Mini Lathe and Accessory Advice Please.

[RLWP]

> tooling, measuring and safety kit

Best investments for a beginner are:

vernier or digital callipers (the cheap ones eat batteries but are still accurate enough for most purposes if kept clean)

If you can afford it a micrometer (ditto for digital ones)

set of HSS tools in  a useful set of shapes (these will guide you when making your own, carbide is tricky to get used to and can leave the beginner frustrated)

neat cutting oil

eye protection - googles  and possible barrier cream DO NOT wear gloves near moving machinery

Bit of bent wire for clearing swarf (don't do this by hand)

tailstock drill chuck and a reasonable quality set of drills

Scriber

decent quality rule

A piece of granite worktop or chopping board will serve as a cheap surface plate for aligning things and marking up.

Do not rush out an buy too much stuff - pretty gadgets that look essential may end up living on the top shelf for years. It's best to buy what you need as you go along. Lots of basic gadgets can be made very cheaply. You wiull no doubt end up wanting a vice, various files, taps & dies, a 4-jaw chuck and......

Nice list. My personal slant on it would be:

I never use cutting oil, and I NEVER hook out swarf when the lathe is running. Definitely HSS tools and a bench grinder. I have loads and can probably spare some unground blanks. Otherwise, yes - buy tools as you need them.

When you have a bit of experience, check out car boot sales. It's amazing how many people are selling off Grandad's stuff. They generally have no idea of the value of what they are selling and either drastically overprice or ae grateful to be selling to someone who is going to use the equipment. Naturally, it's up to you to work out if the equipment s worth buying. In my experience it often is (set of slip gauges, anyone?)

I'd still be buying the ML7...

Richard

[Ajohn]

Depends one how accurate you want to work but I would go for mic's above digital callipers.  Boxed sets of mic's usually work out significantly cheaper than buying them one at a time. Decent micrometers will last a lifetime. I prefer no battery, they go flat at the worst possible moment and the digital ones tend to measure to limits that they can't really reliably measure.

You can buy cutting oil in small quantities but I bought 5L from here. Intended to be used on steels but it will also help on other materials if needed.

http://www.morrislubricantsonline.co.uk/marcia-d-neat-cutting-oil.html

As a light smear with brush is sufficient it's likely to last a long time. I use the brushes some £ shops sell that are about 10mm dia. It's best to keep some in a small jar with a lid or a large dropper bottle with cap of ebay. 5 cost a couple of quid.

It's worth buying some slideway oil for the lathe. Ebay is probably the easiest place to get that. It hangs around on surfaces so shouldn't need applying often or in large quantities. I sometimes feel that some with a higher viscosity than usual would be even better so will be starting to use this

http://www.alexoil.co.uk/waylube-100-slideway-oil--5l_p151.aspx

Vactra etc is available with higher viscosity but only in rather large drums. As I sometimes have thing lying around that I should really sell as soon as I can't use them any more I also bought some of their rustfree oil. That plus a plastic bag should prevent problems. It's probably the same type of oil that new tooling comes lightly covered with. On the other hand it might be like bear grease that the Russian seem to coat microscopes with.

Bore measurement is very likely to crop up. The cheap option is hole gauges for small one, not used much and telescopic gauges for the larger ones which tend to be ok for holes up to 2 to 3 inches max. There is a knack to using telescope gauges and when set to the bore they would normally be measured with a micrometer.

My feeling on callipers is that they are fine on a lathe until some reasonably accurate work needs to be made and that it's easier to take reliable measurements with mic's. 

If you are going to work in imperial and want to fully exploit the use of an engineers rule the best source I am aware of is ebay USA. 2 types are ideally needed. A narrow semi flexible one and a wider stiff one. Both should have graduation running along the entire length. Not 1in of one and then a switch to another. Some have graduations on the end which can also be useful.. The graduations on them vary but 1/32, ,1/64, 1/10 and 1/100 are available on some each running along the entire length of the rule. This is what an engineers rule should look like. They often don't. 6in is the usual length. Usually made by Starrett. I looked to see if this supplier does anything and they do

