New lathe arrived today : The ongoing saga

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Well done, Brian

First steps towards making it into a useful little lathe.

MichaelG.

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Result! Well done mate.

Hope you got the phone number for the supplier's lathe repair expert, he sounds like the bloke to talk to.

I''ll bring those freshly sharpened HSS toolbits with me tomorrow and we'll have a look at turning some steel.

Were you using a centre when turning down the small diameter part of the mandrel? I think you would need one if you want to get a good finish.

[Brian JohnParticipant @brianjohn93961]

I tried it with and without a dead centre : with the steel it did not seem to make much difference whereas when I was making the aluminium mandrel it did make a difference. I guess it is because the aluminium is more flexible. I am waiting for those half centres from Arceuro as that should make these things much easier to work on.

I will also be buying an angle grinder with a cutting wheel tomorrow so I can cut up steel bar stock and shorten the M1 arbors. I think I am done with using a hacksaw…too much hard work !

Many thanks to all concerned here. I hope all the equipment problems are finished and I can get on with learning how to use it. maybe I will knock up one of these next week :

https://www.flickr.com/photos/46407028@N07/4265928235/

Edited By Brian John on 28/09/2015 18:18:40

[john carruthersParticipant @johncarruthers46255]

I use the thin ( 1mm) 'Inox' type cutting discs. With very light pressure they go through mild steel like the Wehrmacht through Luxembourg Ideal for stainless too, saves all that sawing and leaves a very clean edge.

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Brian, there's a thing to design and build, a power hacksaw, you can make one that uses ordinary hacksaw blades, I had one until I bought a band saw.

Ian S C

[Brian JohnParticipant @brianjohn93961]

I bought an Ozito angle grinder and a few cutting wheels this morning. Just before Hopper arrived I decided to try it out on some brass….inside the apartment. Everything seemed to be going very well and I sliced right through a few pieces of very thick brass bar very easily. Then I looked up and saw all the brass dust over my open laptop computer…and everything else on the desk ! I will use this machine outside in future.

Hopper bought some newly sharpened HSS cutting tools this afternoon and tried them out on my lathe which resulted in a very good finish. He also showed me how to get an even better finish with a file then emery paper. We also checked the speeds of the lathe using his RPM reader. The actual speeds were a bit faster than the speeds indicated on the speed control switch : 140 to 2000 RPM rather than 160 to 1500 RPM as marked on the scale.

Thank you again Peter. This is a new model of lathe and the company has only just started selling them. I suppose there are bound to be some problems that need to be sorted out on a new design.

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Thanks Brian. Don't forget too about always taking up the backlash in the cross slide handle when changing to a shallower cut depth. Always feed tool inwards to the job, don't bring it back out just a tad. Bring it right out and then go back in again to where you want it to be. (If that makes sense!!)

The other thing with the speed is the increase was not linear. So a small movement of the knob at the lower end of the scale makes a big difference in rpm. I guess that is why digital tachos are sold as an accessory.

I certainly furthered my education on the mini vs micro lathes today. Called in earlier in the day to visit an old mate and he has just bought a 180mm swing x 350mm Chinese lathe. So I guess it is a large mini-lathe of sorts. No name on it. Blue in colour. It certainly is a more robust machine than the micro with a few extra features like a proper half nut and rack and wheel carriage quick traverse handle. It is more suitable for the small motorbike parts he works on. One example was turning a circlip groove in the OD of a bearing about 50mm diameter. Using a very nice T section parting blade and holder from Eclipse engineering in Melbourne. IIRC they do the tangential holders etc advertised in MEW. On the parting tool, the blade has a strip of carbide brazed on to the top of the T section HSS blade, so cuts through the hardened bearing race material with out a worry or a chatter. I'm pretty sure one of these will be gracing my Drummond before too long! Very impressive indeed.

But I think now Brian is getting his micro sorted, the smaller lathe will be ideal for the small model stationary engines he makes. Biggest Thing he will want to do is machine a 75mm flywheel. Otherwise it's all 12mm pistons and 3mm con rods and 6mm main shafts. All of which the Micro will take in stride I am sure.

Brian, be sure to post progress reports on that Bengs Stirling engine as you go, it's alittle beauty.

[Brian JohnParticipant @brianjohn93961]

Yes, I will be starting a separate thread for that kit . I am sure I will have questions and there will be some problems to be solved. I need to gain far more experience on the lathe before tackling that cast iron flywheel.

[roy entwistleParticipant @royentwistle24699]

Brian Others may differ but I would stongly suggest that you keep brass and particularly aluminium away from cutting disks and definitely away from grinding wheels I have cutting tools ie saws files drills etc specifically for brass when they become hard work on brass then they are uesd on steel

Roy

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Correction:

Oooops! That very excellent T profile parting tool came from ECCENTRIC ENGINEERING in Melbourne and not Eclipse as I said in my earlier post.

Brain fade to the nth degree brought on by the excitement of having stumbled on a local shop selling genuine Eclipse hacksaw blades earlier in the day.

My apologies to the good fellows at Eccentric Engineering.

[Brian JohnParticipant @brianjohn93961]

Roy : why keep brass and aluminium away from cutting discs ?

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

The soft aluminium can clog the cutting or grinding disc and make fracture more likely. Also if you have been grinding aluminium and then grind some steel the shower of sparks you will get from the steel could ignite the aluminium powder laying around or in the atmosphere as it burns quite easily. Think there is also a problem if you also get water involved.

