If you have a mini lathe...

Fishnbeer

Fishnbeer

The dude abides
Joined
Jun 8, 2020
Member Number
1907
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546
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CA
Looking into getting started with machining small parts. Been eyeing a Taig for a while now....

I did not sleep much last nighg, but lets say you had a small lathe, could you use it to make a larger lathe? And use that one to make another larger lathe?

Same with 3d printing. Could you 3d print another 3d printer? :smokin:
 
One of the sales pitches for Bridgeport was it's a machine that can replicate itself. Short of the casting part I guess.
 
That.... would actually be cool to see. :smokin:
 
you can waste your life trying to make shitty home made machines
or you can buy $300/ton manual machines from the scrap man and get on with it
 
They say a lathe is the only machine that can make itself. You can mill with a lathe, but you can't really turn (longer) parts with a mill. You can turn smaller parts on a mill - check a piece of stock into the spindle and turn it against fixed tools on the table. But you're limited by the length of your spindle and rigidity of the part. I really need to try it out on my CNC mill, but haven't tried to hard to find the right post processor to do it.


And yes, plenty of people print their one 3d printers. Other than the parts that have to be metal - bearings, linear guides, print heads, hot bed - you can print just about everything else.

One great trick for 3d parts - go to McMaster and pull up the product details and then export the 3d drawing in the format of your choice. Most slicers can import them directly. For something like a belt drive pulley, it would take less than 2 minutes to download, slice and send to my printer.
 
Getting back on topic, where is a good place to find more info on machining? Forums, tutorials, youtube channels, etc? I am looking to get started but would like to start out with a used machine. Where to find one?
 
If you gonna buy a lathe get a 14-40 machine. That was the first machine tool I bought and is still the one that gets used the most. Super handy to have, and this is a understatement!
 
Fishnbeer said:
Getting back on topic, where is a good place to find more info on machining? Forums, tutorials, youtube channels, etc? I am looking to get started but would like to start out with a used machine. Where to find one?
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OLDER Keith fenner and abom79 videos on YouTube
 
Forget the mini lathe BS.. Make some friends at your local machine shops. Yeah you can shop Craigslist, but I myself have never scored something to talk about. I would seriously consider taking a machine shop course at your community college; get yourself into the machine shop crowd. :smokin:
 
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Easy to get turned into a toothpaste tube around machinery of any kind really

ETA: he got off really easy on that one, usually in those sorta videos all that's left is a smear of red pasta sauce
 
Yes I am aware of the dangers. I am fortunate enough to not have witnessed any real bad stuff first hand, but I have seen some videos of gruesome accidents.

The one I do not care to watch ever again was a guy working alone and got wrapped around a machine and the thing kept going for several minutes with him being whipped around on it until everything was pulverized and he pretty much leaked off the machine. :barf::barf::barf::barf::barf:
 
ThePanzerFuhrer said:
If you gonna buy a lathe get a 14-40 machine. That was the first machine tool I bought and is still the one that gets used the most. Super handy to have, and this is a understatement!
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that is like the ultimate size

16-36 might be the only other great one to start with, but shorter beds are hard to find
 
Fishnbeer said:
Yes I am aware of the dangers. I am fortunate enough to not have witnessed any real bad stuff first hand, but I have seen some videos of gruesome accidents.

The one I do not care to watch ever again was a guy working alone and got wrapped around a machine and the thing kept going for several minutes with him being whipped around on it until everything was pulverized and he pretty much leaked off the machine. :barf::barf::barf::barf::barf:
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Yeah I decided not to post that one. There's two different versions. Or the one with the guy getting caught in the press. Or the industrial paper roller. I did post the one where the forklift just keeps backing up in a circle over the driver though until he's just a wet smear on the floor.

Not trying to scare you, just a chance for me to hate on China.

Like their construction standards:

https://i.imgur.com/SHMDTGG.mp4

leads to:

https://i.imgur.com/KtrXGuH.mp4
 
Then there's this guy. I'm not a machinist, and there's no fatalities, but I think he's doing many things... not correctly.

