- Joined
- Feb 8, 2014
- Messages
- 11,153
Long ago, I missed the memo about the lathe, I bought my first mill and I have owned 4 mill and now a lathe. I found that with a good rotary table and indexing head I could do 95% of the machine work I needed to do. Love my lathe, with both a mill and a lathe there isn't much I cannot accomplish. If I had it all to do over I would do the same with the exception of that big clapped out Bridgeport I rebuilt.... I would skip that; yeah, I'd skip that one.....I’ve heard it said that your first machine purchase should be a lather and not a mill*, and that with enough work/steps, you can more or less make most things that you could make on a mill.
I can visualize some basic operations that are equivalent of milling. For example, and I’m not speaking from experience, so forgive me if I’m wrong, I think you could true the face(s) of a block of steel with a face plate by center mounting the steel and facing like you would the end of a cylinder. I’ve seen examples of people turning this sphere/plus-shaped cube thing.
I am interested in other, perhaps surprising, operations you can do with a lathe. I can’t imagine cutting a keyway with one, at least without a milling attachment, which I assume is kind of cheating by this definition.
*I think the first place I heard this was Quinn aka Blondihacks in her mill skill series where she says, if you’re new to machining, watch her lathe skills series first, as she recommends people start with a lathe. I’ve seen her mentioned before, a on the off chance that someone new to machining sees this and doesn’t know of her: She’s great. The $5/month I pay to be a Patreon supporter is money better spent vs. a streaming service.
same here, I don't watch much broadcast TV. as my mom said when I was growing up, it's the idiot box.. and now I get it.Long ago, I missed the memo about the lathe, I bought my first mill and I have owned 4 mill and now a lathe. I found that with a good rotary table and indexing head I could do 95% of the machine work I needed to do. Love my lathe, with both a mill and a lathe there isn't much I cannot accomplish. If I had it all to do over I would do the same with the exception of that big clapped out Bridgeport I rebuilt.... I would skip that; yeah, I'd skip that one.....
I like Blondiehacks along with Mr. Pete, Abom, Inheritance Machining, etc... I follow 7 or 8 of them and support 4 or 5 of them on Patreon, I stopped watching 99% of broadcast TV crud....
Thats not attitude, that's just German!https://www.youtube.com/@StefanGotteswinter Excellent but could lose the attitude..
yes, I know, I'm a mutt, Russian, German, and a few others.Thats not attitude, that's just German!
+1I would like to add that many toolmakers, at least the good ones, exhibit similar attitudes. The presumption that the pursuit of the best possible precision is assumed. It just doesn't occur to them that wider tolerances are desirable.
THAT is what makes watching Stefan so great.
I almost never machine to those tolerances, but I love to watch a very skilled person doing their thing!