Lathe Questions

Ok, here are a few lathe questions..

I'm getting sick of the irregularity of my success rate at drilling brass heater barrels with my drill press. Plus, I'm looking to build the different heater barrel for Adrian's extruder, which pretty much needs a lathe.

Sears has a mini lathe (looks like it's a wood lathe) for under $200:
[m.sears.com]

So question #1: for my stated purposes above, would a wood lathe be workable, to cut brass? Could I still mount a drill bit and hollow out a rod with that? Could I turn down 10mm brass to make Adrian's barrel? I have a metric tap&die set for the inner threads.

#2: how do metal and wood lathes hold stock? The same way? Could both hold a rod to be cut down?

If a metal lathe is the only real choice, I found this link to a metal large, which feels out of my price range for my current needs:

[www.harborfreight.com]

#3: are there cheaper metal lathes available? Again, we're talking about heater barrel sized pieces - nothing big.

I don't mind buying tools to further my hobby, horizons, experience, etc. But I don't want to go crazy on something I'll use once, or buy the wrong thing.

Help/suggestions welcome! Thanks.
..Jeff Keegan
[www.keegan.org]

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--Jeff Keegan (Just Another RepRap blog)

Hello,

I suppose, in theory, you could use a wood lathe as long as you have a 3 jaw chuck to hold your stock. (Not a drill chuck.) I would have to do some research to see if it is possible. I am basing my opinion on my observation that a watch-maker's lathe has a lot in common with a wood lathe.

The 7x10 Harbor Freight lathe would serve your purposes without any guess-work.

Another option would be a Taig lathe. I have never used one; but, they are cheaper and, from what I have read, people that have them tend to like them. Here is a link to the Taig: [www.taigtools.com] If you have a motor laying around, you can save an additional $100, or so.

Another possibility would be to look for an antique lathe. You can usually find an antique lathe for $300-$400 or so and it would be a lot bigger than a 7x10. But, you may have to use the lathe to repair itself before you could use it for it's intended purpose. (I got a 10x30 for $50.00 off of e-bay in 2007.)

On thing to bear in mind, however, is that once you get a lathe you will find many more uses for it. For example, once I made a couple replacement bushings for a bread machine. Without those bushings, the machine would have been scrapped as they were no longer available. You can also do some light milling, on a lathe, if necessary.

Regards,

Brian

Jeff,

If you need/want something done on a lathe, email me and I can either cut the part, and/or give you an intro.
I don't think you'd have much luck using a wood lathe for brass. Maybe for small parts, but the speeds and the toolrest of a wood lathe aren't good for doing metalwork (and there's no cross-slide or threading.)

Also, suggest you watch craigslist in the tools section. I see HF or equivalent lathes occasionally, as well as atlas and similar (bigger) tools.
However, remember that metalworking can be an expensive hobby -- there's always another cool/useful piece of tooling you'll want.

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Larry Pfeffer,

My blog about building repstrap Cerberus:
[repstrap-cerberus.blogspot.com]

Thanks for the responses..

Larry, I thought of you almost immediately, and I was quite tempted to come knocking on your door. Luckily at least for the short term I talked myself out of needing a lathe and managed to print 5 or 6 barrels by spinning them in my drill press and lowering them on a stationary bit (rather than what I'd been doing that failed 2 times in a row).

[www.youtube.com]

It won't scratch my itch with regard to one of these:

[reprap.org]

..but one thing at a time.

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--Jeff Keegan (Just Another RepRap blog)

Jeff,

Are you in Boston?

South End Technology Center Fab Lab

Good people.

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-Sebastien, RepRap.org library gnome.

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Remember, you're all RepRap developers (once you've joined the super-secret developer mailing list), and the wiki, RepRap.org, [reprap.org] is for everyone and everything!

I'm in Methuen, a suburb about 20-30 minutes north of the city.

Good to know! Thanks!

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--Jeff Keegan (Just Another RepRap blog)

I have an old Sears 6" wood lathe with a single steel tube instead of iron ways.
I can't figure out how to change the live head to a disk to turn bowls.
Sorry if my terminalogy is incorrect, shows me to be a newbe.

If you decide you want a metal lathe that is not an arm and a leg, try Harbor freight [www.harborfreight.com]

On sale for $500 right now.

I got a metal lathe back on January of 2011..

[www.keegan.org]

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--Jeff Keegan (Just Another RepRap blog)

J Hitchcock Wrote:
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> I have an old Sears 6" wood lathe with a single
> steel tube instead of iron ways.
> I can't figure out how to change the live head to
> a disk to turn bowls.
> Sorry if my terminalogy is incorrect, shows me to
> be a newbe.

Without seeing it, it's a bit tricky to answer for a specifc lathe.. So generally speaking..

The headstock (the end with the motor)has a shaft driven by the motor, where you attach the wood to make it spin round.

The drive centre (not live centre), usually four tooth circular bit with a spike in the centre is held on with a morse taper, which is a conical shaft that gives a good solid friction fit. Used a lot on drill presses and the like. You should have a morse taper socket on the tailstock, the opposite end of the lathe, where your other centre goes.
Some lathes have a hollow headstock spindle, so you can shove a long enough metal bar down trough it, and a few gentle taps with a hammer on the end of the bar will pop it out.
If the headstock spindle is not hollow, then you will have to figure out some way to lever it off. It does come out in the direction of the tail stock.
A live centre by the way, is a centre that has no teeth, just the spike. It fits in the tail stock to support the wood at the opposite end to the headstock and it spins around on a set of bearings, so you don't burn the wood when turning at high speed. You can also get a dead centre, which does the same job, but does not turn, so can scorch the wood if you are turning a small object at high speed.

You should have a threaded section just behind the drive centre head, that is for attaching accessories like chucks and faceplates. This may be covered by a thread protector.

To change it from spindle turning to bowl turning, find out the screw thread size of your lathe, and buy the appropriate faceplate or chuck. Then take out the drive centre, and screw on the faceplate or chuck.

VERY IMPORTANT!! Use a soft washer between the lathe and chuck/faceplate. A strip of leather cut into a washer shape is fine. If not, the turning activity will jam the faceplate on the lathe, and you will have a hell of a time getting it off.
Usually happens only once to any turner.