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia

(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)

"As long as there are final exams, there will be prayer in public
schools"

wrote:

Another simple project that can only be done on a lathe. I recently
repaired the sintered iron bushings in the front wheels of an old
riding lawn mower. First I removed the iron bushings and usin the
lathe, bored out the inside to exactly 1" diameter. Then turned brass
rod to 1" diameter. I cut off pieces of this rod to the length of the
bushing and pressed them into the iron bushings. Then using the lathe
again, drilled the brass in the bushings and then bored them to exactly
3/4" to fit the mower axel.

Took about 4 hours per side, 8 bushings total, done over two Saturdays
and all the wheel wobbeling is gone.

Keep the lathe, buy lots of tooling. Find lots of scrap metal and go to
work!

Paul


I did the same thing to the front wheels of my 38 year old Snapper
riding mower which also had worn out sintered iron bushings. But I got
lucky and found some flanged Oilite bearings at the local Ace Hardware
store which fit the axles and only needed slight boring of the wheel
hubs to let me press them in

I goofed on one bore and it ended up a slight bit oversized for a press
fit, but I fixed that quickly by slathering a little soft solder onto
the bearing OD with a big old Weller gun. (Pretty is as pretty does I
always sez.)

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia

(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)

"As long as there are final exams, there will be prayer in public
schools"

In article ,
Dave Hinz wrote:
On 22 Apr 2005 07:06:08 -0700, wrote:
How do you drill with a lathe?

I do that by holding the drill bit in the tail piece, (either a chuck
with the right taper, or a drillbit with the right taper), and the piece
being drilled in the chuck (or held to a faceplate, I suppose). Works
very well for then tapping that hole, to make sure it's exactly aligned
with the hole you just drilled.

You can also put the chuck (with a Morse taper adaptor sleeve)
into the headstock, and put the workpiece between the drill bit and a
drilling pad in the tailstock. There are even drilling pads with a V
groove to help you to drill straight through the side of a cylindrical
workpiece. IIRC, they are called a "drill crotch". This works when
what you are drilling is too long in a radial distance from the center
of the hole to be to mount it in a 4-jaw chuck or on a faceplate.

Look at it this way - lots of metalworking is done by rotating one thing
while another thing is held still. Either the tool rotates, or the work
rotates. It doesn't matter which is moving, it's just the relative
movement between the two that makes it work. Figure out how to hold the
tool, figure out how to hold the work, and make some chips.

Indeed so.

Enjoy,
DoN.

--
Email: | Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---

you insert a drill bit into the tailstock and push the drill into a
rotating part that you are drilling.

Speaking of which...I finally ordered (and received) an Albrecht MT2
integral shank tailstock chuck for my SB 10L. Oh...it's nice. I already
have an R8 shank Albrecht for my mill. Now I'm wondering why I bought the
integral shank models? $400 invested, could have been $200 +change. I
guess I'll justify it by emphasizing the shorter setup times when I'm using
both machines.

wrote in message
oups.com...
I found a 36 inch used metal lathe for sale for 350. What would this be
good for? I like working with metal. I have a couple of welders and am
wanting to increase my tools in my garage!


Lath is used for holding on plaster.

On Fri, 22 Apr 2005 11:12:00 -0700, "Bob May"
wrote:

Holding a concrete pad down!
Seriously tho, check the lathe out for wear and operability. If it is even
a moderately well worn lathe, it will be a valuable item for your home shop.
If you're in the Southern Calif. area, I'd love to come over and do some
work on lens cells for my telescopes as well as eventually doing some mounts
for those telescopes. A 36" swing lathe can handle the large parts that
need to be swung without any problems.
I'd also put a 1 HP. 115V motor on the lathe so that you can use it without
needing 3ph. power although that will mean that you can't take the big cuts
that the original motor would be able to do.

So. Cal? Need shop time? Come on over to Taft most any weekend and
Ill let you have free run of my shop

http://home.lightspeed.net/~gunner/myshop

Gunner

"At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child -
miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied,
demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless.
Liberalism is a philosphy of sniveling brats." -- P.J. O'Rourke

In article , Gunner says...

http://home.lightspeed.net/~gunner/myshop

Nice updated shop photos. Especially the Gorton 016.
What happened to your toe, the cats chew on it? g

Jim


--
==================================================
please reply to:
JRR(zero) at pkmfgvm4 (dot) vnet (dot) ibm (dot) com
==================================================

On 23 Apr 2005 09:21:34 -0700, jim rozen
wrote:

In article , Gunner says...

http://home.lightspeed.net/~gunner/myshop

Nice updated shop photos. Especially the Gorton 016.
What happened to your toe, the cats chew on it? g

Jim

Sigh...it still hurts to think about it. When they say you cannot
remember pain..take it with a grain of salt.

