Homemade Lathe

[Anonymous No.1285779]

Has anyone made or looked into making their own lathes? I've found two methods, the Gingery cast aluminum one and the Yeomans' style concrete lathe. The concrete lathe seems easier and less time consuming to construct.

[Anonymous No.1285782]

or you could make it out of normal parts and end up with a normal lathe. or buy the damn thing and make something else, maybe something where you in your garage are at less of a tremendous disadvantage relative to machine shops and factories all over the world.

[Anonymous No.1285795]

>>1285779
Metal or woodworking lathe? Woodworking lathes are easy to make.

[Anonymous No.1285797]

>>1285795
Metal

[Anonymous No.1285816]

>>1285779

Concrete shifts over time. It'd be a shame to put in all the effort (and it IS a lot of effort) only to have the thing inevitably end up out of square and parallel a year later.

You can do epoxy granite (basically concrete, but with epoxy instead of cement as the binder), which is used in some very high-end machines. It's way more expensive than concrete, though.

[Anonymous No.1285825]

>>1285779
CGI?

[Anonymous No.1285826]

>>1285782
>you in your garage are at less of a tremendous disadvantage relative to machine shops and factories all over the world.
So, I, in my garage, will not do the work as well as professionals with commercial grade equipment. Equipment that is more expensive than a guy in his garage could possibly justify?
Also DIY is a thing and has a meaning here in /diy/

[Anonymous No.1285937]

>>1285779
Hey Op, I’ve been looking into homemade lathes a lot lately too, here’s the first episode of many about this young man in college (I’m just a year or two older, still haven’t built one though :/) and in this video series, he builds a lathe himself with a 5 foot I-Beam as the base, keep in mind he had a few parts brought to his campus’ machine shop (god I wish my college had one) but for the most part, you shouldn’t have much trouble recreating what he does except the bearings since he got both sets (he first had 1’ diameter rod as the shaft, second bearings set had 2’ diameter shaft)

It’s definitely much harder but it looks pretty sturdy to me, he does use a treadmill motor and doesn’t modify the panel, just mounts it but still I gotta admit his creation does work very well from what I’ve seen.

Keep in mind most importantly, if you build one, you’ll have to fuck with it a lot to make sure you get your tool bit holder in the right place vertically so it can square off stock without leaving a “nipple” in the center.

Good luck!

[Anonymous No.1285939]

>>1285937
I forgot the link, Yay!

https://youtu.be/ob5v5KI9ngM

[Anonymous No.1285944]

Is linear rail good for bed slide or cross feed ?
I found a bunch of them in a junk yard near my home but I didn't have chance to test them out. I assume the ball bearings are all fucked.

[Anonymous No.1285980]

>>1285944
Believe it or not, I haven’t seen a single homemade lathe that uses them, all the ones I’ve seen use “gib screws”, sorry if I’m saying it wrong, Idk the terms but I do know they have a carriage on a track that sits on the track and moves along it on a threaded rod.
The “gib” screws push a bit of metal, looks like it’s usually aluminum, which is a strip of metal that is separate from the carriage and track, but has tension applied to it against the track from the “gib screws” which are tapped through the carriage.

[Anonymous No.1285989]

Whats that series of books that shows you how to make homemade drill press, lathe, etc?

[Anonymous No.1286002]

>>1285989
http://gingerybooks.com/

[Anonymous No.1286015]

>>1285944
What are you going to turn?

Do you have any idea why any generic lathe share basically the same design/construction details?

[Anonymous No.1286069]

Exactly the thread i wanted to start. I'm just starting to prototype the first parts and may post later when i'm in the shop.

Generally it's not really worth it (moneywise) to do it yourself. But months after starting to look for a used (mini) lathe and still no good offers i might as well start building one (buying a new one would be more than 1k$ here). My goal is a lathe about the size of a mini lathe which should have roughly the same (maybe a bit higher) capacity.

>>1285816
>Concrete shifts over time.

That argument comes around very often but i guess it's much less of a problem than everybody thinks, espacially in a homeshop environment. A lot of builders are using stock steel parts of the mill, so the bottleneck of precision won't really be the concrete shifting.

Normaly people would use UHPC instead of normal concrete which is cheaper than epoxy granite but suitable for machine applications (EPUDUR).

>>1285937
>Keep in mind most importantly, if you build one, you’ll have to fuck with it a lot to make sure you get your tool bit holder in the right place vertically

I don't think that's very important because that's a super easy fix even late in the build. Important is getting the spindle parallel to the bed and, if you're building a manual lathe, getting the ways square to each other.

>>1285944
>Is linear rail good for bed slide or cross feed ?
Yes. For the most part a much better choice than steel tubes or similar but you need rails with preload, because every play/slop will cause ratter marks.
>>1285980
There are a lot of builds with linear rails but mostly CNC. But i guess it's an advantage to be able to take the slop out with a gib after a few years. I haven't seen aluminium gibs though. Mostly they're from cast iron or brass.