http://www.mscdirect.co.uk/cgi/insrhm

If you want to be sure of good measuring instruments that site might be a good place to go. Personally I wouldn't buy a cheap digital calliper. Their SPI range is probably as good as Mitutoyo and a bit cheaper. It's an odd site to use. Search for what you want and then click on one  and then catalogue page. That way you can browse around the sections more easily.  Dial callipers are pretty popular, might be an option rather than digital ones. Their sets of value micrometers look very well priced to me. I have used 6in 150mm digital callipers from when they 1st started to appear. Long time ago now. They were pretty accurate according to my ancient Kanon vernier. Can't say the same about one cheaper pair I bought. My old one eventually started miss behaving so after some thought I replaced it with a pair of 8in 200mm ones as I feel that size is more useful. Mitutoyo absolutes. They are sold a bit cheaper than usual on ebay now and again.

I have a set of telescopic gauges that I have had for a long time. I bought another larger one as I needed it but have found that it's not as good as my old ones. I suspect it's because the spring out part needs to fit the part it slides in very precisely.

As far a mic's go I find my 0-1 and 1-2in are what is used most. I also have a 2-3in and 3-4in bought used. Also as I went metric on a lathe once also a set covering 0 to 75mm. Mitutoyo's as when I bought them as odd as it might sound they were a cheaper brand. These were bought used as well, Actually I think they were ex display and the tool shop just had them lying around for a long time. M&W rule with some people  which is probably why the Mit didn't sell. My 0-1 and 1-2 are both by Starrett made in the UK, A bit up market and paid for by the company via a tool bonus when I bought them. Used mic's are generally ok providing they show no signs of have being cleaned up. The engravings should be dead clear - as good as new. They will be if well looked after even if many many years old. It's best to look out for ones that come with calibration standards to set them but often when something is being made the relatives size of parts is what counts.

With the Chinese lathes the old rule of add the cost of the lathe again and maybe some more to kit it out as part disappeared because they come with the basic lathe add ons, chucks and steadies etc but measurement isn't cheap. For a surface plate I would suggest a piece of thick float glass on something that is basically flat. Kitchen work surface often is an can make the top for a decent bench too if it's the thicker type.  You might find some 1/2in thick glass locally, often now though it's laminated - no use. 10mm should be ok too.

John

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[Stub Mandrel]

With measuring equipment bear in mind that most of the time you will be making parts to fit each other, so counter-intuitively absolute accuracy is rarely as important as repeatability. An exception is things like making bearing housings to a press fit, for example.

I have 1" and 2" digital micrometers from Chester UK. I've tested the 1" one on my 25mm standard (digitals do both metric and imperial) and its spot on - and it agrees with my 'old school' Starrett.

I have some M&W measuring tools/bore micrometer etc. but don't pay silly money for the name.

Machine-DRO do some good deals on M&W.

[RLWP]

I have just given away my last digital instrument. It isn't that they are no good - clearly they are and have many applications in industry. I just don't like using them.

Mind you, that probably isn't a surprise what with me buying ancient scopes and modifying alarm clocks. I enjoy doing stuff the old-school way

Richard

[Ajohn]

M&W were budget compared with others Stub. It shows when the mic's are handled mainly - against the likes of Starrett. They don't feel so smooth. M&W do make good accurate stuff though.

I have 0-1 and 1-2 in digital. Worst purchase of my life. Used them for a while and found them heavy and cumbersome to use compared with ordinary mic's. That's largely down to trying to get repeatable 1um readings out of them. After a few months I went back to my ordinary mic's.

I have some Ford8 or what ever Rotagrip calls himself on Ebay small hole gauges. Cheap and as stated make that size of hole measurement fairly easy but as they are budget the ends of the cone in them might benefit from running a fine stone over them. Pass on his telescopic gauges.