 
OP... You need some really deep pockets to play.... Fucking 4-jaw can set you back north of $800 and not even offer a reach around. Oh shti, I forgot; you need dial indicators to center that bitch. Good luck.. :smokin:
 
Mrpete222 is a good watch as well for shop related stuff. Hes a retired shop teacher, he kind of drones but has tons of videos from turning/casting/milling to all types of shop stuff.
 
evernoob said:
Then there's this guy. I'm not a machinist, and there's no fatalities, but I think he's doing many things... not correctly.

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How so? Outside of wearing long baggy sleeves I didn't see anything that looked too unsafe, though I didn't watch the whole thing. Curious what you saw that I didn't...
 
Man, I've never been wrapped up in a lathe, but that shirt around spinning equipment makes my butt clench. I've gotten wrapped up in a couple 7" wire brushes like that, at least you can let go of the trigger on one of those.
 
Just be diligent in watching FB market place and CL
I scored an enco 14-40 off CL once by putting a wanted add up. Guy messaged me within min. saying his brother in-law had one he'd probably sell and gave me a phone #. Call the guy and he says yeh come look at it. Brand new sitting on sipping crate bottom in a barn covered in bat shit. I got it for 600 with 3 & 4 jaw chucks, collets and some tooling.
 
sdmuleman said:
How so? Outside of wearing long baggy sleeves I didn't see anything that looked too unsafe, though I didn't watch the whole thing. Curious what you saw that I didn't...
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Turning the work too fast, forcing the tool until it chatters, then sticking his face up next to it to check it out while it screams and chatters? He's primarily a woodworker.
 
The absolute smallest lathe I would even consider would be a 9x20. That Taig and the little 7x10 lathes are just too damn small for much of anything. I've used the hell out of my little Jet 9x20, and when it isn't big enough I work on the 16x60 South Bend.
 
rockmup said:
Just be diligent in watching FB market place and CL
I scored an enco 14-40 off CL once by putting a wanted add up. Guy messaged me within min. saying his brother in-law had one he'd probably sell and gave me a phone #. Call the guy and he says yeh come look at it. Brand new sitting on sipping crate bottom in a barn covered in bat shit. I got it for 600 with 3 & 4 jaw chucks, collets and some tooling.
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That is one hell of a score. Great size, I wouldn't want anything smaller.
 
Well this machining hobby may have to wait until later in life, not due to lack of interest but due to the costs involved. I talked to a freind of a relative who has a small lathe and makes handles for things and misc small parts and it looks like all the random tools for the lathe end up costing more than the lathe itself. He was adding up a couple chucks, live centers, holders, cutters, knurlers and various measuring devices and quickly got to over a grand not including the lathe. Taking that into account and thinking of the things I would want to make, it would cost substantially more than I can spend right now.

I geeked out on yootoob vids and it really makes you think differently about things. I was looking at an output shaft I had kicking around and was thinking of how many different tools it would take, how many different steps and what order to do them, and how many hours it would take to produce that part. You really start to appreciate these things once you realize the amount of work that goes into them
 
Fishnbeer said:
Well this machining hobby may have to wait until later in life, not due to lack of interest but due to the costs involved. I talked to a freind of a relative who has a small lathe and makes handles for things and misc small parts and it looks like all the random tools for the lathe end up costing more than the lathe itself. He was adding up a couple chucks, live centers, holders, cutters, knurlers and various measuring devices and quickly got to over a grand not including the lathe. Taking that into account and thinking of the things I would want to make, it would cost substantially more than I can spend right now.

I geeked out on yootoob vids and it really makes you think differently about things. I was looking at an output shaft I had kicking around and was thinking of how many different tools it would take, how many different steps and what order to do them, and how many hours it would take to produce that part. You really start to appreciate these things once you realize the amount of work that goes into them
Click to expand...

Yeah the work goes into it once then robots churn them out.
 
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