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Engine Lathe Q’s

Yeah luckily when I lived near LA there were tons of machinery moving companies that would do it for fairly cheap as well, like not much more than the fuel for me to do it and no hassle and insurance in case it wrecked or something
 
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sitting in place for the time being. Will have to get it wired up. Sucker is heavy and sucks to move. I need a forklift.
 
bdkw1 said:
Always sling them from the spindle and webbing in the frame. Only a complete idiot would try to fork one.
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[486] said:
yeah, then you can smash the chip pan and the clutch rod!
:flipoff2:
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Who says I didn’t already 😬

Chip pan is cast itself. Either way, she made it in place in one piece with no harm done. I didn’t have anything big enough to lift the whole thing so she did some sliding on some plywood.
 
I've moved a few large pieces of equpiment before with setting it on some 1/2" Pipe and then rolling it onto of those and leap frogging them when one rolls out. Takes a long time but it does work
 
There was a long story that goes with the delivery/purchase that beyond frustrated me.

It was left outside and I needed it inside before rain/dew came. I was going to use pipe to roll it but had none on hand I was willing to sacrifice at this time.

Smooth concrete and plywood worked pretty good for sliding.
 
its an aloris style
use a ruler and one of the many size charts to figure out which series

wild ass guess, b series
ETA: maybe c series
 
Looks like a c series, but a ruler scale pic will help confirm.

I have a cxa tool post on my lathe. Tooling I get mostly from ebay, used stuff. Take a few pics with a ruler on the dovetail and I can compare to mine.
 
[486] said:
its an aloris style
use a ruler and one of the many size charts to figure out which series

wild ass guess, b series
ETA: maybe c series
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Maybe I should ask, is there a good source to looking and learning this type stuff? I understand the premise of how they work. I have the manual downloaded. I can watch YouTube for basics. But I have have a lot of stuff I just don’t know about what certain things are and where good places to buy are. I will watch marketplace for different tooling to pop up. Just don’t want to get stuff that I can’t use.
 
OutlawRider said:
Maybe I should ask, is there a good source to looking and learning this type stuff? I understand the premise of how they work. I have the manual downloaded. I can watch YouTube for basics. But I have have a lot of stuff I just don’t know about what certain things are and where good places to buy are. I will watch marketplace for different tooling to pop up. Just don’t want to get stuff that I can’t use.
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You need to start using it. That’s how I learned. I started out buying stuff off eBay, now I just buy the right shit. Travers tool, msc, McMaster are some places I get stuff.

I know some here will not agree with me but I would buy a nice dro for that guy. Completely worth the money IMO. They make a average lathe operator and turn them into really good at hitting the dimensions. Especially people like me who only use it every other week. YMMV
 
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another vote for "just start burning up tooling and wrecking parts"
you can watch a million youtube videos but nothing will prevent you from making many many mistakes

ThePanzerFuhrer said:
I know some here will not agree with me but I would buy a nice dro for that guy. Completely worth the money IMO. They make a average lathe operator and turn them into really good at hitting the dimensions. Especially people like me who only use it every other week. YMMV
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DRO is way nice on a mill

on a lathe... I find it very easy to make the dials on the handwheels work, even compensating for backlash is very intuitive
 
I see no travadial on it. DRO is probably about the same price as a good travadial.
 
bdkw1 said:
I see no travadial on it. DRO is probably about the same price as a good travadial.
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length is a dimension that very very few things have any need for precision on

if you're making parts to a drawing, sure, but onesy twosy repair type work? 95% of it is just holding up the old part to the new one while the spindle's turning in order to get the shoulders and bearing registers in the right spots. The other 5% I've always been able to get by with a mag back indicator slapped on the ways.
 
bdkw1 said:
Always sling them from the spindle and webbing in the frame. Only a complete idiot would try to fork one.
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Great way to bend the spindle. There's really no shortcuts you can take. You gotta find a way to hold it by the bed.

[486] said:
length is a dimension that very very few things have any need for precision on

if you're making parts to a drawing, sure, but onesy twosy repair type work? 95% of it is just holding up the old part to the new one while the spindle's turning in order to get the shoulders and bearing registers in the right spots. The other 5% I've always been able to get by with a mag back indicator slapped on the ways.
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It's so easy to add an DRO scale to the Z that it's hard to justify not. It comes in real handy for bores. Yes you don't usually need a ton of precision in that direction for mechanical parts that simply fit together but it eliminates a lot of dicking around with measurement tools. For stuff like O-ring grooves and other things that involve sealing and pressure the dimensions tend to be critical in all axis so a DRO is a lot of help there. Of course a dial indicator or the marks on your handles also work fine for those since they're small measurements.
 
