Is a ShopSmith lathe the chicken or the egg? Maybe the SS lathe is just
a disc sander that's left its table and shown its tail and isn't a drill
press at all. aaarrrgh!

I wonder if any of you have ever built a _second_ lathe? I've completed
a kit of castings and I've upgraded or converted a few wood lathes from
surplus or used manufactured parts and pillow blocks, but I've made
only one from scratch and that never again.


Turn to Safety, Arch
Fortiter


http://community.webtv.net/almcc/MacsMusings

Hi Arch

As you said "I've made only one from scratch and that never again.
"

But was it a good learning experience Arch ??????? ............I assume
it is YES.

Most of those that want to build there own lathe DO NOT realize what
all it takes to make a GOOD usable lathe beforehand, but do learn a lot
very fast in most cases.

And this is most likely the reason very few will try a second time,
;-))

Have fun and take care
Leo Van Der Loo


Arch wrote:
Is a ShopSmith lathe the chicken or the egg? Maybe the SS lathe is just
a disc sander that's left its table and shown its tail and isn't a drill
press at all. aaarrrgh!

I wonder if any of you have ever built a _second_ lathe? I've completed
a kit of castings and I've upgraded or converted a few wood lathes from
surplus or used manufactured parts and pillow blocks, but
Turn to Safety, Arch
Fortiter


http://community.webtv.net/almcc/MacsMusings

On Thu, 18 Jan 2007 09:41:55 -0500, (Arch) wrote:

Is a ShopSmith lathe the chicken or the egg? Maybe the SS lathe is just
a disc sander that's left its table and shown its tail and isn't a drill
press at all. aaarrrgh!

I wonder if any of you have ever built a _second_ lathe? I've completed
a kit of castings and I've upgraded or converted a few wood lathes from
surplus or used manufactured parts and pillow blocks, but I've made
only one from scratch and that never again.

Arch-

Care to share any advice on the process? I've just finished my
crucible for melting the material for my metal working lathe, and the
time to start making it is fast approching- even with a book to refer
to, it's always nice to know where the sticking points are likely to
be.

Hi Jesse, I admire your idea of scratch. It's a lot more ambitious than
mine ever was. I might have some tips re making wood lathes, but making
castings, a metal lathe's strict accuracy, cross and longitudinal
feeds, compound rests, threading gears, plus making the tooling needed
are all far beyond my capability.

Anyway, it takes a lathe to make a lathe and my 6 in, Atlas and 10 in.
Sheldon are all I've ever needed, but if anyone here knows of a little
Clausing vertical mill for sale, please let me know.


Turn to Safety, Arch
Fortiter


http://community.webtv.net/almcc/MacsMusings

On Fri, 19 Jan 2007 09:30:02 -0500, (Arch) wrote:

Hi Jesse, I admire your idea of scratch. It's a lot more ambitious than
mine ever was. I might have some tips re making wood lathes, but making
castings, a metal lathe's strict accuracy, cross and longitudinal
feeds, compound rests, threading gears, plus making the tooling needed
are all far beyond my capability.

Yeah, I'm funny that way- seems like the older I get, the more
important it becomes for me to feel like I could make anything I need
from the barest necessities, even if that may not be really possible.
It's a resurgance of how I was raised that has taken a much more
constructive turn than my old man's habit of stockpiling weapons for
some ill-defined future Mad Max senario... At least with my
craziness, I can do something for constructive than blowing up popcans
with hand cannons and hoping for the apocalypse!

Even with the best intentions of "from scratch", I'm still going to be
using electricity, scrap metal that has already been smelted, and
exisiting machine tools to do the job- hardly things you'd find
readily if someone dropped you in the middle of a mountain range or
something. Luckily, that's unlikely to ever happen! But in any case,
it helps me not only keep myself out of trouble (what's that old
saying- "idle hands do the devil's work"?) but is fun and requires me
to keep learning new things all the time.

Very few things are beyond the capability of a determined and stubborn
man- it's the desire to do them that is the usual sticking point. Two
of my favorite quotes a

"Aut invenium viam aut facium" (I shall either find a way, or I shall
make one) Attributed to Hannibal,

and

"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.

Talent will not; nothing is more common than the unsucessful man with
talent.

Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.

Education will not; the world is full of educated derilects.

Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent."

(I'm going to leave this one uncredited, lest it reveal a former
avocation of mine that may cause a little too much controversy.)


Anyway, it takes a lathe to make a lathe and my 6 in, Atlas and 10 in.
Sheldon are all I've ever needed, but if anyone here knows of a little
Clausing vertical mill for sale, please let me know.

I'll keep an eye out for you, but they're not easy to come by- most
guys that have them keep them. Grizzly has some relatively attractive
options for small mills and mill/drill machines availible, though.
For about $600, a guy could have one in his shop, and that's not too
prohibative when you consider that a good chuck alone costs a third to
a half of that.