One thing to check on mic's. There should be a C spanner to rotate the graduated barrel for setting and also to set the tension in the micrometer thread via a taper nut hidden inside. Revealed by simply completely unscrewing the thimble. Best leave that alone on a new mic but at some point it might need adjusting. I recently bought a medium priced micrometer spindle and had checked that it came with a C spanner. When it came I found that the barrel didn't rotate, it was fixed and no nut to adjust the tightness of the thread.  The "feel" when used was set by a grease that had been applied to the thread. Junk really. If some one buys a mic like that the best thing to do is send it back. I'm not sure how many are about that lack the nut. It can be used to calibrate the ratchet but most people who use mic's a lot don't use that as they are not very reliable and use finger grip on the thimble so that they will slip at the correct contact pressure. Nasty as on flat surfaces with every so slightly dirty anvils more pressure is needed so in some ways it's best to clean everything if it matters that much. Not so bad in a lathe as the contact area is a lot less. Easiest way to clean mic anvils is to shut them on some clean paper at the usual tension and just pull the paper out.

John

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[Ajohn]

If any one buys HSS tool bits it's worth buying a higher cobalt type as it will hold it's edge for longer. M42 is the highest cobalt content stuff usually about but can be rather expensive. Harry something or the other on ebay sells M35 at very reasonable prices. Often cheaper grades may be around and it's a some what different animal. M35 is sometimes listed at 5% cobalt.

Harry's real ebay user name is harryuk123. Looks like his stock is running low !

If HSS lathe tools are kept sharp with a slip stone they will last for a very long time. There isn't any need to visit an off hand grinder again if it's done often enough. Just be careful not to round over the cutting edges. Some people use a linisher for sharpening. That will wear them away more quickly. Or of course a light touch up on a fine off hand grinder wheel.

That rustfree oil I mentioned is runny. The slideway oil smells just like vactra so hopefully wont be noticeable in use.

John

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[Chris]

All good info, thanks guys  

I went to order the Warco WM180 last week and they had sold out whist I was procrastanating it seems I might give them a ring and try and get an ETA, if its going to be a long time before they get stock I'll go back to the drawing board, again.

I've continued researching in the meantime and should be recieving this book tomorrow to help me setup any Chinese lathe I buy.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mini-lathe-Workshop-Practice-David-Fenner/dp/1854862545

Out of curiosity I tried to find out a bit more about the Amadeal cj18a 'lathes' on ebay. Can't find a great deal wrong with them so far considering the price, spares are available and there is a full after sales service. I'll keep looking though as somome must have had a bad experience with them considering what you get for the money. The only thing I found was Ketan from Arc posting that maybe a 4" chuck was too much for roller bearings and would be better with taper bearings which seems like a fair point.

If I could find a way of cutting through my 10" concrete and rebar pier at ground level I would fit a WM 240 or 250. My father in law said it wasn't worth even trying it would be too much of a job, and I'm inclined to believe him having thought about it properly.

The Chester have the DB7 which some have said is the same as the 180 but I'm not so sure. No reference to taper bearings in the head stock for example and it doesn't seem as well kitted out with extras as the WM180.

Maybe I'm overthinking this whole thing, I've read one school of thought that says just buy a lathe and use it to learn with and find out what you really need. 

[Ajohn]

There is one thing I didn't mention on lathes of the centre size of the 180 and others. 300mm isn't much when it comes to drilling holes.  The usual way of drilling 1in / 25mm holes is to work up to it in stages using blacksmith drills. The shanks on these are 1/2in so can fit in the usual 2 morse drill chucks. People can reckon on having around 100mm left for the 3 jaw chuck  and the work. The 3 jaw probably uses up most of that.  What it means in practice is a lot more boring to open holes out and also the need for stub drills - once that have been ground so often they are a lot shorter than the were originally or have been ground short purposefully from new. A lot of the space at the drill end is taken up by the drill chuck. Nobody seems to have thought about making very short 2 morse drills to add a few more inches.

People might see comments of 18in min centre distance and this area touches on why. That's around 450mm.

One thing the Chinese or importers have been known to do is to deliberately shorten the tailstock by cutting off the nose, the bit of the casting that sticks out. That was done to one I had for an extra 2in on the latest model, fine for drilling other than it was 18in before the mod. I had a surprise the first time I turned something that needed a centre in the end - I couldn't turn up to that end of the work, more or less a couple of inches short of it. The suppliers sold me a morse taper extension sleeve - nvg, intended for drills, not very accurate or any where near as rigid as a tail stock.

