Lathe Question

Eutectic

Active Member
it would be easier for me to build a 20x30 shop in my back yard, the bottom half is already split as a separate building lot.
like I said a lathe would equal more money than I'm willing to lay out.

Yep.............. Sounds like some 'weakening' may be taking place!!

Pete
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
If it isn't it should be.
Oh, I have visions of milling machines all over in my head.
Just a case of balancing weight, cost, features and such.

It will happen but may be a few years. Hate to think I had 220 run the the garage for just a lathe....
 

smokeywolf

Well-Known Member
What can I say, you were born to fill scripts and make parts.:D

Best thing you've done though is, produce an engineer. You'll never top that.
 
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Pistolero

Well-Known Member
A mill is very cool, and Ian nails it. Once you have a lathe, you soon feel like you
just have to have the mill to make that other part.

Bill
 

KeithB

Resident Half Fast Machinist
If having a lathe is worth 1 and having a mill is worth 1 having both together makes it worth about 10. First thing I made on my manual mill? Dovetail toolholders for my lathe.
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
Keith, would you mind calling my wife and explaining that? Please?
 

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
If you get a lathe and a mill you still need a shaper and surface grinder and plasma cutter and ironworker and oxy/acetylene torches and stick welder and mig welder and none of it will ever be big enough or small enough or you won't have the right tooling and there will never, ever be enough room! My "shop", which resembles a junkyard somewhere north of the Arctic Circle, is proof of this.
 

Ian

Notorious member
Bret, you forgot drill press, bench grinder, band saw, power hacksaw, and TiG welder. Once you have a stick welder you realize you have to have a MiG, and having a MiG you realize how limited is is for specialized welding (most of what we do in the shop/ranch environment) so you have to get the TiG and two flavors of electrodes in three different sizes, with a selection of cup sizes for each, then you have to have all the rods, special gloves, and find out you need a dedicated bench grinder for electrodes, and then a second flowmeter for back-purging, and a special table with an array of clamping fixtures.

It never ends. You obviously understand the concept of doing three days of cleaning and moving junk to get to the tool you need, and room to use it, just so you can do a three minute repair.
 

KeithB

Resident Half Fast Machinist
People wonder why they get charged so much for what seems to be a simple quick repairs without even thinking how much the repairer has tied up in everything it takes to make that repair simply and quickly.
 

smokeywolf

Well-Known Member
One sentence Keith, but a mouthful.

You wouldn't believe how fast my electric meter spins when I fire up the phase converter and the lathe. Can't even remember the HP on my phase converter, but it runs the lathe (5 HP) and the Bridgeport simultaneously, with room left for at least one more lathe or two more Bridgeports.

Never had enough room to have all the machinery that I could have and would like to have acquired.
  • Small Van Norman Universal Mill
  • Walker Turner 4-head gang (drill) press
  • Rivett Cylindrical Grinder
  • K.O. Lee wet surface grinder
  • Baldor Cup-Wheel (Carbide) Grinder
  • 16" DoAll bandsaw
  • Small Greenlee horizontal bandsaw
  • Gorton Pantograph
  • Rockwell Hardness Tester
  • 18"X18" Lapping Plate
  • 24"X36" Granite Surface Plate
  • Scherr Tumico floor model optical comparator.
Could have purchased all of that for probably closer to $5K than $10K. Just didn't have a place for it.
 

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
Bret, you forgot drill press, bench grinder, band saw, power hacksaw, and TiG welder. Once you have a stick welder you realize you have to have a MiG, and having a MiG you realize how limited is is for specialized welding (most of what we do in the shop/ranch environment) so you have to get the TiG and two flavors of electrodes in three different sizes, with a selection of cup sizes for each, then you have to have all the rods, special gloves, and find out you need a dedicated bench grinder for electrodes, and then a second flowmeter for back-purging, and a special table with an array of clamping fixtures.

It never ends. You obviously understand the concept of doing three days of cleaning and moving junk to get to the tool you need, and room to use it, just so you can do a three minute repair.

Oh yeah! I just figured anyone contemplating a lathe or mill would already have the drill press and grinders and other "normal" stuff. I'm just learning MIG after decades of stick. Quite a bit different. Went from no MIG to 2 units, in a trade for a steam jenny I always wanted but realized I had absolutely no room to store. More or less got flux core figured out, but only have a small bottle for gas so far. Figuring that out is next on the list!
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
People wonder why they get charged so much for what seems to be a simple quick repairs without even thinking how much the repairer has tied up in everything it takes to make that repair simply and quickly.
Including the knowledge and skill to do the work.
The more I play with the lathe the more I understand the skill and experience of those who can really make one sing.

Anyone can buy a scalpel but it sure doesn't make them a surgeon.
 
F

freebullet

Guest
Bret
Congrats! The gas is even easier once ya get the hang of it. Now if you want to punish yourself, welding thin aluminum is a perfect method for doing so.
 

smokeywolf

Well-Known Member
Bret
Congrats! The gas is even easier once ya get the hang of it. Now if you want to punish yourself, welding thin aluminum is a perfect method for doing so.

That's the one that separates plain old welders from the artists.
I've only known 3 who could weld thin aluminum and do it well, nearly 100% of the time.
 
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JSH

Active Member
You will keep that roll of flux core thinking you will have use for it some day. Put it way in the back and stack stuff on it. You won't be looking for it.
You may tend to keep small scraps of thin sheet metal and aluminum sheeting to make shields around things when welding out side when need be.
There are things that one needs a stick welder for.
FYI get the big bottle of argon/C02. Nothing like starting a project and running out of gas on a weekend 15 minutes before the supply house closes, it's a 30 minute drive there,lol.

When I was still racing there were four of us that ran around together. All had wire machines, all had big bottles. I went to an auction and picked up a small bottle. It was our spare. If it was used, it was used till empty and refilled by the person that had it. As far as I know that bottle is still floating around the county.
Good to keep at least a small roll of wire. We keep a spare full one all the time. Some times it seems they last for years, then some seem to last a few days.
Jeff
 
While there is a certain amount of truth in the statement: You can do a small job in a big lather but not a big job in a small one, try chucking a 1/16th OD pin in your big lather.

The actual limitations of any machinery are it's sizes. Both ways, usually.


Cat