Workshop equipment

[mark.f]

Or get a complete milling table for your drill press.

But in all seriousness, I think that X-Y compound slide vise takes up his entire drill plate, probably.

[rp181]

If you can, look for a mill. It can work as a drill press, but is MUCH better. I don't know the price, but look into dayton equipment. I have used there stuff alot, it is very high quality.

I hope your budget is just for the equipment, and you have more for actual bits and tools.

[inonickname]

How skillfull and patient are you?

Home Made Metal Spinning Lathe

Build your own model lathe

Also check out this page:

Machine shop tools (homemade

Machine shop tools

All about homemaking, check out all of that second site, it's pretty good.

Drill press and bolt sander imo.

[Velocity]

I would have to disagree with Technician1002 and those who support him.

I bought a 7x12 Cummins mini-lathe a while back, and I have had no complaints. I have built several piston valves and several other projects, and accuracy has not been a problem. Of course, the larger lathes will probably have more features and capabilities. But in terms of accuracy, a well tuned mini-lathe (mine cost $400 at the time) will match the performance of the larger lathes for spudgunning purposes. This is true because you don't need (most of the time...) measurements to the exact thousandth of an inch (though the mini-lathe claims to be able to achieve this precision; I have never attempted it).

[jrrdw]

Velocity, your 7X12 is only 1" over bed swing off of my 8X12, and if you dig a little deeper into who manufactured your lathe I'm betting it's made by Central Machinary as mine is.

The smaller lathe's everone else talked about are "micro-lathe's". Micro-lathe's are for clock makers, dentist and jewlers and where ever something really small is needed.

Milling machines cost more then lathe's, and more costly to tool up.

Remember John, you get what you pay for.

[inonickname]

Milling machines cost more then lathe's, and more costly to tool up.

Remember John, you get what you pay for.

I agree completely. Not only are milling machine bits more expensive, they also break easier AND become useless much quicker than lathe tooling.

It's probably best not to go for a lathe/mill at this price range. (unless you want to homebuild). Even if you do, you'll regret it later when you have a weak lathe and nothing else.

Go for a drill press, grinder or sander..and the such. Though do check out the links I gave you, you may be interested.

[mark.f]

If you want to look into making your own lathe, David Gingery makes a series of excellent books entitled "Build Your Own Working Metal Shop From Scrap" (or something along those lines). The series includes a book on a backyard foundry, a lathe, a sheet metal brake, a metal scraper, and more. I have two of the books, and although I've never gotten around to actually doing anything in them (minus a small foundry I made that destroyed itself) they were a great read.

Jrrdw, your and Velocity's lathes are all made by the same manufacturer in China, most probably Sieg. That said, they require a bit of tuning to get running smooth and accurate, but the quality is actually improving off-the-shelf.

[john bunsenburner]

I would consider something along these lines: http://www.amazon.com/Unknown-Lathe-Met ... 928&sr=1-3

It is the lathe velocity got himself about a year ago. It seems like it fulfills my needs and falls slightly over my budjet but this would be perfectly ok. Now some one mentioned machining my own tools, while others mentioned large somes of money involved with tools. How much would it cost me if I got a good assortment of quality tools? How many of them can i make, how much could i save?

EDIT: missed the last page, oops... Oh well, i have looked closely at making my own lathe and decided i am too lazy and to un accurate, in the end it would be cheeper to buy a lathe of some sort as i would end up doing so anyway. Really i could raise the price limit by a lot but i feel horrible if i spend lots of money for something that isn't really useful in the sense. I wonder if there is some way i could raise some money for my self. If i get like 200$ and have my dad give me the 430 by budjet is far less limited. but i am clueless on how to do this. Any way the questions ontop are the ones i would like to have answered, as really right now it is just a matter of: should i buy something OK or try and get cash to get soemthing GOOD. Really all i will do is:

Make pistons, piston housings, special diameter pipe pieces, valve bodies triggers, trigger mechs, steam engine parts, O- ring groves and the like, i don't think my needs are THAT high. Also my main/only work material will be alli, maybe iron and what ever is used to manufacture tools incase i decide to do that.

[jrrdw]

Make pistons, piston housings, special diameter pipe pieces, valve bodies triggers, trigger mechs, steam engine parts, O- ring groves and the like, i don't think my needs are THAT high. Also my main/only work material will be alli, maybe iron and what ever is used to manufacture tools incase i decide to do that.

For all you have mentioned here, buy a lathe. Mow some grass, shovel some snow what ever kind of work you can find. Match you dads money (430), and get yourself a nice set up with a good selection of tooling. It should only take you short time to make 400 dollars.

