Hi all,

Here are some small lathes I built over the past couple months, I've had a lot of ppl ask me why not just go buy one...... I thought to my self I could go buy one... But had some spear parts laying around the shop.... Chuck/ tail stock/ y table so I figured I'd try and build one or three....Had never attempted to build a lathe, but I was pleased with the end results... Now I've got something to play around with in the garage at home! The black one is a metal lathe with a power feed and speed control with forward and reverse for drilling and tape in....believe it or not on a 6 inch long cut of 1 inch round stock I was Abel to make it all concentric within one thousands....

Here is the link for the metal latheyoutube

The green is a wood lathe which you can use different cutting tools on the cross slide or there is a bar you can insert to use wood chisels. By no means can you make full size table legs but you can do some small stuff.. I plan to use the wood and metal lathes for making parts for airguns and small projects.........

Here is a link for the wood lathe along with some of the other builds...youtube


The welding lathe is used for a job we do, welding satellite on punches and then turning them down size...makes the job much easier, before I would have to stop and rotate stop and rotate drove me crazy! The lathes are by no means pretty machines they just do a simple task.... I do plan on makeing belt guards for them.

Seeing all the crafty things on this forum,wether it's air guns,knives, jewelry, kayaks, giant steel structures...thought you guys might enjoy. The lathe is a great tool For makeing precision parts.... I kno a lot of you guys were using power tools before I was born.... just want to note to be safe when working with power tools were safty glasses...thank you for reading.

Matt

Very nice Matt!

I'll be back to the thread. Whooped right now. Nice work!

Gary

Matt
Those look great and fun to build . I love finding parts and re~ purpose them . The punch welding lathe is pretty helpful in increasing quality and speed . Did you have any grounding issues with the TIG ? We actually had to attach our ground directly to work piece on a manual set of rolls we use for pipe welding caps on bump posts . If your in the market for any lathe chucks I have 4-6 that came with a lot I purchased awhile ago . Just shoot me ( pun intended ) a pm . They are probably 8" and smaller . Some 3jaw & some 4 jaw .
Thanks

Thanks
Kurt

Hey Kurt,

Thanks, yeah I did not have any grounding issues yet the table is grounded...I did not paint the bottom so the current travels well....the center I made that turns the back of the punch has a tapered bore on the back side, I installed a thrust bearing that lets the head turn nice under the presser of the pneumatic cylinder, however the current is traveling thru that center so I had some concerns with the bearing getting worn down from the constant current. I greased it up real good and ran it for a couple hours welding, did not notice any wear and tear.... It's been working great, your right makes it so much more productive... Game changer haha... I can assure you some time in the future I will need another chuck head I'll let u know, when I'm looking for one! Thank you I appreciate that.

Thanks matt

Matt
If the grease isn't dripping outta the bearing it should be golden on the ground . Those punches MUSTA been pretty bad for that many passes too . We're they a shear type with the point on them ? I used to sharpen a lot of the strippit turret machine tooling for sheet metal machines and we always had to shim the back side to maintain lengths . A lot of math and color coded shims !

Great work AND they look nice and safe .

Thanks
Kurt

Kurt,
Yeah the punches have a flat head face, pierce punches is what they call em, and the O.D were the welds are its on a taper that gets larger towards the top that's why so many passes are required so when it gets turned to size the taper is still possible.... When we get em in we turn off the old stellite weld...so a decent amount of material gets put back on... They actually punch out parts for automotive transmissions during the punching process they get red hot and worn out fast! Shimming can work well...n no kidding on the math lol..Glad you like em!

Thanks, matt

Matt,

Very impressive! You definitely have a good set of skills and creativity!

If you can build it, why buy it if it's going to save you capital! Good to see you building practical machines that assist with the products being processed!

Looking forward to how you will use these lathes for Airgun projects!

Pedro

Hi Matt,

It's always well worth the time to make tooling, jigs, or even machines. The quality of the product goes up. The repeatability factor improves. The pay off comes in using them enough afterwards.

Thanks for posting these. Nice work.

Gary

Gary,
Your right about the custom jigs/fixtures/machines they can be handy when doing specific jobs.. It's funny after a build sometimes I look back on it, and say I would have made it differently if I could do it all again, I'm sure engineers sometimes have the same thought.... I'm sure you've made countless fixtures/jigs/ machines.. It's fun to see them preform and do a task when finished.. Glad you like them.

Thanks, Matt

Hey Pedro,

Thank you! They were fun to build...I'm satisfied with the performance....the metal lathe does not have threading capabilities unless your using threading dies, but it turns parts out well, it will take a pretty decent cut also...was looking Back in the forum saw some of those dies you made.... Turned out vary nice! Thank you for the comments.

Matt

So Matt
I don't see any name tags on there. Did you stamp a born on day ? In the heart of Michigan ??? By Matt B???
You know people who USE equiptment can usually build then better than they are made but hind sight is 20/20 .

Thanks
Kurt

Kurt,
I usually put my initials on most my tools..... As a precaution... Sometimes they end up in other peoples tool boxes lol, I'm sure most can relate..I've ended up with other people's tool too tho ha... Used to be really bad about puting Allen renches back.

Matt

Hey guys. I'm still here. Gonna insert this here. Maybe remove it later. The week has been dragged down by one of those family things that come up. Ruins days and nights. It will move along. Felt my absence needed a note. I didn't join the Foreign Legion -yet.

Gary

Thanks for your post Matt. User made tools ROCK. My forty year old ones are still going strong. GO TOOLS!!!!

Stellite is pretty hard stuff, how difficult is it to machine off? Do you have to use diamond tools?

I'll be curious to hear, but to my knowledge, you can "grind" with diamond, but I'm not aware you can "machine" with it. It's too brittle. Let's see.

I've seen polycrystaline diamond lathe tooling for sale, but I've never seen a single crystal cutter "in the flesh". I did a quick search for "single crystal diamond turning" and found some interesting youtube videos, the surface finish they leave is literally mirror smooth. Seems that single crystal diamond tools are mostly used for making optically precise molds and custom mirrors and such, where the finish is just as important as the dimensions. I suspect the tools themselves are more than a bit pricey, I didn't seem to find any footage of them working on an old Southbend or Bridgeport hand-me-down from WWII.

Likely you've got one of the benefits in your pocket or lying on the bench, as cell phone camera lenses come out of molds made with diamond tooling. Makes sense I guess, if they had to optically grind every tiny little lens in a cell phone I doubt they'd all have great cameras like they do.

Hey guys,

We use carbide inserts when turning stellite, you can machine it but it has to be done vary carefully, feeds and speeds are critical.... Go to fast and you will burn up inserts vary quick... Go to slow and you risk completely breaking the insert so it can be tricky. We use a couple different grades of stellite number 6 and 21, the number 6 grade is more gummy when turning and can clog up the cutting tool, and number 21 is more brittle and work hardens under heat it actual cuts much nicer with carbide tho. We also use carbide end mills when milling is needed, you can grind it also with standard grinding wheels. The stuff has some vary unique qualities, it's used in engine poppet valves, punches, dies, cutting tools, hip joints, a guy I work with actually has a stellite stent in his heart, it's also been used to line machine gun barrels.... It performs well with heat and is vary abrasion/corrosion resistant! Bunch of different grades of the stuff with different qualities, but yeah it can be difficult to machine....lets just say it's fun to work with haha. Thanks for asking

Matt