Just bought my first lathe!

rojoh

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Just ordered my first lathe tonight, LMS 7x12 HiTorque 4100. Pretty excited to finally get this baby, opted for the HiTorque for the low end torque of the brushless motor, hopefully it will serve me well. Completely new to using a lathe, looking forward to learning lots! Any pointers for starting out on this lathe would be much aprreciated.
 
Google "How to run a lathe". South bend published this as well as the US Army. It's an invaluable read for a novice. Then watch mrpete222 on YouTube to reinforce what you read. You may have already done both of these, if so, proceed carefully and make some chips!!

Richard
 
I would suggest you download the user guide for this lathe from LMS Learning Center and start reading. While the South Bend is good for larger, more 'full featured' lathes this guide will tell you how to do specific things on your particular machine.

http://www.littlemachineshop.com/gallery/docs.php?type=ug


Have fun! :)
 
Just ordered my first lathe tonight, LMS 7x12 HiTorque 4100. Pretty excited to finally get this baby, opted for the HiTorque for the low end torque of the brushless motor, hopefully it will serve me well. Completely new to using a lathe, looking forward to learning lots! Any pointers for starting out on this lathe would be much aprreciated.


That at lathe will serve you well. I had the Cummings version of that lathe for 7 years before I replaced it with a bigger lathe.

+1 on all of the advise above.

read the manual for the lathe,
read how to run a lathe by Southbend (free PDF online)
watch the Mrpete222 instructional videos on running a lathe on youtube. He was a high school shop teacher for 35 years and makes excellent instructional videos.

Buy some HSS bits and learn how to grind them.

Buy some aluminum rods and have fun learning. The ace stores in my area sell aluminum, brass, and stainless rods and tubes in 12" lengths in diameters up to 1/2". They all machine really well and are a great size to have handy for the mini lathe.

If if you know a machinist, see if you can get some of his drop offs. They are usually perfect for projects on this small lathe.

The best thing I ever bought for mine was a quick change tool post kit. I bought the piston style for mine. After using a wedge style I woul not buy a piston style again. Here is the wedge QCTP that LMS sells for the mini lathe. http://www.littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=3112&category=-419988835


most of all, be safe, and have fun.


chris
 
I second all the advice given above and will add that if you have ANY questions about the lathe, give Chris and his crew at LMS a call. I recently bought a Hi Torque 8.5x20 and have been impressed and satisfied with their responses, their help and their patience while I was familiarizing myself with the lathe. If the 7x12 is anything like the 8.5x20, you got yourself a quality lathe. Enjoy!

Tom
 
I have a lathe smaller than your new one, my only advice is to make sure EVERYTHING is tight, all gibs and all. Better have them too tight them too loose, and make sure that the rear carriage to bed gib is holding the carriage to the bed firmly. Or it will lift when cutting.

Just take it real slow till you know how much it can take. My 109 will take 3/16" off the diameter on mild steel at about 100 SFM with med feed. Light feed on heavy cuts chatters, and too much feed on heavy cuts chatters also. You have to find that butter zone for heavy cuts on a Craftsman 109, it has a weak spindle and it tends to get a harmonic going that ends up in chatter.

Good luck and happy machining!
 
Thanks for all the information guys, been doing lots of reading haha. I hope most of it is sticking, Im sure most of it will once I actually start working with the lathe. Unfortunately I had cancelled my order for the LMS lathe today, I just couldn't justify spending the extra money shipping it to Canada. Not to mention how horribly low the Canadian dollar is. That being said, the machine it self was $1000, shipping was going to be $209 (shipping to commercial location), brokerage fees $110 and $50 for GST. I felt that I would be wasting money paying $1369 for an asian machine that i can buy for $799 in Canada (Craftex 7X12) The only thing I am wondering is the brushless motor worth that much extra money, because that is basically the only major difference between the machines. I hope i made the right decision!!
 
Thanks for all the information guys, been doing lots of reading haha. I hope most of it is sticking, Im sure most of it will once I actually start working with the lathe. Unfortunately I had cancelled my order for the LMS lathe today, I just couldn't justify spending the extra money shipping it to Canada. Not to mention how horribly low the Canadian dollar is. That being said, the machine it self was $1000, shipping was going to be $209 (shipping to commercial location), brokerage fees $110 and $50 for GST. I felt that I would be wasting money paying $1369 for an asian machine that i can buy for $799 in Canada (Craftex 7X12) The only thing I am wondering is the brushless motor worth that much extra money, because that is basically the only major difference between the machines. I hope i made the right decision!!

mine was a regular one that only cost $400 new about 8 years ago. It worked well for me, but for the money you are spending, have you looked for a used bigger lathe. About 6 months ago I paid $650 for this one with the tooling.

Chris

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