anyone play with lathes?

the first time I saw one in action I was hooked, and had to have one. I was super fortunate and found this one on Craigslist for $250, a 1957 South Bend 9" in amazing shape. This was the day I got it home-



I use it mostly for making parts for my motorcycles, bicycles, and making rings.

One of the things I've made I'm most proud of is this stainless steel hammer for my father, it's more of a show piece but I guess you could technically use it.





made my wedding band, titanium with copper inlay-



2" spacer out of higher grade stainless for my dads boat-



most recently made this wooden ring-



I don't have any training except for some basics from friends and I am mostly just winging it, but with all the resources online and on youtube, it's been really fun to learn. I hope I'm helping to keep manual machining alive.

 

Very nice and might I add you suck a South bend for 250 dollars :}


Cypher

 

they are out there, just have to find the guys who got them for free and don't know what they are.

bought this one for $180, mostly cause I wanted the thread dial on it and it was a fun mini restoration, had to make a few parts to make it go again. but those dials go for over $200 and I sold the lathe without it for $400. super long bed and almost no wear.

 

I'm not totally sure, not the super expensive documented medical kind, a friend of mine had some extra stock and cut off 8" for me. It cut pretty well on the lathe but drilling and cutting it with cut off wheel sucked. I ended up having to drill a small hole and then just bore it out bit by bit with high speed steel.

 

good to know, thanks. I have some carbide but have generally experienced better results with hss (on other metals), although that was the only time I ever tried Ti.

 

Subbed.

Been watching machining videos at night for several months.. the rings are super creative, I wouldn't have thought to do that.

 

Thanks, but to be honest I didn't think of it either, it's all adaptations of things I've found on the internet. Good place to start I suppose.

 

I'd like to find a mini lathe one day for turning some acrylic and small metal pieces. Checked CL here and pickings have been slim, and pricey.

 

I grew up with a wood shop in the basement. In high school I turned wood bowls and sold them at craft shows. People were suckers for a young kid going to college. Made a bunch of $$$$ and paid for at least a semester of out of state tuition just from that.

 

My motor ended up being 3 phase, but instead of changing it out I purchased a phase converter for it, which has been pretty nice. It's good to have the dial to put the rpm anywhere you want, I think the converter was $120 on ebay or something. Have to see if my next rental house will have 220 power though.

 

Typically the houses I am in have detached garages and there is not always 220 running out to them. My current one does have it. I have thought about running a really really long extension cord from the house if I get into a situation where I would have to.

 

I like to play from time to time. 2014 TL-1; got it this summer with zero hours. Hasnt quite paid for itself yet but it's doing better than I thought it would (I'm a mill guy and just needed it for support)

 

Reported.

 

What am I missing? Was that directed at me?