/diy/ - Do It Yourself

>>1274733
I bought a lathe.

>>1274735
Quick fix

>>1274733
I bought a lathe

>>1274733
>How did you deal with your increasing urge to buy a lathe?
http://i.4cdn.org/gif/1510079794212.webm

>>1274733
I don't have any money, plus I'd rather have a mill.

>>1274754

>>1274754
I want a lathe not a boner

>>1274754
this to be honest

>>1274733
>How did you deal with your increasing urge to buy a lathe?

If you are putting it off because you think it would be an unwise purchase buy the small 7x10 mini lathe for a few hundred dollars and some aluminum stock. Get an ordinary grinder with a fine wheel and learn to grind tips. It's small enough to use on a workbench.

Then play with it. If you make things or work on older cars and things you will occasionally find that the lathe is a great thing to have.

And if you really love it then buy a "real" lathe if you have space and money.

>>1274733
Fucking right, I want a .30 cal barrel for the air pistol I'm building and this guy wants $215 plus shipping for a pre-cut one. If I had a lathe I'd buy a blank .30 cal airgun barrel so I can get a full length blank for $80 and cut several barrels from it.

>>1274733
Distract myself with other projects that i can do with my current tools that do not require a lathe

>>1274848
>Distract myself with other projects that i can do with my current tools that do not require a lathe

Two tools that I thought I did not need, so I delayed buying them for literally decades were an impact wrench (and air compressor) and a lathe.

I now wish I had skipped one of those car stereo deals and bought the tools as soon as I could afford it.

>>1274809
>Few hunderd
More like 500 dollars minimum

>>1274735
>>1274751
This. Found a Jet 9x20 that some mom was dumping at a yard sale for $600.

I've used it like 4 times in the past 3 years.

>>1274733
>How did you deal with your increasing urge to buy a lathe?

Look at my bank balance.

>>1274883
Im afraid this will happen if i buy a lathe

>>1274762
>>1274809
>>1274832
>>1274848
>>1274863
>>1274881
>>1274916
stop being poor

>>1274883

Why don't you use it to make random fittings for other people? Where I live there were a bunch of auto parts manufacturers, and as they went bankrupt they paid some of their debts to the employees by handing out old machines and this is what the ex-employees did ever after.

>>1274832
just buy a blank and have a gunsmith cut it for you locally

>>1274733
Make it worse by watching Machining videos on YouTube.
Made even worse by considering building one myself using this 3 horsepower router in junction with a gearbox as a motor.
Found these things called “Gingery Machines”, now considering building gingery lathe and small tabletop-ish mill using gingery mill as a base then modifying designs with my own ideas.
My only problem I’m having is trying to find something that’s not the 2020extruded crap that I can use for the bed.

>>1274919
>stop being poor
Went to trade college for this purpose, so far can’t help being broke bitch

>>1274754
I gotta keep in mind this board is still 4chan.

>>1274733
Watching lathe accident videos?

>>1274883
What kind of moms keep lathes

>>1274969
The kind with dead sons or dead husbands.

>>1274735
KEK.


I understand that a fucking monkey tree murdered my garage. Lathe will be cold and lonely outside

>>1274961
Sadly we all live right at the end of our means.

Study personal finance bro. Escape wage slavery.

>>1274965
It's the least 4chan board, I'd say. Along with /out/.

>>1274958
Man, not even going to check up what a gingery machine is

>>1274919
Oh, OK. I will. Thanks!

>>1274958
I feel you bro, i did even do some castings on aluminum. Finally i could get a good deal on a 7x10 mini lathe and bought that. I really don't use it that much, but i do some cool little gifts for my friends and familiy. It's a pretty cool thing to have, really.

I'm mostly using my 3d printer a lot lately, so the lathe is a little bit unloved. You only have a certain free time after work.

>>1274733
I bought one.

what's a lathe

>>1274754
... I was supposed to buy something but I forgot what it was

>>1274733
I've spent many long latheless nights thinking about the lathe in local hackerspace.
I'm ashamed to admit that sometimes I've even been reading for-sale ads online.

