Machinist

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 #

Kid's gotta learn the tricks of the trade somehow

Ive been working on the lathe in my free time. i have used lots of scotch bright that is now very dim. and have put the recommended iso 98 lubricant in the oil spots and it has gotten a lot smoother. lots of rust have been removed and and getting closer to using my lathe, im pretty sure that this lathe has sat in a barn for quite some time because of all the caked mud/dirt on it.

a few questions for fellow machinists, my GE motor runs on 220 single phase, i have a few GE motors that have 3/4 and 1hp motors at my Grandmothers, would it we worth while to upgrade the motor? its currently 1/2HP i also don't remember if there 110 Single phase which if i do change the motor id like it to run on standard wall power. even though i may loose some torque and i can wire up 220 where i plan to put the lathe.

Secondly the main flat belt is shot does anyone know where to find a good replacement?

also i have rust on the ways and have lightly used scotch bright fine pads as many machinist forms have recommended to remove most of it but there still seams to be rust, how would you recommend cleaning the ways without nuking precision/ destroying the ways? thanks for the help!!

the gears are MINT!!!

So from my new to me but old lathe has a cabinet that has a lot of the accessory's. one of which is what i believe to be the original Manuel for the 3 jaw chuck. its written in German and English and i though it was rather neat, feel free to look!

so as of south bends website, it says that the model number is at the end of the ways by the tail stock. after cleaning the ways off with IPA i found the model number but every place i look including http://www.vintagemachinery.org/mfgindex/detail.aspx?id=1617&tab=5 . Which is rather odd i don't know if its before 1920 which is when they started serial number naming scheme but im no rocket doctor.

The serial is 34873NCR9

so i have spent the last week hunched over my computer/phone to find a crispy lathe for the taking. and finally after much searching i found a garage sale that was happening at 8am and ending at one. I WOKE UP AT 5AM!! just to make sure i could be ready and up at the garage sale at 8am. i show up im the only one there at 8, i asked how much for the lathe he said $450 he had no arguments from me. AND HE LOADED IT WITH A FORKLIFT, which a lot of other Facebook lathe sellers want YOU to load it. which these things are heavy as balls. i will be posting progress on restoration which will take a while Cheers to my new LATHE!!!!

also im on like 4ish hours of sleep so my grammar kinda shit

I found this on FB marketplace and thought about buying it, but it's missing the control head (speed control buttons). And it doesn't have power feed/single turn threading. But if you need a toolmaker lathe or want to convert into a heavy duty CNC its also very far away from where I live, so first come first serve. Here's the link https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/257877090432295/

I know this is technically advertisement, but I thought if somebody looking for a deal and is smart enough to fix it, they might as well have their chance at it, also the lady knows very little I told her the model just to help her out.

I saw some clay sculpting tools and started thinking it would be sweet to cut metal with something like that. The tools I saw are apparently called pottery ribbon tools, so more of a ribbon than a wire then.

Evidently, Mattel made a toy in the 50s for a wood lathe. Sadly no South Bend, but thought it was neat Cheers!

I'm not trying to poor shame, but harbor freight has never been known to have ultra precision tools. And there are some shops I have worked at that the bosses think mitutoyo is the same as harbor freight because all they see is dollar signs

I havent uploaded in like a few days because I've been really busy trying to buy a lathe, after [email protected] suggestion of craftsman lathes are ok, I kept looking also thanks for the help empire! So I found this SEXY 9" South Bend lathe for $350 messaged the guy. He still had it, asked him if he could load it, went to bed last night, woke up and somebody bought it :/. It would have been kick-ass, I didn't get it quick enough :/. So enough of self loathing, where do you guys buy used tools, lathes and stuff for cheap? I've only used Facebook marketplace and crags list. and im still in the market, ill ask the guys at my work to know if they know anyone selling similar lathes but im not holding my breath.

also i dont know if ill post alot this week because of work and other stuff, but ill still try to when i get time. thanks everybody for helping out and see you in the next post!!