[Anonymous No.1286075]

>>1286002
>gingerybooks
I think his construction is not really suited to our times now, because aluminium is getting expensive (also fuel is expensive where i live). I would think Alu also has a much too low dampening for machine tools but that's similar to the concrete shiftig issue. Existent in theory but probably irrelevant for a real build.

Though i might steal a few ideas from him, because building a spindle from scratch without a lathe is a difficult task. I may also go the temporary spindle route. Maybe i'm casting stuff like the tailstock but as said, low dampening, high price, a lot of work compared to other materials and bad wear properties may speak against it.

Btw. rational build or not look at makercise his build videos are great!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBuUOO3qn30

[Anonymous No.1286109]

In my opinion the most viable option is using boxways. Pic is my first rapidly cobbled up prototype plz ignore the scratches, random holes (scrap steel pieces), bad machining marks and shitty scraping.

The results were:
-steel is a huge PITA to scrape
-you'll need to start with a good surface finish. It takes forever to scrape down the machining marks if you didn't give a shit preparing the blank.
-besides i didn't even scrape this anywhere close to perfection but it started to work as a rail after just a few correction passes. It's still out at most like 0.05mm (0.002") one end and binds up but the rest is ok.
-As soon as i put way oil in it you can really feel how stiff it gets and how it dampens everything
-Tried to rock it with maximum stickout to check for play. I just get a little movement (without way oil) under 0.01mm.

This is after a little bit of scraping without much attention to anything, which tells me if i actually do give a fuck it's definitly a route to makeing useable rails.

Why steel boxways:
-Boxways should be stiffer as linear rails the same size, which i think should be very important for small machines
-Steel is abundant pretty much everywhere on the planet. If i actually come up with a working concept, it's easy to replicate. Cast iron bars are hard to get and expensive.
-Steel bars are super cheap
-Wear properties shouldn't be too important in the homeshop
-Easy to scrape for geometry (no dovetail angels) and easy to measure
-If you constrain the slides by a third rail in the middle (which is done by expensive machines to get even, symmetric thermal movement similar to using two front bearings as axial fixtureing point in spindles) you just need to scrape 3 rails flat and parallel. No angles at all. I'm not sure if this really is less work than to make an right angle master and scrape the sides, but i know, that small rail sides are hard to scrape. Geometry then is in aligning, not in scraping (should be easier).

[Anonymous No.1286120]

These would be the two different concepts. Maybe in (b) i could incorporate gibs for horizontal play adjustment though many commercial machines don't seem to have them. My prototype doesn't have them as well. Maybe i'll just put some shims in it and scrape till the play is minimised (the shim surface, not the long rail).

The next thing i want to try is to order some Moglice (or just mix epoxy with graphite. After all it's for the homeshop) and pour the sliding member sliding surfaces. That way it's even easier as only the rails have to be scraped. Also slip stick (problem with boxways) and torque necessary to move would be reduced.

Next evolution step would be a taperd gib (should be easy as the angle can be formed by casting too) but again for the homeshop, gib screws should be way good enough.

One problem with (b) i haven't thought of a solution yet is where to locate the gib screws so they are still accesable. Maybe cutting a slot in the table would be sufficient.

[Anonymous No.1286121]

>>1285779
>Has anyone made or looked into making their own lathes?
I did.

It's pointless.

You'll spend months if not years on fabricating / aligning / etc. To make something decent you have to have free access to a milling machine and a lathe.

At the end after spending many month you'll get a shitty lathe, not that rigid even if comparing to cheap chinese stuff (enjoy your chatter). Not to mention you can just get a used one which will be infinitely better than DIY one.

BTW having free access to a milling machine and a lathe you can just make extra $$$ and then buy a lathe.

[Anonymous No.1286123]

>>1286121
>I did.
I meant I was looking into doing a lathe. I ended up getting a used one and restoring it.

[Anonymous No.1286128]

>>1286123
>I ended up getting a used one and restoring it.
This is probably what will happen to me too. But like i said i'm watching the used market since months and it may take years till a good offer comes along. So while waiting i'd rather play around with a shitty lathe and learn a ton about machines than to look around on ebay all day and grieve. Plus i'm still a uni student and have time to spend in a shop now. In a year i'll have money and space to buy a big lathe but probably won't have the time to use it anymore.

[Anonymous No.1286131]

>>1286128
Basically it works like this:

1. You decide to get a lathe.
2. You start saving $$$
3. You constantly monitor used market, you go to various forums and check classifieds.
4. As time passes buy, you'll either found a great deal or you will end up having enough $$$ to afford whatever is available.