[Technician1002]

I would consider something along these lines: http://www.amazon.com/Unknown-Lathe-Met ... 928&sr=1-3

Now some one mentioned machining my own tools, while others mentioned large somes of money involved with tools. How much would it cost me if I got a good assortment of quality tools? How many of them can i make, how much could i save?

I mentioned making tools as there is always a special shape and size you will always have to make yourself. For example to cut o ring grooves. Using square stock and a bench grinder, it is easy to grind a groove cutter just the right size for your special o ring. There is info online for the angles that are best to cut various metals. The only toos needed for a new lathe are a round nose tool to quickly machine round stock to smaller diameter, a cut off tool, and maybe a thread cutter if you make custom bolts. Need a lead screw type lathe to take advantage of the latter.

The rest of the tools are square bar stock and a bench grinder. Sometimes old auto valve stems are a good source for strong tool stock.
Be creative.

[Gippeto]

John, there is nothing wrong with the lathe you linked to. I've seen them for sale under many brand names, and although they are not commercial grade machines, they are certainly adequate for the hobbyist.

Some things you might consider;(some previously mentioned)

The home machinist handbook.(Will answer questions you'll have.)
Safety glasses. (Get them and WEAR them.)
HSS bits sized for your machine.(Best value in cutters.)
Parting tool sized for you machine.
Bench grinder with Aluminum Carbide stone (60grit is good) for sharpening bits.
Center drill.
Drill bits.
Boring bar that fits your machine.
Screw cutting guage.(For setup when cutting threads.)
An assortment of metal (steel) shims for adjusting cutter height.
Hacksaw with metal cutting blade.
Cutting fluid.
An basic assortment of single cut files.

That'll cover most of the operations you will want to do with the lathe.

If you decide you want to do some basic milling with it, we can talk about tool post jigs at another time. (Easily made.)

A few "nice to have" "extras" ;

An independent four jaw chuck. (Once you have one, you'll wonder how you lived without it.)
Knurling tool with a variety of knurls.
Right angle plate and a sliding mill vise.(Turns the lathe into a horizontal milling machine. )

You really can do a lot with a simple lathe if you have the "right" tooling.

[john bunsenburner]

Well, seeing as how my dad's generosity seems to be sheer endless he said he was ok with a budject of 1000-2000CHF which is equal to 880-1755$ dollars. I would like to stay below the lower limit how ever. Now do you guys think the lathe i linked to is my best bet, or is there some kind of lathe which you think is "just right" or with which you have experience.

Thanks a lot for the info gippeto, its highly appriciated. Do I understand correctly that milling is [quote="Wikipedia]A milling machine is a machine tool used for the shaping of metal and other solid materials.[/quote]
Seems like it won't really be used by me all that much.
The home machinist's hand book is the one on this link
I have the feeling i should do a bit more reading and researching before getting the acctual tool(just the way velocity recomended to me in his pm) otherwise ill be lost, and it would really be a pitty if i broke the lathe.


Anything else you guys want to add, books, websites for reasearch and study are appriciated the same way as URl's to lathes. Thanks for all of your help everyone, happy spudding and have fun on all your projects[/url]

[MRR]

I would propose to take the german original of the lathe you are looking at and not the chinese rebuild...

http://server.co101.spacenet.de/www.rot ... ntentserv/

...you can also be sure that this lathe is able to cut metric threads.

And due to the fact that you life in Switzerland you are able to get replacement parts and technical support more easily.

On the other hand, you have to think about the cost - use factor. I was also thinking about buying a lathe but it's a lot of money we are talking about.

[john bunsenburner]

Well, depending on the wether or not i wil find a good, cheep supplyer or alumium rods in different sizes, i will either mostly or only use the lathe inorder to build spudguns and other little projects I have.

thanks alot for the link to Rotwerk, I wouldn't of found it. Sadly the website does not mention the price that the lathes on their website cost.

About original v.s chinese rebuild: How much worse is latter, will it fall apart on me or will it just be less accurate(how much?) ect.?

Also I would rather not buy from germany as their taxes are absolutely mad compared to the swiss ones: 19% mwst(tax) instead of 7.5, then again i would need to pay quite a bit to get the lathe shipped over from the US, hmm...This is more complicated than i though it would be!

[MRR]

You can find rotwerk products on amazon or ebay (.de).

To the chinese rebuilds...
some of them are really good but in general they don't last as long as the original products. The used materials are often of a poor quality.

It will depend on how often you use them and for what purpose. I've read in forums that some people used the chinese lathes for years without a problem and other "heavy users" killed them within a month.

edit: If you want to cut threads then you should look for a lathe that supports metric.