This is going to be for a PM 1340GT. This is my first lathe and I'm quite the noob here. Sure appreciate this site where folks who are willing to share their knowledge and are patient.
Lathe is 2-3 weeks from delivery still but I'm doing lots of research and trying to gather as much info as I can. I'm going to be pretty excited to get going on the thing when it gets here. A first project is going to be a spider.
I have read a number of great threads on here about various folks building spiders. I don't see many talking about using aluminum.
I've got a piece of 2.5" 6061 aluminum round bar. Plan to do a practice build with it. However I am wondering, do you think 6061 is too soft for a spider? Now wondering if it's going to be good enough to use as the permanent part. Note the spider will be primarily used to stabilize/align rifle barrels so work pieces will generally not extend far outside the spider.
Been reading all kinds of articles about thread strength in 6061. Seems like it would be quite sufficient with .5" of tube wall for thread contact. Maybe there are all kinds of other factors I'm not considering. (quite likely in my ignorance)
Given the choice, what would you feel is best to hunt down as a material for this project? (in other words, just track down a round bar drop and bore it out)
To get the right dimensions in tubing (at a sane cost) about all I'm finding is A513 DOM (2.5" OD, 1.5" ID). Thoughts on machining A513?
Learning where/how to source material I'm discovering is yet another part of this journey I've started.
Thanks and apologies in advance for such a noob question!
-dave
Lathe is 2-3 weeks from delivery still but I'm doing lots of research and trying to gather as much info as I can. I'm going to be pretty excited to get going on the thing when it gets here. A first project is going to be a spider.
I have read a number of great threads on here about various folks building spiders. I don't see many talking about using aluminum.
I've got a piece of 2.5" 6061 aluminum round bar. Plan to do a practice build with it. However I am wondering, do you think 6061 is too soft for a spider? Now wondering if it's going to be good enough to use as the permanent part. Note the spider will be primarily used to stabilize/align rifle barrels so work pieces will generally not extend far outside the spider.
Been reading all kinds of articles about thread strength in 6061. Seems like it would be quite sufficient with .5" of tube wall for thread contact. Maybe there are all kinds of other factors I'm not considering. (quite likely in my ignorance)
Given the choice, what would you feel is best to hunt down as a material for this project? (in other words, just track down a round bar drop and bore it out)
To get the right dimensions in tubing (at a sane cost) about all I'm finding is A513 DOM (2.5" OD, 1.5" ID). Thoughts on machining A513?
Learning where/how to source material I'm discovering is yet another part of this journey I've started.
Thanks and apologies in advance for such a noob question!
-dave