John

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[Chris]

Hi John, no worries I knew 300mm between centres was pushing things, even the Amadeal/C3/Warco Super mini et al have 350mm between centres. The rest of the specs looked good for the price but never mind they are out of stock so what can you do. 

I'll enjoy reading the mini lathe book over the weekend and just keep on looking. I think whatever I get I'm just going to treat it as a learning experience, the most you seem to lose on these mini lathes is a couple of hundred quid by the looks of things, so it's probably worth that for the learning.

The ML7 went for 820 pounds in the end! The seller must be pleased! 

[RLWP]

If I could find a way of cutting through my 10" concrete and rebar pier at ground level

Hire a disk cutter

Richard

[Ajohn]

Best advice really is to wait and choose carefully. One small Myford comes up from time to time that might suit. The ML10 and Speed 10.  There is a catch with those though. This the early ML10

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/myford-ml10-lathe-/121702335020?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item1c5606422c

The thing to note is the bolt heads on the headstock bearing caps and the oilers. The front one is right behind the chuck. You will read on lathes co uk that this steel running on cast iron is wonderful. It isn't as nothing can be done with them once they are worn and they do wear. The later ML10 and Speed 10 use taper roller bearings and there are no bolts just an oiling nipple. The difference can be seen clearly in this photo. The Speed 10, later ML10  and Diamond 10 are exactly the same. The ML10 in this form just has a lower top speed.

http://www.lathes.co.uk/myfordml10/img4.jpg

I don't know of any other half decent recent UK made small screw cutting lathes. I've never seen any steadies for them so if some did come up they would probably fetch high prices. Buying the change wheels for screw cutting individually would work out rather expensive.  They are 13in between centres, have a 3 1/2in centre height and are about 3ft long. They sometimes come with no stand and the motor unit separate. Myford did some castings to mount them on but 1/2 in aluminium plate or a decent thickness of wood could be used or just bolted to decent bench.

The problem with 7's is that they are cheap budget lathes really compared with what might be called real lathes off Colchester and outfits like that. This is why they can turn up rather worn. Personally I feel a used Boxford is a much better bet but most of them come with a stand with the motor built into it. There is a very old model C on ebay, bench mountable but sorting out what would be needed to go with it, things such as change wheels even for just power feed would work out expensive. The power feed on the newer ones is different. A lathe with a gearbox will have what wheels it needs for imperial threads in it otherwise they are best bought with a set.  The feed on these is geared down from a slot in the leadscrew. The very new ones that can still be bought new work out at about 15k. These crop up used at all sorts of prices. They could be taken off the stand and bench mounted but they are pretty heavy.

The warco that would interest me is this one

http://www.warco.co.uk/metal-lathes-metalworking-lathe-machine/303011-warco-gh550-gear-head-metal-lathe.html

but I would want to be sure it sounds like a gear head lathe with hardened and ground gears should. It's  so heavy that I doubt if the kitchen unit my Boxford sits on could take it. It's a lot of lathe for the money - maybe too much. There is also the 240B. Why belt drive? More torque than will be available on the variable speed ones at lower speeds for drilling  but a min speed of 125rpm is a bit fast for some screw cutting. The ML10 is back geared. Boxford too and many rather old lathes = much lower speeds for screw cutting.

The person who bought the ML7 will probably finish of their work with a file and emery cloth. That is another option. The same is likely to be true with many of the old lathes that come up on ebay. Super Adepts and etc. Many are well pre ww II. Hobbymats are ok for what they are but as bits can be a bit hard to find best buy one with them and to make sure everything works. Wabeco is very similar only bigger. Some people like Flexispeeds, old and tiny. There is one on ebay with a broken casting, that's what often  happens to lathes that have steel running in cast iron bearings and a clamp bolt on one side if they are over adjusted due to lots of wear.

I reckon you are correct on losses when something like the 180 is sold but if you go bigger you might want to keep it.  Something on the bigger one might break.

The ebay Harry person that sells the other lathe you mentioned has an excellent reputation. I know zero about those lathes. Excel have started selling Optimum. A German make made in China. They actually state hardened taper roller bearings on some models. They seem to come with less kit. Excel is in Coventry you will find them on the web. Again I don't know anything about the lathes.