My son and I were moving my hydraulic press. It was dark in that area
at night, we were in a hurry, and he missed removing one of the 1"
thick, 6x8" press plates which was sitting on the press. It slipped
off. Nailed me on the diagonal across the end of the foot. Busted 3
of the 5 toes. Fortunately, it didn't land on the right foot, else
it would have busted 3 of the 6 toes.

G

Gunner

"At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child -
miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied,
demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless.
Liberalism is a philosphy of sniveling brats." -- P.J. O'Rourke

In article , Gunner says...

My son and I were moving my hydraulic press. It was dark in that area
at night, we were in a hurry, and he missed removing one of the 1"
thick, 6x8" press plates which was sitting on the press. It slipped
off. Nailed me on the diagonal across the end of the foot. Busted 3
of the 5 toes. Fortunately, it didn't land on the right foot, else
it would have busted 3 of the 6 toes.

I guess it could have been worse, if it had landed on the instep
it could have done much worse damage. Ever considered steel-toed
flip-flops?

Just out of curiosity, what's kind of tooling does that smaller
Gorton mill take in the spindle - B&S or MT?

Jim


--
==================================================
please reply to:
JRR(zero) at pkmfgvm4 (dot) vnet (dot) ibm (dot) com
==================================================

On 23 Apr 2005 13:49:23 -0700, jim rozen
wrote:

In article , Gunner says...

My son and I were moving my hydraulic press. It was dark in that area
at night, we were in a hurry, and he missed removing one of the 1"
thick, 6x8" press plates which was sitting on the press. It slipped
off. Nailed me on the diagonal across the end of the foot. Busted 3
of the 5 toes. Fortunately, it didn't land on the right foot, else
it would have busted 3 of the 6 toes.

I guess it could have been worse, if it had landed on the instep
it could have done much worse damage. Ever considered steel-toed
flip-flops?

I was wearing my normal Redwing boots.

Just out of curiosity, what's kind of tooling does that smaller
Gorton mill take in the spindle - B&S or MT?

Jim

Neither...it takes Gorton collets. A rather interesting holder with a
triangular ass end. Similar to a 4C in size, but only going up to
1/2" in diameter.

Gunner

"At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child -
miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied,
demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless.
Liberalism is a philosphy of sniveling brats." -- P.J. O'Rourke

On 23 Apr 2005 22:23:01 GMT, Ignoramus31514
wrote:

Scary stuff.

i

Ever feel pain so bad that when you open your mouth..no sound comes
out, and all you can do is inhale?

Gunner


On Sat, 23 Apr 2005 19:38:31 GMT, Gunner wrote:
On 23 Apr 2005 09:21:34 -0700, jim rozen
wrote:

In article , Gunner says...

http://home.lightspeed.net/~gunner/myshop

Nice updated shop photos. Especially the Gorton 016.
What happened to your toe, the cats chew on it? g

Jim

Sigh...it still hurts to think about it. When they say you cannot
remember pain..take it with a grain of salt.

My son and I were moving my hydraulic press. It was dark in that area
at night, we were in a hurry, and he missed removing one of the 1"
thick, 6x8" press plates which was sitting on the press. It slipped
off. Nailed me on the diagonal across the end of the foot. Busted 3
of the 5 toes. Fortunately, it didn't land on the right foot, else
it would have busted 3 of the 6 toes.

G

Gunner

"At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child -
miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied,
demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless.
Liberalism is a philosphy of sniveling brats." -- P.J. O'Rourke

"At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child -
miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied,
demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless.
Liberalism is a philosphy of sniveling brats." -- P.J. O'Rourke

In article , Gunner says...

I guess it could have been worse, if it had landed on the instep
it could have done much worse damage. Ever considered steel-toed
flip-flops?

I was wearing my normal Redwing boots.

Hmm. They do make steeltoe ones - possibly the only
steeltoe boots I care to wear.

Just out of curiosity, what's kind of tooling does that smaller
Gorton mill take in the spindle - B&S or MT?

Neither...it takes Gorton collets. A rather interesting holder with a
triangular ass end. Similar to a 4C in size, but only going up to
1/2" in diameter.

Ah - no drawbar, they're held in with a clamping nut on the end
of the spindle?

Jim


--
==================================================
please reply to:
JRR(zero) at pkmfgvm4 (dot) vnet (dot) ibm (dot) com
==================================================

On 23 Apr 2005 18:37:31 -0700, jim rozen
wrote:

In article , Gunner says...

I guess it could have been worse, if it had landed on the instep
it could have done much worse damage. Ever considered steel-toed
flip-flops?

I was wearing my normal Redwing boots.

Hmm. They do make steeltoe ones - possibly the only
steeltoe boots I care to wear.

