I gone and done it...first lathe purchase!

[Ian]

Thanks for the input, fellas. I have a lot of the measuring tools already (I already have a "hobby machine shop" and full line of reloading and engine-building measuring tools), but need a couple more odds and ends like thread pitch wires, Last Word indicator, maybe an extra-long stroke dial indicator w/magnet base, stuff like that. Somehow I've managed to live 42 years without owning a single numbered or letter-size drill, I see that changing very fast.

 

[gman]

I can tell your going to have fun!

 

[smokeywolf]

but need a couple more odds and ends like thread pitch wires, Last Word indicator, maybe an extra-long stroke dial indicator w/magnet base,

Ian, I have a "Last Word", also a Compac and a Mitutoyo. When it comes to dial test indicators, go with Compac or Interapid. On the Compac go with the 215GA. On the Interapid the 312B-3 will be the most useful model.

Without DRO, a dial travel indicator is pretty much a necessity. Not sure how much room you have for mounting, but one with a 3" range would probably do the trick for you. Longest stroke I've seen is a 5" Starrett.

 

[Brad]

I use a magnetic base on the carriage stop with a 1" indicator at times. Sometimes length is critical, sometimes it isn't. Star dies can be a little longer or shorter so I don't worry.
Don't own thread wires, so far haven't needed them. If a nut the right size goes on I call it good.
I do own a second mic, a digital Mitutoyo, and digital caliper that live at the lathe. I grew weary of reading a vernier mic at the lathe. That mic lives at the loading bench.

 

[Brad]

This is the little boring bar I ground from a 5/16" HSS bit. Took about 15-20 min at the grinder the first go around. I have modified it since to let it go a little deeper.
This tool will flex so I keep cuts light. I try to drill about 20 hour undersized so this tool can clean up the hole. Taking a .005 cut is easy.
A little honing now and then keeps it sharp.
Ian, look at the right grinding wheels for grinding tools. The grey wheels my grinder can with cut slow and generated lots of heat. I got a couple Norton white wheels and they cut faster and cooler. The wheels wear faster but it is a worthwhile trade off.

 

[Ian]

Thanks, Smokey. I'm going cheap for now, trying to do the mostest with the leastest. I hate to scrimp on measuring tools but I'd rather have a $40 test indicator than no test indicator or using my Fowler 1" dial indicator for trying to get something chucked up concentric-like. I say that out of one side of my mouth while I bought a South Bend bullnose live tailstock center and genuine Jacobs drill chuck ...but those were only double the cost of off-brand instead of almost ten times like the indicators and if there's one thing I hate it's fussing about with a lousy drill chuck. I was thinking 2" dial indicator for carriage zeroing due to plunge space constraints, maybe I can can find a place to drill a hole in the switch panel and sneak a tube in there behind the switches to make a sealed pocket for the plunger to have travel room when working close to the chuck, which I figure will be usually. It also looks like I'll have to invent a carriage stop of some sort, will see when I get the machine.

 

[Brad]

This is what I use to hold the dial indicator along the ways. Holds well enough and doesn't get in the way.

 

[Ian]

Ahhh, boring bars. Timely post, Brad. Until I can get an Aloris knock-off tool post I'm holding off on buying much other than 5/16" square tools. There's a square internal thread project I need to get to pretty quickly and I'm going to have to make a bar rather than use round ones in a QC mount like normal people do. It will be flimsy but it only has to reach 7/8" or so (including a little clearance to the face of the part) and light cuts should do it, and I'll likely be using aluminum for the part anyway so I'll give it a go. I'm trying to figure out if I can grind a square thread cutter accurately enough out of a single blank or if I can anneal the HSS on the end, drill a cross hole, file it square, D/T the end for a locking screw, and grind my cutter out of a small piece of HSS like a boring bar insert. Probably not going to do that without a 4-jaw chuck, add that to the list...

 

[Brad]

I have used more 5/16 bits than any other size. I have some 3/8 and 1/2 but they require a lot more metal removal. Being lazy I go with the easy route.
I have no doubt that you will find ways to make do with what you have. That is what I often do. I will admit that life got easier when I spent some money on a big drill index. No more wishing I had a different size.
Internal square threads? Yikes. Good luck.

