lathe projects.

[Gareth JohnstonParticipant @garethjohnston62587]

Been practicing alot on my lathe, but want to increase the practice by perhaps trying to actually make something , what was everyone's first item / project they made or what do you recommend to the beginner to increase experience. Thanks Gareth.

[Gareth JohnstonParticipant @garethjohnston62587]

what to make!.

[GarryCParticipant @garryc]

Hi Gareth

This was my first project **LINK**

I enjoyed doing it and it found it was a good starting place..

Regards

Garry

[Gareth JohnstonParticipant @garethjohnston62587]

Thanks Gary that looks great. Cheers Gareth

[Ed DuffnerParticipant @edduffner79357]

When I got my lathe (Warco WM-180) I found I wanted a carriage lock instead of fiddling with an Allen key to tighten an M8 bolt. It only needs a new kind of bolt with a lever handle added to it at right angles. Simple to make but haven't got round to it yet. Might be something for you to make if you don't already have one.

A carriage stop is also handy if you have some kind of mill or milling attachment to machine it.

Ed.

[steve de24Participant @stevede2433577]

A good source of simpler engine designs is at

**LINK**

Steve

[steve de24Participant @stevede2433577]

I should have added that engine number 25 is probably the simplest of Elmer's engine designs.

Steve

[Gareth JohnstonParticipant @garethjohnston62587]

Thanks also steve will get a look at that too.

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

When I got my engineering lathe I started making things. Having been a wood turner, I started by making some wood lathe driver centres, 6 no 1 MT, and 6 no 2 MT, and the same number of live centres, sold them at $NZ 10 and $NZ15 a piece. Then I made some tap wrenches, and die holders, sold most of those, and still use the remaining ones. So while I learned how to use the lathe, I covered the cost of tooling up.

Ian S C

[Gareth JohnstonParticipant @garethjohnston62587]

Yes ian I've also thought about trying to make some tooling . All great suggestions cheers everyone.

[Paul LousickParticipant @paullousick59116]

Hi Gareth,

Have a look at Harold Halls web site http://www.homews.co.uk/page3.html

He has lots of projects and tools which you can make. His books are good and clearly describes how to create the parts. Also see machining videos by Tubal Cain on Youtube for ideas.

Regards, Paul.

Edited By Paul Lousick on 25/05/2015 00:09:32

[norman valentineParticipant @normanvalentine78682]

This is a bit of a horses and carts problem. Surely you bought a lathe because you had something you wanted to make? Rather than buying a lathe in order to find something to make?

[Gareth JohnstonParticipant @garethjohnston62587]

Thanks paul that is all very helpful , norman I bought a lathe with something in mind yes that I want to make but firstly I want to gain experience on making many other things. Cheers Gareth

[Steven GreenhoughParticipant @stevengreenhough56335]

I’m making a little, basic O gauge steam loco. It’s a simple (ha!) first project that I’m hoping will serve as good practice AND lies within my area of interest. I am only just starting to post some of my progress but I have been practising (making several bodged attempts) for a while now. I reckon whatever you do should maybe be in some way related to what you your goals are.

[Gareth JohnstonParticipant @garethjohnston62587]

Posted by Bogstandard2 on 25/05/2015 09:04:19:

Gareth,

It might help a little if you told us which lathe you have purchased.

There is a reason for that.

I used to have a lot of people coming around to my shop wanting to know what to make first, and I always told them to see what was missing on the lathe that you would like on it, not big projects, but small things that get you niggled sometimes because it doesn't have one.

Say you have a mini lathe, then looking at Steve Bedair's site (sadly Steve passed away very recently after a bad bout of the big C),

**LINK**

look what you can easily make for it. There are lots of sites out there for all types of lathes, and most will show little mods that can be done to make them just a little better or easier to use.

This will go on throughout the lathes' life (I am still modding mine after many years), but it will teach you more about your lathe than making a small steam engine ever will.

Don't get me wrong, eventually you will make your little project, but get the lathe to how you want it first, it WILL make your machining a lot easier.

 

John

Hi John , sorry to hear about your friend , ill look at some of the things you've told me , but my lathe is a Denford Viceroy 280vs (metric). Forgot to mention size 5.5" x 24" , currently using 3jaw chuck also have 4jaw to use.

Edited By Gareth Johnston on 25/05/2015 12:09:24

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

After making tools, my next jobs were making replacement parts for a Lanz Bulldog tractor, and parts for Willys Jeeps, and other military vehicles in the "Military Vehicle Club". Many parts for vintage cars and machines. Then I started making Stirling Engines.

Ian S C

[AjohnwParticipant @ajohnw51620]

There are some simple things that are better made than bought such as centre punches and drifts for knocking dowels out of things. Many items like that are made of air hardening steels these days and don't really measure up to the old way – hardened and tempered steels. Silver steel is suitable and easy to get. For slotted screws a hollow ground blade increases the grip by an extra ordinary amount. The rad of a 6in or 8in grinding wheel is about right for the hollow grinding.