The nice thing about lathes with simple taper roller bearing arrangement is that they can be changed and usually use standard bearings. Might need to find some one with a bearing press though. The other aspect is that they are relatively easy to adjust. People like Colchester use several super precision bearings - ouch if they need replacing or can't be adjusted.

Trouble with my posts is that it might put some off. I'd hate to do that. Really it's a bit like buying telescopes for the un initiated. Expecting apo performance out of a star travel along with wonderful focusing and huge visual view of mars etc.  EQ1 mounts and etc. There used to be an old idea if some one buys a bad scope - sell it on ebay. There are similarities but actually apart from eq1 type aspects I feel lathes aren't so bad if a little sense is used. Also lathes can't be upgraded in the same way some scopes can be so it's more a case of sell and buy another if it doesn't suite.  Like an EQ1 they can't really be made significantly better so have to go. Not much chance of changing the focuser on them either.  1/20 wave performance will always cost a lot of money on a lathe unless some one is extremely lucky.

John

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[woodbob123]

This months issue of Model Engineers Workshop has a review of a warco lathe also a write up on a amadeal lathe plus some classified ads on the back page. Worth a look  just for the ads 

   Bob

[Ajohn]

Gumtree and PreLoved are worth a look as well. There are always some on there. Also any for sale newspapers. There are good lathes on Ebay too, that's where my Boxford came from. Sometimes VAT is involved as dealers sell any where they can. Approached directly there is a possibility this might be avoided by smaller ones. Some people have asked around on industrial estates to see if any one has machines they might sell. There are also a number of local model engineer / train clubs around, easy to find with google.

Not sure about reviews in magazines. Like the web sites that specialise in certain models all seems to be wonderful. Searching the web for a few hours on particular models can be more useful.

Preparing a Chinese lathe. This was produced by ArcEuro for one of the lathes that they sell

http://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/projects/prepguides/C3%20Mini-Lathe%20Preparation%20Guide.pdf

It includes changing the bearings which needn't be done but the new ones are likely to be better - hardened taper rollers. It's mostly concerned with minor problems. Some one on another forum bought one of these and noticed that the tailstock and head stock centre height didn't match. Went at it like a bull in a china shop lapping material of the base of the tailstock and later found that there was another problem as well. I did suggest that he did some simple turning tests first but ............ If anyone attempts something like this it really is best to study the machine carefully for all problems before trying to fix the most noticeable one. In this case it looks like the headstock bearings were a little loose. Might influence what he had noticed or might not but best to find out first and also look for all errors in the machine before doing anything at all. Removing paint and cleaning up edges etc is just something that should be looked at and fixed if it needs it. It just pays to be very careful about doing anything else.

John

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[Stub Mandrel]

> The only thing I found was Ketan from Arc posting that maybe a 4" chuck was too much for roller bearings and would be better with taper bearings which seems like a fair point.

Ketan may have meant deep groove? I understand SEIG won't supply these as they worry it will overload the headstock (rather than the bearings). That said I have a 4" chuck on taper rollers and it's excellent.

What I wouldn't do is buy a mini-lathe with the 4" flange - if you have this it is virtually impossible to fit a usable faceplate (other than a t-slotted one) and many affordable small chucks can't be easily used, whilst a 4" chuck is easily fitted to a standard lathe using a backplate.

Alternatively, how about one of these ;-)

[RLWP]

I do wonder about these 'accuracy' comments. In my opinion, just about any lathe will be far more accurate than the capabilities of a beginner in this hobby. We are looking for something that will turn small objects, not a toolroom machine

By the time you learn the limitations of a lathe, you are usually skilled enough to be able to work around them

Richard

[Chris]

Hire a disk cutter

Richard

Hi Richard,

Good idea! I noticed you can buy this kind of thing for not much more money than hiring, so I've just bought a 2000W angle grinder Mwaahahah!

I'll just need a pack of diamond masonary cutters for it and this may well do the trick if I cut around the circumference of the pier then hit the thing with the sledge hammer    

[Chris]

Hi John,

Second hand is a tricky one, apart from my lack of skill in noticing faults, any lathe needs to be local due to family commitments (1 year old twins and a 3 year old). Gumtree is a good idea, I've not checked there, and it would of course be local

Yes I'll take care with Chinese lathes and fully fault find before doing anything. The book I've just bought will hopefully help me hear: Mini Lathe by Paul Fenner. 

p.s Thanks for the Arc Eurotrade link, I have it bookmarked.