 

[smokeywolf]

Even annealed you won't like what a toolbit does to a drill bit. Also, one of the bigger factors as I see it is, grinding your square thread single-pointing tool is exactly the kind of practice that yields benefits down the line.

Brad is right on with his advice on Norton wheels. White vitrified bond aluminum oxide wheels. You'll want a 46 grit on one end and an 80 grit on the other. You'll ultimately need a boron nitride dressing stick. The Norton "Norbide" is crazy expensive at $80 to $100. Think I'd look for an off brand which can be had for about half those prices. One consolation, a decent boron nitride dressing stick should last your lifetime plus the little princess's lifetime (I'm assuming she'll have a home machine shop).

 

[Pistolero]

Don't bother with the thread wires, IMO. Use the part you are putting the threaded end into
as a thread gauge once you get close, unless it is a huge, immovable piece. Then use a die
for external threads. For internal, again, hope you can trial fit the mating part.

Bill

 

[Eutectic]

Internal square threads? Yikes. Good luck.

What's that old saying......"Patience is a virtue" ??

This is a high tool load situation so taking your time with light cuts would be my approach!

Pete

 

[Ian]

So the old Desmond-Stephan No. 0 isn't quite going to cut it anymore? Dang, and I just rescued a second one from a junk store in Colorado for six dollars and put a new set of wheels in it.

 

[L1A1Rocker]

Ian, if you want to stop by and look through the lathe box feel free. I have some boring bars that hold cutting bits that you may want to barrow until you decide what direction you want to go on boring bars.

 

[smokeywolf]

So the old Desmond-Stephan No. 0 isn't quite going to cut it anymore? Dang, and I just rescued a second one from a junk store in Colorado for six dollars and put a new set of wheels in it.

A Desmond-Stephan, aka Huntington dresser will work very well, but doesn't leave the flat, consistent surface that a dressing stick (aka "dog turd") does.

When I'd have to dress a wheel any place but in the studio machine shop, I would nearly always have to take 1/16" or better off the wheel to take out the grooves and sharpen the corners that those who were more butchers than machinists would leave. I'd start with a Huntington dresser and finish with a dressing stick.
The studio machine shops were mostly staffed with professionals.

 

[Intheshop]

Googlefoo a Rockwell Invicta RT-40 TS(table saw)......now add 10% bigger.Oliver's,latest greatest is built on this larger pattern.

Call me Martha but.....rule number 1.Don't put your junk on my machine.I did well,digging my TS literally out of a ditch for beer money.Was the wheel man for a blacksmith bud...think fast pickups.I sat on the tailgate whilst he bought all this smithing equipment.I asked what it would take for the biggest dang ditched TS,I'd ever seen,he helped load it.

Enter machine shop.Just sayin....one thing leads,or feeds?..another(fastass resto'd monster TS).But,I got to cover it when hanging out,see rule #1.

 

[Ian]

Now I probably will need a grinder....might as well get a tool grinder and not another bench grinder because my bench grinder has a 80-grit grey wheel for GP grinding and a white one on the other side that's reserved very strictly for pointing tungsten electrodes. I actually bought the second dresser just for that, plus, how often do you find an antique Ohio-made dresser with all the screws, shaft, plugs, and plates intact for six dollars? Even after dressing, I take a diamond dresser to knock the steel out of the grit, for if you get a single speck of steel stuck on a welding electrode it makes a big green plume and contaminates the puddle.

 

[smokeywolf]

I'll likely have to get another pedestal grinder one of these days. Right now I just have a cheapo Harbor Freight bench grinder. On a happier note, I do have a very nice 1950s Baldor buffer.

 

[Ian]

Lathe arrived today, box looked like it had been kicked and drug all the way from China but the lathe is unscathed as far as I can tell. All the gibs are clamped down tight as is the tailstock, so no fretting of the ways or leadscrew took place, very nice of them. Had to go get a big load of furniture out of deep storage for the freshly finished nursery and get all that home, wiped off, and packed up two flights of stairs and assembled, so the lathe will wait in the crate for another day. It's so.....cute. Tiny. Never seen a mini benchtop lathe in person before, that 3" chuck looks rather odd.

 

[Brad]

Might look odd but it also should look 3" larger than the one you had.
The machine doesn't make the man, the man makes the machine. Somehow I have a feeling you will get the most out of it.