Tools – Metalworking

[Gaspard de Coligny]

Still with flybar ? when will you enter the 21st century...

(/just to be a beeyotch)


SIDENOTE

Could you ask around for advice aboot a small medium lathe ? i usually buy proxxon from Germany but their lathe are famousely rebranded Japanese made lathe... so it's a bit of snake biting it's tail stuff...

I'd rather go for some second hand stuff... 100/200 volt ok...

Before for small stuff i was using my mini mill with the stock held on the rotating motor and the tool on the sliding bed... but for long stuff... somebody is gonna get killed real soon... and violentely...

(hint for outsiders: when there are helos... there are lathe...)

[Hammer]

Still with flybar ? when will you enter the 21st century...

(/just to be a beeyotch)

There's an FBL conversion available for this model that I might avail myself of at some point. But I do want to fool around with the FB version for a while first. The flybar reacts a bit slower than a flybarless system, and in some ways is easier to fly. But yeah, the whole world seems to be going flybarless these days.

SIDENOTE

Could you ask around for advice aboot a small medium lathe ? i usually buy proxxon from Germany but their lathe are famousely rebranded Japanese made lathe... so it's a bit of snake biting it's tail stuff...

I'd rather go for some second hand stuff... 100/200 volt ok...

Before for small stuff i was using my mini mill with the stock held on the rotating motor and the tool on the sliding bed... but for long stuff... somebody is gonna get killed real soon... and violentely...

(hint for outsiders: when there are helos... there are lathe...)

Mine is similar to this one, but an older model. It's pretty small, but was purchased back when I was living in a house that didn't have a dedicated workshop. It's quite functional though, and is handy for whipping up small bits and pieces. And to be honest, I don't really use it enough to justify getting a bigger one.

http://www.toyoas.jp/products/category/senban/detail.html?p=48

This company makes/markets a few small-medium lathes (some big ones too), so poke around the site to see what they've got.

I have two Proxxon milling machines. The really tiny one they make, and the larger one. The larger one comes in handy for all kinds of projects. It serves double duty as a very accurate drill press too. But I'm not suicidal enough to attempt using it as a lathe.

[Gaspard de Coligny]

The bed on the #3 is reallly too small... Micro lathe like this are good for clock makers, for hobby... it feels a little too ... suffocating... I was thinking more aboot the 7 but without feedback I was left wondering...


Did you put DRO on your milling machines ? I'm still tinkering with beheaded digital calipers to put some on mine.
You learned by yourself ? for milling the line between state of the art and moronic redneck practices is somewhat difficult to clearly see when you're a lone beginner...
(maybe tooling talkz can be made into another thread)

[Hammer]

I agree that the bigger machine would be more versatile. That's what I'd do if I was going to buy another lathe with the workshop space I have now. No plans at the moment though.

No DRO on my milling machine. I use prehistoric tools like dial gauges and micrometers, and usually make up jigs when I need precision and repeatability (which I rarely do these days). I'm certainly no master machinist though. Don't do it nearly enough to be really good at it. My dad was an inventor/manufacturer so I've always been around those sort of tools. He was always willing to share the knowledge, and I guess that's why I'm usually able to kludge together what I need.

Oh crap ... now you've got me thinking about lathes and milling machines ... geek porn ...

[Gaspard de Coligny]

Oh crap ... now you've got me thinking about lathes and milling machines ... geek porn ...

Yeah but put mosaic on the CNCs... that stuff is too hardcore... (and sooo tempting, thanks to vhinese cheap stuff)

[Gaspard de Coligny]

Sidenote, the automatic feed function seems to start being available on the 7 and 9 models but not on the 3.

[Hammer]

Sidenote, the automatic feed function seems to start being available on the 7 and 9 models but not on the 3.

Right. No automatic feed on the small model. No gear cutting either.

But since you're only going to be turning relatively small pieces on it, not having automatic feed isn't really a big deal. It'd be a nice luxury to have though. I did buy the cross slide option for mine, for diagonal feed. Gotta have that, otherwise you're limited to straight cuts.

What kind of stuff are you planning to do on your upcoming lathe?

[Gaspard de Coligny]

mostly round... stuff...
Driveshafts... bushings... knobs...
But i have to check with chokonen first to know if I can crash on his coach when me Julie find the bill...

[Hammer]

Ah ... round stuff. Glad to hear it.
Square stuff is a bitch to make on a lathe.

So when are you going to get a 3D printer?

[Gaspard de Coligny]

The day i manage to do lost wax castings... 'cause before that i won't get much use out of it...

[Russell]

Ah ... round stuff. Glad to hear it.
Square stuff is a bitch to make on a lathe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Acq7Vuy5wNc

[Hammer]

Ah ... round stuff. Glad to hear it.
Square stuff is a bitch to make on a lathe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Acq7Vuy5wNc

Square holes ... on a lathe ... that's just weird ...

[Gaspard de Coligny]

Order compact7 plus accessories... delivery on 18th... sumbody remind chokonen to put clean sheets on the coach for the 19th...

[Hammer]

Order compact7 plus accessories... delivery on 18th... sumbody remind chokonen to put clean sheets on the coach for the 19th...

That was fast! Nice going!
Damn ... now you're going to have a bigger lathe than me ...

[Gaspard de Coligny]

Order compact7 plus accessories... delivery on 18th... sumbody remind chokonen to put clean sheets on the coach for the 19th...

That was fast! Nice going!
Damn ... now you're going to have a bigger lathe than me ...

I are not overcompensating for anything...

[Russell]

Order compact7 plus accessories... delivery on 18th... sumbody remind chokonen to put clean sheets on the coach for the 19th...

That was fast! Nice going!
Damn ... now you're going to have a bigger lathe than me ...

I are not overcompensating for anything...

But Hammer has more lathes, hasn't he?

[Hammer]

But Hammer has more lathes, hasn't he?

Just one lathe, but two (count 'em, "2") milling machines.

Ha! Guess I don't feel so inferior after all.

[Gaspard de Coligny]

Did you do something against the comical backlash on the proxxon x/y bed ? it's getting on mah nerve big time these days...

[Hammer]

Did you do something against the comical backlash on the proxxon x/y bed ? it's getting on mah nerve big time these days...

I think I tried tweaking the underside of the bed somehow ... but I honestly can't remember what I did. No matter, it didn't result in much improvement. There's still quite a bit of backlash that you just have to work around.

As long as you're going in the same direction you can ignore it.

I simply measured it accurately with a dial gauge, and allow for the difference. It means you have to concentrate on what you're doing, but it works.

What kind of tolerances are you trying to work to?

And BTW, wasn't your new lathe supposed to arrive yesterday? We need pics (well ... judging from the interest this thread is generating that should probably be "I" need pics).

[Gaspard de Coligny]

Yeah... received... but i litterally don't have a square centimeter free in a 12 tatami workshop/delivery room to unpack anything so it's going to wait a bit... Also, mah back still acke from carrying it from 1st to 2 nd floor...

For the proxxon tolerance... at this point 1-2mm would be awesome... how can you make repeated pass without going back. If i repeat my x passes i always clear 1 mm on y when pulling back. with the backlash as it is it's like having to reposition the stock for every pass...