[Chris]

> The only thing I found was Ketan from Arc posting that maybe a 4" chuck was too much for roller bearings and would be better with taper bearings which seems like a fair point.

Ketan may have meant deep groove? I understand SEIG won't supply these as they worry it will overload the headstock (rather than the bearings). That said I have a 4" chuck on taper rollers and it's excellent.

What I wouldn't do is buy a mini-lathe with the 4" flange - if you have this it is virtually impossible to fit a usable faceplate (other than a t-slotted one) and many affordable small chucks can't be easily used, whilst a 4" chuck is easily fitted to a standard lathe using a backplate.

Alternatively, how about one of these ;-)

lol looks like someones stuck a chuck and cross slide on a G-clamp   

[Chris]

I do wonder about these 'accuracy' comments. In my opinion, just about any lathe will be far more accurate than the capabilities of a beginner in this hobby. We are looking for something that will turn small objects, not a toolroom machine

By the time you learn the limitations of a lathe, you are usually skilled enough to be able to work around them

Richard

This is a good point I feel, the bits I personally wan't to make don't need to be high tollerance either, +/- .2mm would be plenty for most stuff I do at a guess.

I would like a reasonable finish but plan on buying a buffing wheel and ali polish for the components I make.

For small components I can probably use a Dremmel to polish them perhaps?

[Stub Mandrel]

You should be able to get a finish good enough to anodise off of a mini lathe

All but the bottom section of that is straight off the mini-lathe, I used a CCGT carbide tip, meant for aluminium alloys.

[RLWP]

Time to confess. After using a tipped parting off tool for around a year, I too have joined the dark side with indexable tooling for turning and facing

Oh, the shame of it

Richard

[Ajohn]

Accuracy in my terms comes down to taper and out of roundness not what people can machine to and measure correctly. Taper and out of roundness go  together when machines wear and also if the lathe comes with it spindle poorly aligned to the bed. I have a more or less given me lathe similar to the one stub posted except it will also screw cut. There is wear in the bearings. Take light cuts say 1/2mm and the finish is very poor. Worse still if thinner. If I used carbide on the tips would probably break regularly. Up the cut to 1 1/2 to 2 mms and the finish is excellent providing the feed is dead even. The reason is simple that size of cut exerts sufficient pressure on the spindle to lift it along with the chuck and work and push it firmly into the worn part of the bearings. The even feed keeps it there so the finish is fine. The wear is generally upwards and to the rear which is why things don't turn out round as well as having a taper. If I tightened up the single pinch bolt on the bearing caps the casting would probably break. It's not that unusual for lathes to give worse finishes as the feed rate and or cut size is reduced even in mildly worn situations. Lathes with say 12in chucks, huge things might take half decent rather fine cuts due to the weight of the chuck and parts. The toolroom answer to this when accurate high finish work is required from a lathe is to have sufficient stock to start off with to be able to take 3 cuts of the order of 0.050 or so either way. Ideally all of the same size so that the actual cut taken can be measured and corrected - accurate lathe work in a toolroom though is seldom if ever needed. They have grinders. That's where accurate work is done.

I'd guess Seig's worry about taper rollers is down to the fact that they have to be preloaded to work effectively. This mean the head stock has to be able to take the force from that as well as cutting forces. As the Chinese often cut bits of bed away etc where it can't be seen this could cause problems especially if some one over tightened them. Actually there is nothing at all wrong with using roller bearings at the front, they are ideal for taking radial loads and rather poor at taking axial ones so another bearing would be needed to take that. Even a deep groove ball race at the other end of the spindle would be ok for that after a fashion. As it would wear loose an adjustment would be needed to move the outer race  and close the bearing up if needed, bit difficult with just one bearing as the front bearing wont locate the spindle axially. Plain roller bearings would have to be replaced when worn.  Tapers can be adjusted. Lathes like the unimat use 2 deep groove ball races and use disc springs to take out wear for some time. Not sure what Wabeco and Hobbymat do. I suspect some cars now use a single plain roller bearing in the wheels. Not sure, just something I think I read some where. This suggests that they can take all sorts of loads in practice. Pass really I'm not sure and it would be something I read a long time ago and of little interest.