>>1274969
She wasn't keeping it obviously

>>1274969

the kinds who divorce men and take half their shit.

Half their shit generally means tools too anon. and if there is one you love above others you bet your ass they will get that one to spite you.

I should have bought machine tools earlier. Their value is in your ability to easily do things you couldn't do, at all, before.

I have about ten grand into my lathe, mill and the shop they live in (two 40 ft High Cube containers welded side-by-side). I have a few grand more in welding equipment which lives in one of them. All worth it.

Get a mill first unless a lathe turns up that's a deal. You want both but mill is more versatile. Study how to buy (and move without paying a rigger) machine tools and know what you want that machine and tooling to do for you.

They are lifetime purchases so the sooner you have them the more you'll enjoy them. They are remarkably portable. (Put removable casters on machinery and it's all portable.)

>>1274883
What the. Are you me? (except mine was ENCO branded. Same shit though. Even same price). Mainly, the stuff I've made on it are just things for the lathe.

>>1274958
This is what i will do. But i'm makin up my own design kind of the modern gingery lathe. The stuff available changed a lot since the 80s.

>>1274733
this,

mine is cnc, cost 50k after shipping, wiring, tooling, and makes 4x that amount for me each year. damn fine investment and I'm planning on buying a 5 axis mill to go along with the other one

>>1275140
Get help. Or a lathe

>>1275252
What kind of work you do with it?

>2017
>not building the concrete lathe or the MultiMachine for around $150

Come on.

>>1274969

Cool moms

>>1274733

I'm kinda dealing wih a slight urge myself, been thinking about mini lathes. They seem like an obvious choice - small enough to hide away under a bed or whatever, yet big enough for making random fittings and precision parts.

>>1275445
>>not building the concrete lathe or the MultiMachine for around $150

I'll do something like this. The problem is how to make a spindle for cheap without a lathe (maybe like the gingery style). My idea till now is use precision drawn steel with collars in tapered roller bearings and just epoxy the bearings in a steel plate housing while on the spindle. Maybe a fixed collar with grub screws pressing on a loose collar which sits on the bearing to set the preload. All just as a temporary spindle of course. The other idea is simple grinding or turning between centers, which would be very easy to set up. Kind of like Stefan Gotteswinters grinding jig. Wouldn't work for the housing though.

I wanted to use scraped steel as linear ways since i have a surface plate and a scraper but damn i startet testing it yesterday and mild steel scapes like the worst shit on earth. Sadly cast iron bar is hard to get and very exprensive where i live.

Maybe i just get a mini lathe for start. If i think about how much material and work goes into a homemade lathe for a probably very shitty result, i start to appreciate how much lathe you can get for around 500 bucks.

>>1274733
>How did you deal with your increasing urge to buy a lathe?
by wanting a mill more?

>>1275454
>They seem like an obvious choice - small enough to hide away under a bed or whatever,

the one in your pic is small but too heavy to be carrying around very much.

>>1275454
Leave out the 3 jaw, following rest, shitty toolpost and a few turning tools and add a few drills and a dial test indicator with base instead and that would be the perfect starter kit.

>>1275463
>If i think about how much material and work goes into a homemade lathe for a probably very shitty result,

I gave up on the homemade lathe after seeing a few websites where they were really gung ho until they realized how ridiculously hard it is to make the bed and the ways. And all the "I'll make a crummy lathe and use it to make a better one" stories never seem to address the fact that no lathe helps you make a bed or ways.

The ones where they talk about scraping a few hours each night for weeks are just plain depressing, especially when you see that they eventually gave up.

>>1275465
>too heavy to be carrying around very much.

I think i could put that thing under my bed with just one arm. Mini lathes are super lightweight but can do a lot of work for their weight.