Just an old manual mill we have at work. It gets used very very infrequently, but I've done a few small things on it that aren't worth throwing up onto the CNC table and writing a program for.

Why buy a can opener when I have a drill press with an end mill :D

so what i did to restore this die set is i wire brushed off all the rust and chips inside the dies. before

then also used a hand planer to take off a lot of the oil that soaked into the wood

after

this was patented in 1912 so its pretty damn old

Ive been looking at getting a lathe for my birthday and my budget is $700 ive looked at mini lathes but they get expensive real quick ive looked at https://littlemachineshop.com/info/minilathe_compare.php to compare models of mini lathes since they have different motors and sizes and such. so i decided to look around and see if i can find a lathe within a few hours on driving and Ive read some about how you want ways that are V's like a south-bend but its very mixed on if its a good lathe or not. it needs to run on single phase have powerfeed and not be super big Thanks for all the help in advance! what do guys think, is there any other alternatives?

Edit-- i know $700 really isnt a big budget for a lathe but i work part time and dont have alot of money to spend. i also plan to post some cool stuff i plan to make on my future lathe!!

I feel like i ramble on a lot of my posts and wonder if you guys like when I talk about how I bought stuff or the story behind it. As well, of what you guys want to see more of? Feel free to leave suggestions!

These files are all Lennox made in the USA files which a paid a dollar a piece.

I got this what I assume is an old woodworking screwdriver/scraper, I bought it because it was neat. Plus It's made in the USA, so I had to get it for $1

so I also picked up another screwdriver it's a crescent which i bought a few years ago, and I saw it for $5 and could pass it up it's one of my favorite screwdrivers

And then some Countersinks because I need some for deburring. I paid $5 for the set.

So at flea lake I went to this booth that was very space and somewhat secluded. There were a few carjacks and rusty screwdrivers. Then there were these vices, there was one that had slight rust but was pits burg branded, which I decided to stand clear of. Then there was this vice, it's unbranded but had very little wiggle in the jaws. So the guy had $15 I asked if he would take any less as the slide was pretty rusted and the bottom was very rusted and would need lots of work to get fully working. He said $10 which most people would say is a fair price. However, I could not justify spending $10 on a vice that's pretty rusty and would need lots of work to get working again. So I tried to offer with him any lower, and he wouldn't go any lower. So I left the vice on the table where it was and went hunting for other deals at Flea LAK. Towards 12:00 which the swap meet ends at 1:00 after I have gone thought the whole market, I swing by the vices booth and offer the guy $8. With no hesitation, he accepts the offer and I got a very rusted vice for $8 and a project for the rest of the week. Which as of writing I have removed the rust with a wire wheel and some scotch bright pads as well as painted the vice with some tractor enamel paint. And it's looking pretty good, I still have to grease and polish some stuff, but it's coming along very nicely

I recently got this tap holder in a craftsman toolbox, and I cleaned it up and removed some rust, and it finds out it has a name etched in it, "nick Westinghouse" it's a very nice tap holder

And assuming the handle was .05 tolerances, it's very well-made minus the handle with chattering. So good job nick!! Whoever/where ever you are. This is my go-to tap holder now

Got to sandblast and clean a rusty lathe chuck at work. And couldn't help but post this immaculately clean chuck

I went to a swap meet at flea lake and found this old rusty toolbox. Now you may be wondering, why did I post a craftsman toolbox on a machinist community. The answer is with in the tool box. So I was walking around in a booth of mixed variety of tools and I saw this toolbox with a unique tap handle.

I inspected the tap handle, which oddly rotates vertically to hold the tap. So after looking at this tap handle that was in the top of the toolbox, I decided to look in the bottom of the toolbox to see if there were any taps or other tooling. A boy that was a definite YES!!!!

The toolbox had an assortment of random thing and tools, however it was a box chalked full of lathe bits I asked the nice young Amish man how much he wanted for the toolbox, he replied with make me an offer. Then I said, is $10 as little. And he said that's an ok price, and now I own a lot of tooling for my future lathe!!

Very bright mill, pretty sure it's not a stock color.