Got a lathe? Get some Practice!

[SkinnyG]

Here are two projects I have my grade 8's do in their Metal 8 class.

They made sense when I wrote them, and I am usually in the class to help the kids when they don't make sense. There is a better way to do the Bat than I have described, and I will update the file and this thread when I re-write it.

In the mean-time, give'er:

http://www.gwellwood.com/PROJECT-Whistle.pdf

http://www.gwellwood.com/PROJECT-BaseballBat.pdf

[Locost_Johnh]

Those look like great projects. The last significant project I did in Metal Shop (40 years ago) was an aluminum meat tenderizer (kitchen hammer). The head was a block of aluminum with teeth cut on the mill and a handle formed, threaded and knurled on the lathe. That was back when nearly every California high school had a well equipped shop. Not too may of them left now though.

John

[chetcpo]

Thanks G! I can't wait to turn my boys loose on those. By the time they are old enough I should have a lathe in place.

[DM8761]

lol thats the cheater way to taper

but thats for an 8th grade class? nice we didnt get to play with the lathes till we were juniors

[N. Versailles Cobra]

Chet,
Better get moving on that lathe purchase. I have had my 4 year old grandson (carefully supervised) on a milk carton running both my small H/F lathe and milling machine. He loves it. Gets to put his goggles on for a real reason, not pretend. Has a nice "feel" for how fast to feed the controls. I think this "gearhead thing" is going to work out in spite of his Mom. Heh, heh.
Don

[Lonnie-S]

Chet,
Better get moving on that lathe purchase. I have had my 4 year old grandson (carefully supervised) on a milk carton running both my small H/F lathe and milling machine. He loves it. Gets to put his goggles on for a real reason, not pretend. Has a nice "feel" for how fast to feed the controls. I think this "gearhead thing" is going to work out in spite of his Mom. Heh, heh.
Don

Good for you. It works for gymnastics, tennis and swimming, so who knows, he may be inventing and creating mind-blowing stuff by the time he's a teenager.

Cheers,

[JackMcCornack]

Back when I was taking Manufacturing Processes in Jr College we were offered various first-effort turn (they said "turn" back then, and machinists went bat bleep crazy when you used "lathe" as a verb) and mill projects we could do, or we could propose our own. Milne ended up on the list of approved projects and stayed there until the instructor retired. It was a one piece aluminum object, made from a 3" length of 2" round rod, it looked much like a perfume bottle with a round body, flat faces front and rear, and a big knurled cap about an inch in diameter. The label (from the school's graphics dep't) said "Ultra Glue--Sticks Anything to Anything".

It was pretty hilarious. I left mine laying around the shop for years, people would pick it up and I'd tell them "Be careful with that stuff, it's a military grade universal bonder" and as they were sweating trying to get the cap off they'd be saying "Anything to anything?" and I'd say, "Yeah, even teflon," and some guys had veins bulging on their foreheads before they got the joke. The best was a woman who was messing with it, and her husband/friend/date said "Let me do that, honey," and he was so mad after he figured it out that he stomped off without buying a flying machine. I read somewhere that a skilled closer doesn't make fun of his customers, but the lesson apparently didn't stick.

[TooBusy]

My turning and milling project was a C clamp. We had to progress through a set of skills to proceed to the next step.

Body of clamp was marked on 1/2 inch plate that we blued and scribed. scribed lines had to be within 1/64 or we got to start over.
Then cut with a hack saw and draw file to final size. The teacher would check dimensions and squareness. Once we were within 1/64, we could put it in the mill and drill the hole for the clamp screw. Tap by hand.

To use the lathe we had to start by grinding our own tools. We made a roughing bit, a finishing bit, and a thread chasing bit. He'd hand us a drawing and a piece of tool steel. Off to the bench grinder we'd go.

Once the tools were finished we could turn a piece of 1/2" bar to 1/4" for 3 inches and chase 1/4-28 threads. We had to cross drill the top for a 3/16 rod we would put in and swage the ends to keep it from falling out.

Last step was to turn the clamp foot and swage onto the screw after it was in the body. We had to swage it with a hammer and cold chisel.

[TooBusy]

Oh yeah, when I took machine shop at the local tech school we had to make a lot of our own tools.
mark, cut, and file to size a T slot cleaner
turning tools same as in high school plus a long boring bar
a set of parallels that we would heat treat and surface grind to finish
a set of brass hammers 1/2 inch flat and crowned face. 1 inch flat and crowned face, and 1 1/2 inch peening

Good times

[bob]

I have a mill and a lathe , both are fitted with a dro which makes life really easy but I find I just dont have the patience to stand there anymore. I dont mind one offs or prototyping but if there any big numbers of things to make they go of to a friend who has a cnc. Still a handy thing to have though and would not be without it.

Bob

[john hennessy]

i have been without access to a lathe or mill for some time now.

funny how things that need to be machined start to rear their heads when that happens.

last wednesday there was an add in my local news letter for a jet 1024 lathe and a harbour frieght mill at $375 each.

well as you can imagine, i was on it like flies on sh-t.

got the pair for $700 plus a compressor and a load of machine tools for the lathe and mill.

they seem to be in good order but with very slight surface rust from standing for a few years, fortunately its a dry climate here.

now all i've got to do is move the things.

[Lonnie-S]

I looked up the Jet 1024 lathe, John. Man, you stole the thing at that price assuming it works reasonably well. Have fun!

There's a tune-up/user manual PDF file on the Harbor Freight mill at http://www.littlemachineshop.com/Info/M ... sGuide.pdf that you may find very helpful.

Cheers,

Lonnie

[john hennessy]

thanks lonnie, downloaded!!

[N. Versailles Cobra]

John,
I am adoptable if you would like to get an old, short, fat machinist out of the cold Pgh. snow that is coming soon. Just thought I'd mention it. Does sound like you made a smoking deal on the machines. Enjoy.
Don

[N. Versailles Cobra]

John,
I am adoptable if you would like to get an old, short, fat machinist out of the cold Pgh. snow that is coming soon. Just thought I'd mention it. Does sound like you made a smoking deal on the machines. Enjoy.
Don