X2 for just getting to work, just remember this is not really a toy lathe.
I started on a cheese dick belt driven 3-n-1 lathe/mill combo and it didn't have enough balls to hurt me.
Some of that shit on my current lathe might be more dangerous.

You can learn a ton from Tubalcain, This old Tony and others but if you haven't spun the handles yet some of it is lost.
 
CarterKraft said:
X2 for just getting to work, just remember this is not really a toy lathe.
I started on a cheese dick belt driven 3-n-1 lathe/mill combo and it didn't have enough balls to hurt me.
Some of that shit on my current lathe might be more dangerous.

You can learn a ton from Tubalcain, This old Tony and others but if you haven't spun the handles yet some of it is lost.
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99% of people get hurt because they're tying to act like some stupid old man who's been hand filing parts at 5000rpm because that's how he learned to do it in 1950.

Make sure your shit is chucked properly and don't touch the part with anything that isn't bolted to the tool post and you'll be fine. The dangers are greatly over blown.
 
arse_sidewards said:
99% of people get hurt because they're tying to act like some stupid old man who's been hand filing parts at 5000rpm because that's how he learned to do it in 1950.

Make sure your shit is chucked properly and don't touch the part with anything that isn't bolted to the tool post and you'll be fine. The dangers are greatly over blown.
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You don't know what you don't know.

Like cutting away from the chuck and pulling the part off the mandrel, not something I ever realized would be a problem.
 
arse_sidewards said:
99% of people get hurt because they're tying to act like some stupid old man who's been hand filing parts at 5000rpm because that's how he learned to do it in 1950.
Make sure your shit is chucked properly and don't touch the part with anything that isn't bolted to the tool post and you'll be fine. The dangers are greatly over blown.
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is your lathe even running yet?
 
Well, the original sell of the lathe was because an older man in a long sleeve shirt got wrapped up into it and was stuck there an hour. He got to the foot brake, but messed him up pretty good.
 
OutlawRider said:
Well, the original sell of the lathe was because an older man in a long sleeve shirt got wrapped up into it and was stuck there an hour. He got to the foot brake, but messed him up pretty good.
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yeah don't do that
that guy has enough gear reduction in the lower speeds to turn you into a tube of toothpaste
people aren't very durable

I would say not to look up "lathe accident" with safe search turned off, but seeing that kinda horrible does give a certain healthy respect for the machinery
 
OutlawRider said:
Well, the original sell of the lathe was because an older man in a long sleeve shirt got wrapped up into it and was stuck there an hour. He got to the foot brake, but messed him up pretty good.
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[486] said:
yeah don't do that
that guy has enough gear reduction in the lower speeds to turn you into a tube of toothpaste
people aren't very durable

I would say not to look up "lathe accident" with safe search turned off, but seeing that kinda horrible does give a certain healthy respect for the machinery
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Pretty much my warning, you did good and got a real machine, be careful have fun.
:beer:
 
Tons of videos on YouTube (how I'm learning). Abom79, oxtoolco, Joe Pieczynski, etc. Go to shars.com and you can look up the tool holder sizes, or see if it has any numbers on it. I would guess its a CXA based on teh size of the lathe. I buy most of my tool holders on Ebay from Shars or a couple others (they are all about the same price). I generally buy tool holders from Shars as well, and inserts from Ebay. I've been burned buying name brand inserts on Ebay (Sandvik, Kennametal, etc) as a lot of times they are fakes. I've had really good luck with zcc-ct inserts. Very reasonably priced, and perform well. I would recommend finding an insert you like that you can get easily/affordable, then buy tooling to match. You can use high speed steel if you want, but then you have to grind it correctly, otherwise you'll be chasing your tail with issues caused by bad grinds.
 
Don't wear gloves, not anything other than silicone/nitrile. No long sleeves, short sleeves and aprons only. Wear eye protection. Go slow at first to get a feel for it. Make sure the head stock has oil in it.

And have fun.
 
Has a few oil spots. All that said, I can’t seem to figure the wiring out. I can’t power up to the switches like a kill switch is tripped somewhere. But I can’t seem to find any that are the culprit. I may just have it wired wrong but still can’t figure it out. May have to have someone come out.
 
OutlawRider said:
Has a few oil spots. All that said, I can’t seem to figure the wiring out. I can’t power up to the switches like a kill switch is tripped somewhere. But I can’t seem to find any that are the culprit. I may just have it wired wrong but still can’t figure it out. May have to have someone come out.
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Take a picture of the box you wired into. Shouldn’t be that tough.
 
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