A lathe type centre finder is can be useful for face plate work also 4 jaw at times. Pictures can be found on the web but they benefit from having stiff spring loading built in as well. Around 12in long over all is a decent length for one with say a 4in section with the female centre hole to hold the spring.

If you envisage fitting your own chucks a very precise dummy spindle nose is very useful. If the Viceroy is the same as the Boxford you need to cut the flanks of the thread correctly to size but omit the rounded end – normal way of screw cutting on a lathe. This means that the OD is undersized which help get the register correct in cases where the lathe doesn't have a different diameter register. A very short section of the register can be turned under size – say by 0.010in to help use it as a plug gauge when making back plates. The threads in the back plate are best cut entirely with a chaser. They crop up on Ebay regularly. Not sure how you will get on doing this on a metric lathe as the spindle might still be imperial. In that case you will probably have to reverse the lathe at the end of each cut. Best way to do that is often described on the web when metric threads are cut on an imperial lathe. It uses a screw cutting indicator in a particular way. Disengage, turn off, reverse and re engage when the indicator is where it was when disengaged.

You might find that College engineering produce a casting suitable for a Boxford/Viceroy face plate. They did do an excellent rotary table kit but unfortunately it was slimmed down to suit the gap in a Myford bed. Still better than most but not sure if they do it any more.

If I want a keyway in a bore I use a slotting attachment. They do the casting for these as well but as it's for a Myford tt needs packing up to the centre height.

Lots an lots of things can be made but some of the more ambitious ones such as a dividing head do need a T slotted cross slide. This chap can help with that if the machine lacks one

http://www.latheparts.co.uk/

He's always busy and can be hard to get hold of.

John

–

[Gareth JohnstonParticipant @garethjohnston62587]

Posted by John Woodhouse on 25/05/2015 17:22:52:

There are some simple things that are better made than bought such as centre punches and drifts for knocking dowels out of things. Many items like that are made of air hardening steels these days and don't really measure up to the old way – hardened and tempered steels. Silver steel is suitable and easy to get. For slotted screws a hollow ground blade increases the grip by an extra ordinary amount. The rad of a 6in or 8in grinding wheel is about right for the hollow grinding.

A lathe type centre finder is can be useful for face plate work also 4 jaw at times. Pictures can be found on the web but they benefit from having stiff spring loading built in as well. Around 12in long over all is a decent length for one with say a 4in section with the female centre hole to hold the spring.

If you envisage fitting your own chucks a very precise dummy spindle nose is very useful. If the Viceroy is the same as the Boxford you need to cut the flanks of the thread correctly to size but omit the rounded end – normal way of screw cutting on a lathe. This means that the OD is undersized which help get the register correct in cases where the lathe doesn't have a different diameter register. A very short section of the register can be turned under size – say by 0.010in to help use it as a plug gauge when making back plates. The threads in the back plate are best cut entirely with a chaser. They crop up on Ebay regularly. Not sure how you will get on doing this on a metric lathe as the spindle might still be imperial. In that case you will probably have to reverse the lathe at the end of each cut. Best way to do that is often described on the web when metric threads are cut on an imperial lathe. It uses a screw cutting indicator in a particular way. Disengage, turn off, reverse and re engage when the indicator is where it was when disengaged.

You might find that College engineering produce a casting suitable for a Boxford/Viceroy face plate. They did do an excellent rotary table kit but unfortunately it was slimmed down to suit the gap in a Myford bed. Still better than most but not sure if they do it any more.

If I want a keyway in a bore I use a slotting attachment. They do the casting for these as well but as it's for a Myford tt needs packing up to the centre height.

Lots an lots of things can be made but some of the more ambitious ones such as a dividing head do need a T slotted cross slide. This chap can help with that if the machine lacks one

http://www.latheparts.co.uk/

He's always busy and can be hard to get hold of.

John

–

Thanks for your info john , you are correct about what you say about the metric lathe I do have to reverse when on the end of the cut. Cheers Gareth

[AjohnwParticipant @ajohnw51620]

If you have the right sort of screw cutting indicator many metric threads can be cut using the it directly in much the same way as imperial threads. I assumed that your Vicroy would have one and that it's likely to be similar to a Boxford one. That works this way

Lathe parts can make this type of indicator or people could have a go at making one themselves. An M3 acme tap could be used to finish of the gears providing they aren't too thick for the size of tap used. It's best to cut slots at more or less the correct pitch first by hand. If the equipment is available it's simpler to just cut a gashed gear – straight teeth at an angle to suit the angle of the thread.

Must admit I have stuck to imperial because of the pain metric threads cause in this respect. The catch with indicators like this is the time it can take for the correct index marks to come round on some pitches.