Just out of curiosity, what's kind of tooling does that smaller
Gorton mill take in the spindle - B&S or MT?

Neither...it takes Gorton collets. A rather interesting holder with a
triangular ass end. Similar to a 4C in size, but only going up to
1/2" in diameter.

Ah - no drawbar, they're held in with a clamping nut on the end
of the spindle?

Jim
Nope..actually there is a draw bar. Its an odd system. But one that
will never spin in the spindle. Not that its likely you could get it
to happen anyways...

Its a hell of a heavy machine. Id have to say nearly as heavy as a
BP..big chunk of cast iron. Rigid as hell.

Gunner

"At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child -
miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied,
demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless.
Liberalism is a philosphy of sniveling brats." -- P.J. O'Rourke

In article ,
Gunner wrote:

On 23 Apr 2005 22:23:01 GMT, Ignoramus31514
wrote:

Scary stuff.

i

Ever feel pain so bad that when you open your mouth..no sound comes
out, and all you can do is inhale?

Gunner

Heh, I was in the hospital last week for such a pain. I pinched
something right next to my spine--probably a piece of ligament--and it
swelled up. For about the first four hours it was terrible, but I could
move if I had to. Then it swelled enough (I saw x-rays of this feat
later) that it kinked my spine and dislocated two ribs. That hurt so
much I couldn't make any sounds other than incoherent yelling. Then the
spasms started. That kink pushing nerves plus all the pain robbed me of
muscle control and I wound up folding backwards and locking up for
several minutes at a time. Like that girl did in the exorcist. Anyway,
when that happened I couldn't make any sounds because of the pain.
Funny thing about all that was that some Ibuprofen early-on would
have prevented 99% of that pain.
Back injury: serious business.

--
B.B. --I am not a goat! thegoat4 at airmail dot net
http://web2.airmail.net/thegoat4/

On Sun, 24 Apr 2005 10:06:15 -0500, "B.B."
u wrote:

In article ,
Gunner wrote:

On 23 Apr 2005 22:23:01 GMT, Ignoramus31514
wrote:

Scary stuff.

i

Ever feel pain so bad that when you open your mouth..no sound comes
out, and all you can do is inhale?

Gunner

Heh, I was in the hospital last week for such a pain. I pinched
something right next to my spine--probably a piece of ligament--and it
swelled up. For about the first four hours it was terrible, but I could
move if I had to. Then it swelled enough (I saw x-rays of this feat
later) that it kinked my spine and dislocated two ribs. That hurt so
much I couldn't make any sounds other than incoherent yelling. Then the
spasms started. That kink pushing nerves plus all the pain robbed me of
muscle control and I wound up folding backwards and locking up for
several minutes at a time. Like that girl did in the exorcist. Anyway,
when that happened I couldn't make any sounds because of the pain.
Funny thing about all that was that some Ibuprofen early-on would
have prevented 99% of that pain.
Back injury: serious business.

Indeed.

Gunner, two back surgeries and hoping there will be no third.

"At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child -
miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied,
demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless.
Liberalism is a philosphy of sniveling brats." -- P.J. O'Rourke

Gunner wrote:

On 23 Apr 2005 13:49:23 -0700, jim rozen
wrote:

In article , Gunner says...

My son and I were moving my hydraulic press. It was dark in that area
at night, we were in a hurry, and he missed removing one of the 1"
thick, 6x8" press plates which was sitting on the press. It slipped
off. Nailed me on the diagonal across the end of the foot. Busted 3
of the 5 toes. Fortunately, it didn't land on the right foot, else
it would have busted 3 of the 6 toes.

I guess it could have been worse, if it had landed on the instep
it could have done much worse damage. Ever considered steel-toed
flip-flops?

I was wearing my normal Redwing boots.

Just out of curiosity, what's kind of tooling does that smaller
Gorton mill take in the spindle - B&S or MT?

Jim

Neither...it takes Gorton collets. A rather interesting holder with a
triangular ass end. Similar to a 4C in size, but only going up to
1/2" in diameter.

Gunner

"At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child -
miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied,
demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless.
Liberalism is a philosphy of sniveling brats." -- P.J. O'Rourke

I had (past tense) a pair of those foundry boots with the metacarpal
(?) plate. My wife found them and tossed them because they were so
ugly.

I don't know where to get a pair of them so now I'm doing something
that's really stupid: I'm wearing Reeboks in the shop.

Those old boots really saved me once. I had a Kurt Vise with the
rotary base sitting on a table. I needed to put the vise on the mill,
so I just sort of slid the vise off the table to carry it. The base
wasn't bolted to the vise so it just fell off and landed squarely on
top of my right foot with me still standing there holding the vise.
I'm sure that base must weigh well over 30 Lbs. When dropped from 3
feet it could have caused crippling damage. As it was it just ripped
the leather off the boot and I felt nothing.

