New to all of this

[Mark NevilleParticipant @markneville74400]

Hello from North Devon!
I have all ways loved making things out of wood or metal, some good and bad too. Last year I got myself a new shed and this year I got a myford Ml7 lathe. What’s the best way to start model engineering? I have been looking at some small kits but I’m lost!

[Mark NevilleParticipant @markneville74400]

How do you start

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

Get some reading material and dive in… with care

Not hard to get hurt when you're totally green

The bible IMO is Spareys "The Amateurs lathe"

Some of the first tools you make will also be your most used

GL

Edited By Ady1 on 15/05/2021 13:42:04

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Welcome in sunny Devon. You will get to spend more time in the shed than on the beach this weekend
There have been a few people coming onto the forum from north Devon in the last 18 months.If you find the front page of the website and use the search you may find some posts from them but like you do not necessarily mention theri location initially. Also search for 'dad's engine' and 'first engine' and you will see some examples of easy build projects.

The best place to go shopping BTW is Friday mornings in Exeter Morrissons because next door is St Katherine's Priory where members of the local Model Engineering club can be found having coffee now the cafe is back open.

[Former MemberParticipant @formermember12892]

[This posting has been removed]

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Welcome!

money spent of reading material is money well spent.

+1 for Sparey, "The Amateur's Lathe"

also consider

Ian Bradley "The Amateurs Workshop"

Ian Bradley "The Myford Series 7 Manual"

Tubal Cain "The Model Engineers Handbook" An excellent reference book.

Possibly, these last three will cover more things than Sparey.

Zeus Charts are always in use in the shop, for Thread details, Tapping drill sizes and so on

Do find a local Model Engineering Club and join. You can get one to one advice, face to face and even demonstrations, as well as all the guidance available on here..

HTH

Howard

[Paul LousickParticipant @paullousick59116]

Metal Lathe for Home Machinists by Harold Hall is a good book for beginners with projects to make tooling.and accessories for the lathe. Fortunately he has also made everything available to download free from his web site.

**LINK**

Paul

[Thor 🇳🇴Participant @thor]

Hi Mark,

Welcome to the forum. If you are interested in model steam engines may be a Stuart 10V might interest you? If you want to make a steam engine from bar stock, here are a few plans. Sparey's book is a good one, may be your local library can get it for you. Some old books about model engines are archived here.

Thor

[Jon LawesParticipant @jonlawes51698]

A lot of people make the Stuart 10V as a first engine but I prefer the 10H as its horizontal and looks a bit more "mill-like". Also I suspect its slightly easier to machine, but I could be wrong.

Make a visit to your local model engineering society when lockdown is fully eased, you won't regret it. Welcome.

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