>>1275467
>The ones where they talk about scraping a few hours each night for weeks are just plain depressing

I guess that's mostly because the "your chasing your own tail" problems. Luckily there are a lot of youtube videos about that around now how to check for various states which would lead you to endless scraping without progress. I have a milling machine so i would just lightly mill the steel pieces from all sides till they show to be out below a few hundreds on the surface plate. Now that i'll think about it maybe i just fine mill the pieces and just scrape the shorter pieces for oil pockets. It's not like you need all the precision you can get by scraping for a homeshop.

Of course it would be way nicer to have done that "build a lathe with just hand tools" thing but as you said most people seem to give up on that sooner or later. I guess if you go that route you should also build your own surface plate with the 3 plate method just to be "true".

>>1275468
>I think i could put that thing under my bed with just one arm. Mini lathes are super lightweight

And another example of internet authorities being full of shit. Pic related is for the harbor freight 7x10 which is virtually identical to OP's pic.

Come over to my place and let me watch you toss that 90 pound weight around with one arm.

>>1275474
>. I have a milling machine so i wou

and that's where I stopped reading your "it's easy to make a lathe" comment.

Just got a free face plate for my homemade lathe. My mom wants to get rid of one pottery turntable (they put allthread in a skateboard bearing which is wobbly af). Looking at it i realised for whatever reason it is actually made from cast iron.

>>1275476
> doesn't know the difference between shipping weight and weight. That thing is about 30kg. Maybe up to 35kg depending on the maker. Still 90 pounds is no problem (though with both arms). I can do that with my bandsaw which has a shipping weight of 130 pounds.
So: And another example of internet authorities being full of shit (you).

>>1275478
Even with a milling machine it's still not easy (unless it's a super modern VMC with micron accuracy. Even then the steel will probably warp enough so it's still a PITA)

>>1275476
>Come over to my place and let me watch you toss that 90 pound weight around with one arm.
90 pounds isn't all that much to pick up, let alone push under a bed. Can you do a pull-up? Divide your weight by two. A man who is not elderly or in poor physical health should be able to handle a mini lathe. A man in good physical health might use dumbbells that weigh as much.

>>1274969
It was her dad's. She was dumping it for college money.

>>1274938
I just haven't come across any need for a customer part. I got a welder and love that - I've realized I'm just the type that likes making big 'art' things and don't have the autism for precise .00001" measurements. Prolly why my reloading equipment sits unused too.

>>1274832
do airgun barrels have chambers?

like do you need to buy a special chamber ream for pellets? If it's a straight walled chamber you could use a regular old reamer, maybe.

>>1274733
>How did you deal with your increasing urge to buy a lathe?

I made one of course.

>>1275530
More pics.

>>1275530
>Pringles can
Anon you're doing god's work

>>1275533
I had some trash I didn't know what to do with.

>>1275454
>I'm kinda dealing wih a slight urge myself, been thinking about mini lathes. They seem like an obvious choice - small enough to hide away under a bed or whatever, yet big enough for making random fittings and precision parts.

problem is if you do want to start a large project the small lathe will sort of be a waste of money, for instance a lathe that small could not spin something heavy and off-center, if you have a lot of material to remove you will be looking for some other way because the rigidity isn't enough to take large cuts too.

the toolpost probably bends down under normal cuts and breaks carbide inserts too, threading on a small lathe is a gamble because everything flexes.

a heavier lathe is a better lathe, imo

>>1275536
I think there's also material type restrictions on mini lathes to prevent exactly what you are talking about.

>>1275527
*Custom part.

Plus the spindle diameter is only 3/4" and I have a shit time getting things true.

Maybe if I were more educated. I've pretty much only turned nylon for geocache containers.

>>1275444
shafts for helicopter rotors and other smaller parts like threaded rods and such that they could buy for 10x less, but milspec is a bitch.
I can also underbid the bigger guys because my grandpa used to own a carpentry company and left the warehouse to me when he retired. so I only have to pay for electricity and material and machine costs.
kinda hard to explain, but my company has a few contracts with DOD, major companies, and foreign companies so unless we fuck up on quality and send out shit we're set for quite a while.

I can't deal with it.

There's only one way out.