They might be ugly and you might not want to be seen in public wearing
them but they sure are a good idea for a shop.

Gotta find another pair...

On Sun, 24 Apr 2005 17:49:14 GMT, bart wrote:

On Sat, 23 Apr 2005 10:29:07 GMT, Gunner
wrote:

snip
So. Cal? Need shop time? Come on over to Taft most any weekend and
Ill let you have free run of my shop
http://home.lightspeed.net/~gunner/myshop
Gunner

Nice toy collection! :-)
Done the foot thing myself ( x-rayed it myself too)
Hey is that a Border Collie or an Aussie with a tail? ( looks kinda
like mine!) ;-)

Aussie. We dont bob their tails here in the Central Valley.

Offer stands.

Gunner

"At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child -
miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied,
demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless.
Liberalism is a philosphy of sniveling brats." -- P.J. O'Rourke

DoN. Nichols wrote:

You can also put the chuck (with a Morse taper adaptor sleeve)
into the headstock, and put the workpiece between the drill bit and a
drilling pad in the tailstock. There are even drilling pads with a V
groove to help you to drill straight through the side of a cylindrical
workpiece. IIRC, they are called a "drill crotch".

Crotch Center

Make SQUARE things too. It oftens comes as a real shock to
non-metalworkers
that you can TURN a perfect CUBE on a lathe -- as long as you've got a
four-jaw
on it.

- Carl

"Dave" wrote in message
ps.com...
wrote:
I found a 36 inch used metal lathe for sale for 350. What
would this be good for? I like working with metal. [...]

Making round things, with or without threads. Some people make
fittings, steam engines, brass cannons, telescope/camera adapters...

Now that is something I would not think of, since what you are really
saying is that you can make flat surfaces. If you are making a flat
surface how do you decide whether to use the lathe or the mill?

Carl Hoffmeyer wrote:
Make SQUARE things too. It oftens comes as a real shock
to non-metalworkers that you can TURN a perfect CUBE on a
lathe -- as long as you've got a four-jaw on it.

- Carl

"Dave" wrote:
wrote:
I found a 36 inch used metal lathe for sale for 350. What
would this be good for? I like working with metal. [...]

Making round things, with or without threads. Some people
make fittings, steam engines, brass cannons, telescope/camera
adapters...

In article .com,
says...

I do not own a lathe, but have learnt on them in the past

Not being rude. Your questions indicate complete ignorance of the lathe.

I would be _certain_ to have a look at the lathe, in the company of
somebody who knew lathes. It's a cheap price for a lathe. It may be junk
(either crappy make or very old), and a beginner on a junk lathe will be
very sorry IMO. You will have no way to try it, or know what you are
doing.

I found a 36 inch used metal lathe for sale for 350. What would this be
good for? I like working with metal. I have a couple of welders and am
wanting to increase my tools in my garage!

"Dave" wrote in message
oups.com...
Now that is something I would not think of, since what you are really
saying is that you can make flat surfaces. If you are making a flat
surface how do you decide whether to use the lathe or the mill?

Almost anything that can be done on a mill can be done on a lathe .. and
vice-versa. The choice is one of matching geometries. For example, while
one can turn things on a mill, you would be hard put to turn a 1/2" diameter
by 24" long shaft on a mill. But a 1/2" thick by 24" diameter might be
do-able. Similarly, a rotary table is a slow and inconvenient way to turn
things .. but suppose you have to turn only a partial circle. You can, as
stated earlier, make flat surfaces on a lathe using a four-jaw chuck or some
other holding device but it will get increasingly more difficult as you
progress and take far longer than the same operation on a mill. Also, to
mill a long item on a lathe would be difficult and tedious using a milling
attachment, or require a huge lathe. But the decision isn't difficult. If
it's mostly flat, you go for a mill. Mostly round, its the lathe. Also,
try threading on a mill without using taps or dies. With very really
modest amount of experience, and if you have both tools at your disposal, it
is rarely a deep question.
The interesting question, though is how to machine things that are
difficult on either a lathe or a mill ... a keyway slot in a pulley is the
first one that comes to mind --easier on a lathe than on a mill. Also, the
question of milling on a lathe should be restricted to not using a milling
vice because that's really a kind of cheating. Conversely, except for
doing partial circles, a rotary table should be left out because it is to
the mill what the milling vice is to the lathe.

Boris

--

-------------------------------------
Boris Beizer Ph.D. Seminars and Consulting
1232 Glenbrook Road on Software Testing and
Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006 Quality Assurance

TEL: 215-572-5580
FAX: 215-886-0144
Email bsquare "at" sprintmail.com

------------------------------------------