Machinist

This is the lathe I get to run at work. It is the most kick-ass lathe I have ever used, it's a Laguna American turn-master. It is full kited out it has a DRO an RPM gauge a load gage on a spindle. Power feed and threading gearbox and V ways. i swear this isn't sponsored, i love this lathe. If i had infinite money i would buy this. it is a dream to run daily, anyway enough of my fanboying, what lathes do you guys run on the daily? South bend, Hardinge Laguns etc....

I originally wasn't a collet lathe guy, but DAMN the minimal run out is soo good

So we got a super nice Hurco that runs most of our parts. But we have "stupid parts" like facing operations that doesn't really need to be used in the Hurco. So we have this gem, it's a collet lathe that was converted into a CNC in the mid 90s. The guy who usually runs and programs it says it's odd because in software if you put .1000 it does .0500, so it halves the output dimension. (i also might add the guy who runs it is pretty cool and pretty smart) It also is rocking a Siemens Fryer controller, I have no idea what the original lathe was the shop also added safety features, like a hood to stop coolant from spraying. but anyway I thought it was super cool and decided to share.

this lathe looks rather simple, no threading gearbox and a lantern tool post. (yes, i know it's just a game) the lathe and mill are found in the rocket factory

How do people cut sharp inside corners, like the triangles shown? This example is cut in stone but I have seen similar features on wooden building blocks.

Hail! The makerspace I go to needs some parts for their lathe. The gearbox for the leadscrew has given out and we need to source some replacements.

Anyone in know where to look? We are located in Canada.

An old timer at work told me to use Crisco when tapping, he hasnt broken a tap in 20 years. I Have tried it myself and thought it was interesting and wanted to share

Man, some people in industry are just insane.

Hello this is my first time here. We search for new milling distributor around my place (Indonesia). We did found this strange looking milling machine. This look different from another. They use somekind of electrical rotor or idk. I wonder if anyone know this particular design. Would this work great or nah?

Ok so i talked to our resident machinist at work (he does really cool shit like converting a 3axis CNC into 5Axis mill at home) and asked him about the motor. Bluegill and our Resident Machinist had the same Idea. that the motor wasn't wired for 110V and that's why it flicks on and off. however i opened up the motor to tried to wire it to low voltage diagram Which i assume is 115v. However the guy who wired this up originally didn't wire it up anywhere close to the diagram and i have no idea how to wire it up right as the original diagram is super hard to read and i don't understand the terminology. Like t5 or t10, I have wired a 3d Printer before so it isn't my first rodeo wiring but i have no idea how to wire up this motor correctly. that's where smart people like you come in, i need help wiring the motor and the diagram is hard to understand for my very smol hamster brain like mine.

so from what i understand. this my recreation of all the diagrams also im glad i took it apart because the drive pully for the motor i could slide off with my hand and one of the terminals wiggled inside the motor.

as-well as pictures of the original wiring and board

These usually only came in orders of 30, which is not enough to do what I finally achieved in this little video. I had to record that final piece going in place.

I found a real neat video that shows you how to make a collet closer for cheap for a South Bend.

I also recently got into collets because my work place has 1 lathe with a 3 jaw chuck and every other lathe is a Hardinge or Lagun turn master with collets. When I was in my machine trades class, we had one collet lathe, and I always hated it because it was so different. Which is now very ironic because all we have is collets, however I did learn that collets are used because of very small run out. I hated indicating 4 jaw chucks because of it being so finicky to get perfect, but the reason you use a 4 jaw is that it can spin more true than a 3 jaw self centering. Which odds are I would have liked collets more if I knew the advantage of collets over chucks. I recently learned this and found it very fascinating and wanted to share.

"BaCk In My DaY We DiDnT hAvE MiCs. We UsEd ArE BaRe HaNdS AnD HeLd 6 DeCiMaL PlAcEs. We DiDnT hAvE CoOlaNt We WoUlD Spit and Blow on IT."

i poke fun but Listen to the old timers, tho, they know what they're talking about.

