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Getting Started With A Lathe
- Thread starter BrianT
- Start date
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- Tags
- craftsman 109
Thanks Tozguy! It was a fun project, people that saw it before thought it was silly to even bother with it. I have some learning to do all in all, I am not totally in the dark about lathes as I have used them in shops I have worked in, but it was just trial and error as no one else seemed to know what they were doing either!
- Joined
- Aug 23, 2014
- Messages
- 932
Welcome to the best hobby machinist forum in the world. Very nice restoration on your 109.
The 12L14 is perfect for learning the machine. It machines easily with a nice finish and helps to learn about the grinding of tools. Small changes make a big difference in the finish. It polishes up bright and shiny on a buffer. Just not good for welding due to the lead content. When the guys and gals here told me about it I ordered some from onlinemetals and have to say it is my favorite metal to machine. Acetal delrin is also easy to machine and the finish very sensitive to tool angles. I really like working with it. My little 7x16 minilathe loves these two materials.
Roy
The 12L14 is perfect for learning the machine. It machines easily with a nice finish and helps to learn about the grinding of tools. Small changes make a big difference in the finish. It polishes up bright and shiny on a buffer. Just not good for welding due to the lead content. When the guys and gals here told me about it I ordered some from onlinemetals and have to say it is my favorite metal to machine. Acetal delrin is also easy to machine and the finish very sensitive to tool angles. I really like working with it. My little 7x16 minilathe loves these two materials.
Roy
- Joined
- Oct 31, 2016
- Messages
- 130
Nice!...All the above suggestions for stock are good (mild steels, aluminum and plastics)....but believe it or not, with the proper speeds and feeds (and smaller cuts)....and proper cutter (tool) angles, and maybe some elbow grease keeping the cross slide and/or compound from sucking in (if needed), yoose' can even cut prehard toolsteels....Cheers and have fun!
Harden steel actually cuts really pretty & is probably easier to get to a spot on target. But... It can also be a pain until you learn what speed to run it at. I've burnt a few pieces of carbide up in unknown metal.
Rust is much harder then the metal so try to get below it when you take the first cut when you can. I usually try to take that first cut with a junk cutter to remove rust then switch to something sharp to finish.
Rust is much harder then the metal so try to get below it when you take the first cut when you can. I usually try to take that first cut with a junk cutter to remove rust then switch to something sharp to finish.
A good source of highly finished mild steel for turning practice is the brightly finished rod in automotive shock absorbers and nitrogen filled lift cylinders used for hood supports and rear deck lids on SUV's. All should be free for the asking at any auto repair shop.
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Interesting, I wonder if pneumatic cylinders would use the same type of steel for the shaft. Some of these shafts can be over 1" diameter. I change these out regularly at my work and they are just getting tossed in the garbage.
Take one home and see. I would bet $100 of my wife's money that the pneumatic cylinder shafts are micro finished mild steel.
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I will need to look closer at these shafts if nothing else a way to collect some material for future projects. I may be wrong but I had thought some of these types of shafts/pistons had a chrome plating.