- Joined
- Jan 29, 2014
- Messages
- 15
Hi everyone,
I'm a new member and I've found this board very helpful for reading and learning. I thought it was time I contributed as well… I bought a 2nd hand Taig lathe in February and set up a small area in my attic to do some machining. I've never done this stuff before but I'm having a blast learning the basics! Here are pics of some of the things I've made in the past few months:
I first made a little pivot pin for the lathe tailstock arm out of some 304 stainless steel.
I made a kubotan (self-defense keychain tool) out of 6061 aluminum for a friend's birthday present.
I used 304 steel again to make a pen for my mother. The back part screws in to advance the pen tip. This uses a common Fisher-type refill.
I was planning to make a similar pen out of brass for my dad but since I hadn't worked with brass before, I wanted to see how it machined first. I was given a bit of Lee Valley round stock (not sure what type of brass) and I used it to make a tiny spinning top. This top spins for 2 - 2.5 minutes pretty easily despite being so small.
I recently completed the brass pen for my dad using the same basic design as the stainless steel one I did earlier (this takes an Pilot F-type refill).
Each of these projects taught me a ton about what not to do and how to improve future pieces. It's really exciting because the possibilities just seem endless. My next project is a modification to the lathe so I can cut threads on larger diameter stuff (I only have a basic tap and die set). With that ability, I'll be able to make a bunch of other things on my ever-growing "to build" list.
Thanks for looking!
I'm a new member and I've found this board very helpful for reading and learning. I thought it was time I contributed as well… I bought a 2nd hand Taig lathe in February and set up a small area in my attic to do some machining. I've never done this stuff before but I'm having a blast learning the basics! Here are pics of some of the things I've made in the past few months:
I first made a little pivot pin for the lathe tailstock arm out of some 304 stainless steel.
I made a kubotan (self-defense keychain tool) out of 6061 aluminum for a friend's birthday present.
I used 304 steel again to make a pen for my mother. The back part screws in to advance the pen tip. This uses a common Fisher-type refill.
I was planning to make a similar pen out of brass for my dad but since I hadn't worked with brass before, I wanted to see how it machined first. I was given a bit of Lee Valley round stock (not sure what type of brass) and I used it to make a tiny spinning top. This top spins for 2 - 2.5 minutes pretty easily despite being so small.
I recently completed the brass pen for my dad using the same basic design as the stainless steel one I did earlier (this takes an Pilot F-type refill).
Each of these projects taught me a ton about what not to do and how to improve future pieces. It's really exciting because the possibilities just seem endless. My next project is a modification to the lathe so I can cut threads on larger diameter stuff (I only have a basic tap and die set). With that ability, I'll be able to make a bunch of other things on my ever-growing "to build" list.
Thanks for looking!