Backplates and face plates can be made on the lathes that use studs to hold the chucks etc to the spindle but locating the stud holes accurately in the new part isn't easy. If a small face plate is available fit it. Then get a slice of what ever material the new part is going to be made of. Drill and tap a 1/4 bsw or say M8 thread in the centre of it. Then use a draw bar (all thread) to pull it back on either the spindle face or the face plate. It would be best for people not used to doing this sort of thing to turn up 2 bushes for either end of the spindle that are a close fit in that and the draw bar to make sure that it's pulling on the work axially in line with the spindle, or one long one at the back - if it's at and angle it may appear to be tight  but is likely to work loose while turning. Just do it up firmly, not so tight that the threads start stripping. Slowly face the side that's out, reverse and face that and then what ever. Stub would probably eventually mount it on his Peatol vertical slide and either drill it for tapped holes or figure out some way of cutting T slots in it etc. Morse taper blanks end arbours in the head stock can also be turned down to have threaded spigots on them to take face plates of another lathe. To make things secure pull the mores taper in with a draw bar. Chucks too for rather light work. A big morse drill chuck will usually grip a wide range of sizes fairly accurately for light work. Adding  draw bar may be taxing or it might already have a hole for one.

I'm not going to get drawn on eventually learning the skills to get round problems. It's a mine field  and really depends on what is being made and what the problem is.

John

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[RLWP]

The trouble is, John, following your posts no one should ever buy any lathe ever - unless they are highly skilled in evaluating lathes. My guess is most of what you are saying sails straight over the heads of potential lathe owners

Take the taper turning test. Yes, it's a good one. And firstly, no one would now buy a lathe that the seller won't do the test on. That's a lot of good lathes eliminated. Next, can the seller measure and report the taper truthfully/accurately/at all? To what tolerance or finish, to what depth of cut on what material? I'd say that stipulating the conditions of such a test would eliminate most of the remaining sellers.

What does that leave? Damn all, I would suggest

By all means do these tests on a lathe you bought (I never have) to understand what you've got. Otherwise I suggest buying on make and price is all most folk can realistically do

Richard

[Chris]

You should be able to get a finish good enough to anodise off of a mini lathe

All but the bottom section of that is straight off the mini-lathe, I used a CCGT carbide tip, meant for aluminium alloys.

That's a better finish than I imagined, thanks for sharing the pic, is it a solar blocking filter? 

[Ajohn]

Shame here too but on larger lathes a 1in deep exchangeable tip parting off blade makes good sense. I bought one with holder from RDG. It wouldn't surprise me if I later bought a 1in blade of APT given the source but the holder is ok.

Might have posted this before but these style of tips are pretty good and can be fitted in small holders. They are intended mostly for finishing on big machining centres.

They are 11mm a side and will fit the cheap sets sold on ebay but best get the ones that come with a set of torx screws as the socket screw soon wear out a hex key. They are raked tips which helps and also have small nose rads which is a better option really than broad ones for several reasons. The ones for stainless work well on all materials but the dedicated aluminium ones are better on that. I buy my tips from APT Carbide, google will bring them up from that. I've bought ebay bargains in the past but from the time they last I'm sure that some have been used. The tips that come on the holders are so so but ok so wont be waisted. These are better though. The holders I use are the 10mm really 3/8in ones but I think others are available for the same style of tip.

Some use square tips for the extra point but these will work cleanly into shoulders allowing them to be faced and even recessed to get rid of the rad they leave in corners. I use the V pointed holder most as it will turn both ways and face - actually that's what I usually grind on HSS. I have some stellite to play with now.  The rake goes the wrong way cutting to the left with them so the capability is limited but ....... I do at times, The tips will cut both ways.

APT also sell their own brand of holders. They are excellent value but as far as these tips go the smallest they do is 1/2in shank and they usually sell out quickly.

John

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