Looking a lathe

[samari46]

Neat trick regarding keeping some round stock in the chucks that aren't being used at that time. Thanks all for the tip. I live in what we call the oil patch here in louisiana and one would figure finding a used lathe wouldn't be much of a problem. Wrong and wrong again. Found one sitting off a service road covered with rust and the wires looked like they were ripped out of the junction box. Found the place selling it. No extras like chucks,faceplate, tooling. Guy said he'd take 5K for it. Told him hope he likes waiting. When he said why, told him I can get a brand new Jet 13x40 for 3K with a few extra $$ for the stand. That old lathe sat there for about 6 months. Don't know if it ever sold. Did get the jet though with all the goodies. Frank

[RP]

You may be better off with the new one pricing some of the stuff from grizzly for mine was eye opening ebay is no better the counter for cutting threads is going for 200 bucks. I was looking a taper attachment but I have a feeling if I find one it will be over priced.

[country gent]

Taper attachments can be a chore to set up, have play that takes away useable travel, which is short on a lot of them. and have other small issues. For the work we did it was preferable to offset the tail stock and work between centers. When restoring morse tapers on big drill bits the tapper attachment would work but was a pain to get adjusted dead right. Fine tapers were even worse. The old Winchester taper of .005 per inch was a chore to get set then it had to be cut in several steps as the attachment didn't have the travel. A simple mandrel 12" -18" long and dead straight with centers in each end works great to offset the tail stock with an indicator. For very accurate setting of the compound a small sine bar on the piece and indicated in works

[RP]

I over came my taper problem with using my compound rest at a angle only could get about 3 inchs of travel but I got a fairly good taper looks wise by doing this. For something that needs better results some practice will be needed and above my pay grade.
Still learning a lot and finding out I need or want more tools to feed this new beast lol but my wife says she knows where to find me now days I am out in the shop making chips.
Thanks for all the advise.

[JMtoolman]

Here is a tip from a retired machinest. Make a lathe chuck handle holder, and mount it on the outside of the headstock. Mine is a two prong piece of metal pop riveted to the cover of the headstock. The lathe chuck handle hangs in this place at all times the lathe is not running. Never let the chuck handle out of your hands until it is dropped in its resting place. If you never let it out of your hands when the lathe is off, it can't become inbeded in your skull when you turn the lathe on!

[country gent]

Seen a student in my machine trades class do that 3 times in one day. One shop I was in all the lathes had a tube on the head stock cover with a switch in the bottom so if the chuck handle wasn't there then the machine wouldn't start. Ive seen guys leave chuck keys in lathes drill presses mills and also seen a couple start mills with a indicator in the spindle. And These guys are wearing white aprons to boot.

[Moleman-]

For your missing threading dial, you can make one on your lathe with a little youtube google foo. This is a neat easy to make threading dial that can be easily made with off the shelf parts. Gear, small pillow block, shaft, and a bushing/collar. You want the gear to be multiples of the thread pitch of the lead screw. you can cut threads in the mean while if you keep the thread lever engaged and just back out and reverse the lathe to make the next pass just like you would cutting metric gears on an inch lathe. A gear would likely be cheaper than an acme tap, but you can make your own worm type gear also. https://youtu.be/XIzlg_uObwQ

[oldred]

Here is a tip from a retired machinest. Make a lathe chuck handle holder, and mount it on the outside of the headstock. Mine is a two prong piece of metal pop riveted to the cover of the headstock. The lathe chuck handle hangs in this place at all times the lathe is not running. Never let the chuck handle out of your hands until it is dropped in its resting place. If you never let it out of your hands when the lathe is off, it can't become inbeded in your skull when you turn the lathe on!

Well I'm careful and I doubt(ed) I would leave the chuck key in the chuck, that is until I did! I honestly felt that only someone careless would make such a mistake and didn't think I would ever do such a thing, I mean it's right in front of you so how could you miss it? When it did happen to me I was surprised (shocked really) and even embarrassed but luckily the impression it made in my head was only mental and wasn't the physical kind! After that incident I made a simple spring loaded (you can buy them like this) chuck key that pops out of the chuck when you release it, simply slide a proper size spring over the shaft and pin it near the top just under the handle. A light spring is all that's needed so it takes little or no noticeable effort to push it in but it makes it impossible to leave the key in the chuck when you turn loose of it. I have heard people complain that a spring loaded key is a nuisance, one guy in particular even called it stupid but it's NOT a stupid idea and it works quite well.

[MaryB]

Worst thing I ever did was drilling a 8x8 piece of 1/2 inch thick aluminum with a 1/2 inch bit after making a 1/8 inch pilot hole. I didn't get the clamps on the piece tight enough and the bit grabbed flinging the hunk of aluminum across the shop and stuck a corner into the wall... Got lucky it missed me. After that it was tighten the clamps a wee bit tighter!