>>1274733
i look at pictures of them all day

>>1274832
>tooling costs

thots?
https://lasvegas.craigslist.org/tls/d/leblond-lathe/6367292609.html

>>1275983
>https://lasvegas.craigslist.org/tls/d/leblond-lathe/6367292609.html
Leblonds are nice machines, looks like it's in good shape, no dings in the ways, but I can't tell if there is saddle/way wear. Looking at the power box I think it's a 3-phase machine, which means you either need: a rotary converter, a vfd, or 3-phase hookup at your house. A VFD is the recommended route to go, as it allows you to vary the speed of the motor which is nice, but a rotary converter is easy enough to make if you have the parts lying around. The price is nice, although that weighs in around 2k+lbs(going from 14x40 common weights), and can be a hassle to move(they are top heavy and you don't really want to put it on a pickup)

>>1275530
All I need to do is scale this up so it can spin a 1 inch thick steel rod. How big of a pringles can do i need?

>>1275709
Nice anon. Youve done good

>>1276091
>How big of a pringles can do i need?

bout tree fiddy

>>1276091
>steel rod stock

A normal sized one will work, just fill it with old HDD magnets.

>>1276092
Absolutely, set to be a millionaire in about 2.5 years, but I'm no where close to bunkeranon or some other guys in the industry

https://gingerybookstore.com/charcoalfoundry.html

https://gingerybookstore.com/MetalLathe.html

>>1276135

how'd you get started in machining if grandpa just had a shed?

>>1275140
You need to get lathed

>>1274883
Dang... and now I'm looking at this for my first lathe. If my hobbies don't kill me, my wife probably will.

I've got a mini lathe, but really I would prefer a mill, especially one I can retrofit CNC too.

>>1275530
I love you, Anon
That's exactly what this board is supposed to be about

>>1274733
Not applicable. I've always thought lathes were relatively useless because I don't like the aesthetic of round table legs, round spindles in chair backs, or pretty much anything with infinitely many lines of symmetry.

>>1276397
If you're around Just, hit me up.

>>1275530
>tfw always have the trash but never motors or sensors
feels bad

>>1274733
My ask wifes me about where several 1000 bucks just disappeared to, the excuse about russian hackers won't work and after that I better like the lathe a lot because she'll expect it to spontaneously shit out bars of gold.

When I can't make it shit out bars of gold, I'm gunna get it.

>>1276187
went to school to become a mechanical engineer. knew a guy who went to become a procurement guy in .mil and then went to corporate procurement contracts. talked with him ALOT realized most .mil manufacturers get tons of money on small things that are easy to make.

started out small with a manual mill and contracting out the lathe work to a local shop whose drafter I know from HS and my buddy helped walk me through the .mil process and got me get a super small contract for some weirdly sized brackets.

after that it just grew until I had to buy cnc mills, cnc laser cutter, and finally a cnc lathe.

now i'm thinking of hiring a product designer so they can explore markets that we can get into like medical devices, mining, etc.

>>1276184
Why does gingery go melting aluminum when he can fabricate everything from steel and pillow blocks and weld it together or bolt it if he wants to avoid distortion?

>>1277493
I have a laser cutter. Any .mil applications for that?

>>1277772
lots, start finding out what people need and bid on them.

>>1277498

Refractory materials suitable for melting iron/steel is much more difficult than those for temperatures used in casting aluminum.

That being said, ACTUALLY going through the processes outlined in the Gingery books takes so much fucking time that you really probably should just hassle the iron. Seems a shame to put in all that work on a machine that's going to be sub-par by design.

>>1277493
If you are looking to fill machine time try looking at the gunsmithing/accessory market. There are a lot of things that people want that don't need any kind of license, and licensing isn't usually insane if you want to produce a few custom firearms to sell.

started building one

>>1276556
If you don't like turned furniture then wood lathes are still useful for treen (look it up), tool handles, jewelry, mechanical parts, and so on.

>>1274763
god damn you.
i jerked off to this and i even hate niggers