The screw cutting nut can always be disengaged if the method I outlined is used. It helps when working up to a shoulder.

John

–

[Gareth JohnstonParticipant @garethjohnston62587]

Posted by John Woodhouse on 27/05/2015 14:55:30:

If you have the right sort of screw cutting indicator many metric threads can be cut using the it directly in much the same way as imperial threads. I assumed that your Vicroy would have one and that it's likely to be similar to a Boxford one. That works this way

Lathe parts can make this type of indicator or people could have a go at making one themselves. An M3 acme tap could be used to finish of the gears providing they aren't too thick for the size of tap used. It's best to cut slots at more or less the correct pitch first by hand. If the equipment is available it's simpler to just cut a gashed gear – straight teeth at an angle to suit the angle of the thread.

Must admit I have stuck to imperial because of the pain metric threads cause in this respect. The catch with indicators like this is the time it can take for the correct index marks to come round on some pitches.

The screw cutting nut can always be disengaged if the method I outlined is used. It helps when working up to a shoulder.

John

–

ThThanks John , I have seen that system before on a imperial Boxford lathe , very handy also at that but unsure weather id bother with it on the viceroy. Thanks Gareth.

[Gas_mantle.Participant @gas_mantle]

Hi Gareth,

I'm in a similar situation to yourself, I'm taking delivery of my first ever lathe tomorrow (a Chester DB8VS)

I'm interested in astronomy so intend making a few simple telescope adapters etc to get me started, they should be easy to make and allow me to get the feel of the machine.

I thought about trying one of those 'wobbler' engines after that, there's loads of info about them online and they seem to be popular with beginners.

Once I've got the hang of things I may look towards having a go at one of the Stuart engine casting kits

Peter.

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

another staters page featuring Elmers engines.

[AjohnwParticipant @ajohnw51620]

Posted by Gareth Johnston on 28/05/2015 20:20:23:

ThThanks John , I have seen that system before on a imperial Boxford lathe , very handy also at that but unsure weather id bother with it on the viceroy. Thanks Gareth.

A lot depends on how happy you are with the lathe in general and also how often you screw cut. I had a Viceroy for a while. 2 complaints. There was too much wear in the bed for my tastes but more seriously on the one I had it wasn't possible to adjust the head stock bearings. It didn't have a screw cutting indicator either. I then tried a Raglan, same basic design of a bed as Myford. That was ok but I started having rust problems with it in the garage so moved indoors and tried a Myford. Bad move. They are not a terribly well designed lathe and don't take kindly to even moderate amounts of wear. As I came across a super 7 head I tried both ML and super 7. The biggest problem is the design of the bed, too narrow which makes the Raglans a significantly better lathe but they wear as well.. I then went back to a prismatic bed – Boxford. In my case an ME10 as I need rear drive due to the space I have available. I doubt if I will ever change lathes again but if I did it would most certainly be one with a prismatic bed. I did try new Chinese once too. Too many built in manufacturing errors that I couldn't correct and other problems such as the in ability to turn right up to a centre in the end of a piece of work. I did look again and found that was pretty common but once bitten etc.

John

–

[Gareth JohnstonParticipant @garethjohnston62587]

Posted by Bazyle on 28/05/2015 22:48:43:

another staters page featuring Elmers engines.

Thanks for that another great helpful link. Regards Gareth.

[Gareth JohnstonParticipant @garethjohnston62587]

Posted by John W1 on 29/05/2015 09:52:24:

Posted by Gareth Johnston on 28/05/2015 20:20:23:

ThThanks John , I have seen that system before on a imperial Boxford lathe , very handy also at that but unsure weather id bother with it on the viceroy. Thanks Gareth.

A lot depends on how happy you are with the lathe in general and also how often you screw cut. I had a Viceroy for a while. 2 complaints. There was too much wear in the bed for my tastes but more seriously on the one I had it wasn't possible to adjust the head stock bearings. It didn't have a screw cutting indicator either. I then tried a Raglan, same basic design of a bed as Myford. That was ok but I started having rust problems with it in the garage so moved indoors and tried a Myford. Bad move. They are not a terribly well designed lathe and don't take kindly to even moderate amounts of wear. As I came across a super 7 head I tried both ML and super 7. The biggest problem is the design of the bed, too narrow which makes the Raglans a significantly better lathe but they wear as well.. I then went back to a prismatic bed – Boxford. In my case an ME10 as I need rear drive due to the space I have available. I doubt if I will ever change lathes again but if I did it would most certainly be one with a prismatic bed. I did try new Chinese once too. Too many built in manufacturing errors that I couldn't correct and other problems such as the in ability to turn right up to a centre in the end of a piece of work. I did look again and found that was pretty common but once bitten etc.

John

–

Thanks john , ill stick with what I have on the viceroy , at a future date perhaps a Boxford will be looked at as it has its advantages. Regards Gareth.

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