Suggest you look up a few of the HSE douments on safe grinder use.

Also if using outside don't do it on your paving, that innocent bit of dust left laying on the stone will turn to rust and stain the stone. Watch that the sparks don't go near windows as they will leave tiny pock marks. Be careful with manmade clothing as the sparks if not aimed away from you can melt and make the fabric burn.

Edited By JasonB on 30/09/2015 07:41:17

[Brian JohnParticipant @brianjohn93961]

Well, I bought two cutting discs (different brands) so perhaps I should use one for steel and keep the other for brass and aluminium ?

If cutting outside there is unlikely to be large and dangerous quantities of aluminium powder lying around to be ignited but I will be mindful of this. I do not intend to be cutting large amounts of aluminium as would exist in an industrial situation..

I bought a saw horse and set up the vice on it outside in the courtyard today. The MT1 dead centres and half centres arrived this morning from Arceuro so I cut the ends off to make them fit the lathe which requires MT1 short. Wow, the grinder with cutting wheel cuts straight through in about 30 seconds…sure beats using a hacksaw or dremel tool.

NOTE : I always use a full face mask when using power tools……especially the grinder or rotary tool. Hearing protection too in the case of the angle grinder as it is very noisy even when not cutting anything.

 

Edited By Brian John on 30/09/2015 07:57:44

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Posted by Brian John on 30/09/2015 07:48:00:

I bought a saw horse and set up the vice on it outside in the courtyard today.

Edited By Brian John on 30/09/2015 07:57:44

Brian, did you tell the lads why you decided to set up an outside vice for the angle grinder?

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

One of the mags once carried a warning from a chap who had been severely burned grinding steel after aluminium on an ordinary hobby bench grinder.

If you remember the thermite reaction from school they only used a few teaspoons of metal powder.

Neil

[Gas_mantle.Participant @gas_mantle]

Posted by JasonB on 30/09/2015 07:32:51:

Also if using outside don't do it on your paving, that innocent bit of dust left laying on the stone will turn to rust and stain the stone.

On that subject if I'm sawing and the weather is ok I often do it on the paved patio outside my back door but have noticed my paving is starting to get orangey rust marks.

Any ideas how to get rid of it ? It's not too bad at the moment but I don't want it getting any worse, Domestos does kind of get rid of the worst but it's not ideal.

Peter.

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Thermite is the powder of aluminium and iron that is used for welding railway tracks, and similar heavy welds.

Ian S C

[David CambridgeParticipant @davidcambridge45658]

The thermite and grinder thing is rather worrying and that’s because this would have never occurred to me as a problem.

I was rotten at chemistry at school so I have no idea what I’m talking about, but I thought thermite was metal and metal oxide ?

David

[Martin KyteParticipant @martinkyte99762]

You are correct David. The Iron dust oxidises (rust) which with the addition of aluminium in powder form and heat can in some instances cause the thermite reaction. I think from memory that in the original ME post the person involved was using a linisher for aluminium that had been used previously for steel so there was both al dust and rust from the steel present in the belt which combined with the friction heating from the work caused the reaction to kick off. It would be good to dig up the original to discover the exact details. generally grinding wheels don't get much aluminium anywhere near them because it just clogs the wheel and why would you need to do that anyhow.

A good clean up after any use on the linisher with the workshop vacuum should keep most of us out of trouble I would have thought.

Regards Martin

[Brian JohnParticipant @brianjohn93961]

Hopper : yes, I did explain what happened when I cut the brass bar indoors with the angle grinder. I am surprised that my computer and my modem still work at all considering the amount of brass dust that was covering everything on the desk ! I will not be using the angle grinder indoors again.

If anybody is wondering why I would do things like this indoors , it is because I live in a small one bedroom apartment on the ground floor. There is a small ''outdoors area'' in the form of an uncovered courtyard but when the wet season starts it cannot be used for anything as it often rains for weeks at a time. So I am used to doing just about everything inside.

I used to airbrush in the bathroom too until one day I used a railway colour called ''crimson lake'' and all the tiles turned pink ! Most colours simply turn to dust as overspray but this colour is very slow drying and it was still wet when it hit the floor….huge mess !

[Gordon WParticipant @gordonw]

Rust stains- there are loads of commercial products for this job- look in the cleaning bay in supermarket, I think they are based on oxalic acid. I use domestos 'cause it kills moss and algie as well. What I would like is a paved patio.

[Martin KyteParticipant @martinkyte99762]

Why not just go for cinder paths like in the old days and not worry about it.

;0)

Martin

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Or use the hacksaw

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Brian, ISTR that Bunnings sells some grinding or cutting discs that are made specifically to use with aluminium. Presumably they would work ok on brass too.

[Brian JohnParticipant @brianjohn93961]

I bought an aluminium cutting wheel today ; it is twice as thick as the steel cutting wheels. I am not sure why that is but I will use it next time I have to cut aluminium or brass.

I seem to be using mostly the RH cutting tool since I bought the lathe. I am using the carbide tip tools (not indexable) for roughing cuts and using freshly sharpened HSS tools for taking finishing cuts. This is giving a very good result. Hopper's cutting tools are VERY sharp !

What sort of results should I expect with indexable carbide tips such as these ?

**LINK**

**LINK**

[Author]

Posts