For real, the seminar was Super cool, I didn't know the applications of Swiss and its miniature tooling. It can hold some crazy tolerances and do some crazy operations and parts. I Highly suggest Looking into Swiss

Ok bois so my tractor lathe which i have been working on has el problemo. so i hooked it up with a new Belt because the old one was roached. and connected her up to 110V (yes i know 220 is optimal etc.) i did it just to see if the motor is brokey. it runs but its like its turning on and off, it spins up then stops then spins up. kinda like a dude at a drag race (revvvvvvvv pause revvvvvv). its rather odd and i think the motor is bad because on the motor it says PH-1 which is single phase and 115-220. so theoretically it should work just fine. So if the motor is in fact broken what are my options? ive read forms of people taking south bend 9" lathes and hooking up VFD's. which im not against using a VFD, but i would like to keep it as close to original if i can Thanks.

Did the boss say you needed steel toed boots for work. But you're on a budget? Well, do we have the product for you!! To save on cost, it's made of aluminum to be lighter weight or some shit, I dunno. Just buy it ---- damn, I'm a great businessman

I know It's made out of chinesium, but for $20 it will work for light work holding parts. Also, I'm not dead I'm just really busy with other stuff including a promotion at work, this week ill be OD grinding. However, there will be no posts because odds are everything ill be grinding will be covered under the trade secret category. Cheers all, stop reading this and go make some chips!!!

comparison to original paint job

First off I am enjoying the tractor green, secondly I am getting a lot closer to finishing the lathe. I am going to work on redoing the electrical, I am trying to figure out what box I want to replace it with, purely because the fuse box is rather outdated and looks rather sketchy.

If you have any idea on what box I should use, feel free to drop a comment.

After the electronics and the belt are replaced, I plan to redo the fiberglass gearbox cover (yes I know there is paint on it, I will fix it later) I'm just trying to think about the best way to clean up fiber glass without inhaling yummy glass fibers. i am also very glad I took apart the lathe to paint and clean it, it moves a lot smoother now and has brand-new oil Then after all of that I should be making some chips!!!

From the Alec Steele YouTube channel today - I've definitely made that nervous laugh before.

When I went to go buy my what can only be described as my sexy tractor lathe (my South Bend I'm restoring) he had a 48" Bridgeport mill he wanted for $450 or best offer, it's super rusty and as any knee mill weights a metric fuck ton of 1,800 lbs. I thought about buying it on the spot, but I currently don't have space in the barn. And my tractor cannot lift it, however he said he would load it into my truck and I have a relative that can store it for me while I work on it and my relative has a neighbor that has a soup'd up tractor that could unload it. So here the question, is it worth buying? It needs a lot of work and is super rusty, it does have a pump in the back compartment as well as the motor was swapped with a 110v motor that appears to have a lamp cord soldered on (which I would swap the motor out) and it has all the 3 phase switches and accessory except the handle for the knee. It would need a lot of work and would be at least a few months of work. Also on a finale note, the blue mill for the 50-60s is for sale for $2,500 at my work which should I save up for it or buy this rust bucket? Cheers!!

I have been spending the day scrubbing with scotch bright then using IPA and lightly sanding the metal to add grooves for the paint. I am using Town and Country olive green automotive and tractor paint. Furthermore, I have spent a few days thinking what color I wanted to paint the lathe and settled on olive green, purely because I wanted to paint it a color that was not stock but not too flashy. I've seen people paint them 60s blue or Massey Red, and they were both too bright for my liking. Anyway, these are the only things I have painted so far, I taped all the important parts off to make sure paint doesn't affect the precision of the lathe. Although from a machinist from work said I got a good deal the lathe won't be able to hold insane tolerances which it was made between 1910-1947, so I wasn't expecting Swiss lathe levels of precision, but I digress. It can do what I want it to do, and it's a fun project and helps me learn more about how a lathe works.

this screw driver i bought from the same guy i bought my lathe. i just thought it was so neat!!!

it pops out then has a swivel mechanism and 3 bit choices big flat head, small Flathead and Philps and it ratchets aswell says on it "Dearborn Machine Tool DIV USA PAT. NO 2.662.568"

closed

opened

philps

ratchet mechanism #