Also don't hesitate to drive few hundreds of miles if needed. It may be required unless a miracle happens and a great deal pop ups nearby (won't happen in years I believe)

[Anonymous No.1286132]

>>1286128
>i'll have money and space to buy a big lathe but probably won't have the time to use it anymore.

work / life balance is very important.

you should always have some spare time to enjoy your hobby. otherwise you'll burn in few years.

[Anonymous No.1286138]

>>1286131
That's how it's done and self and bros are successful examples.

Have a plan to move your machine without needing a rigger. That's key to convenience and having much more money to spend on the actual lathe or mill.

We scored a lot of equipment in relatively short time by getting on online auction lists like Bidspotter etc etc. We watch Craiglist, Fecesbook marketplace and local trade papers.

We keep our moving kit ready to deploy along with cordless and corded tools to fit onsite, which is mainly drilling holes for (quality, Grade 5 or 8) allthread to secure machine to very simple outrigger dollies I designed.

Have about two grand in reserve. You can't go hunting without ammo. If poor, have at least a thousand bucks.

KNOW your machinery. Practical Machinist and other sites are useful. Know what machines weight. You can rent hydraulic drop deck trailers if you don't have car trailer or similar handy.

Know rigging. Have ample heavy tiedown straps.

Secure mill tables, grinder tables, and lathe tail stocks and cross slides before transport.

Make machines mobile. Collect used heavy industrial casters and useful steel. Learn how others fab mill and lathe bases or dollies for ease of movement.

Don't forget you can rent pallet jacks, machinery skates (tippy and dangerous, study how to place them) etc.

You'll need measuring tools and tooling, which you can acquire before you get a lathe or mill and need to make it usable.

Have a detailed plan. Fiddling with a shit lathe project backfires because you could have been filling your machinist tool needs first!

[Anonymous No.1286147]

>>1286138
the money i would spend on renting rigging stuff, a big enough trailor, in most cases i'm not allowed to drive because the load is too heavy so i even need a driver, material for the tools you describe (let alone i have no experience lifting heavy stuff and don't want to start with a lathe in someone elses shop with probably expensive stuff around) and gas is around the same as for a mini lathe and definitely a lot more than for material for an eternal lathe project.

Till now my calculated material cost would be about 350eur acme rods, VFD, Molice and DHW, steel, fasteners and 4 jaw chuck (i need that anyway for my rotary table) included. Of course a project like that at least doubles in price while building it but moving a big machine would probably cost me that much just for gas. Plus i want a lathe small enough to use in my city apartment. Small lathes are hard to find and super expensive. Sadly there aren't much Atlas or Myfords or minis around here. I'd probably use a nema34 i already have and go the electronic leadscrew route -> No changegears and a VFD should be a very nice package which i wouldn't even find on the used market.

I wouldn't hesitate using a grinder on a self made lathe because i'd be sure i can't destroy anything i can't restore. For some reason i really struggle with that on bought machines even when putting rags and shit everywhere.

Still even if i really start this project i'd never stop monitoring the used market. As i said i bet as soon as i'm halfway in i'll find the perfect offer locally.

[Anonymous No.1286163]

>>1286132
Ask me how I know you're a millennial.

[Anonymous No.1286164]

>>1286163
When i think back of my time while doing my bachelors my the life part is pretty much zero. I have more time now because the masters degree is pretty chill compared to that.
But i can garantuee as soon as i start to work in a real job it takes at least 5 years till i have the time to build up a homeshop. Work/Life balance is not really one of my strong points and i don't even try to change that. If i start a family on the way it's probably out of the question before i'm close to 40. So now is the time to do it (in my mind).

[Anonymous No.1286251]

Probably the best ever homemade lathe
http://www.lathes.co.uk/elffers/

[Anonymous No.1286252]

[Anonymous No.1286256]

Would be perfect for the desk in an apartment.

[Anonymous No.1286261]

This one i'm not that big of a fan of. I don't think round steel tubes are rigid and precise enough. Hard to get the slop out if they're not super accurately made. Spindle looks nice though not sure what kind of bearings are used. But proofs it's doable in all steel construction. I wonder if he has any problems with the welded up structures creeping.

[Anonymous No.1286265]

This one (also youtube project "rather B welding") he seems to put a lot of effort in and has good intention but seems to lack the prior research. Going bigger and bigger on the spindle isn't any good unless you have the right bearing and arrangement. Not worth it without any preload setting possibilites. I didn't watch all the videos but on the ones i watched it seemed like he's getting a lot of chatter caused by sloppy ways. Not sure if everything is properly aligned either.

[Anonymous No.1286292]

>>1286256

If that was homemade without a mill and lathe then it's awesome.

The design looks awful though. Is the whole thing supported by that one pedestal?

[Anonymous No.1286303]

>>1286251

that is very nice. 80 year old dude.

[Anonymous No.1286311]

>>1285826
I've met many machinists who also work out of their garage at home and make excellent money doing it one-offs and small runs.

Never underestimate manual machining in the right hands. Learning manual is VERY important to understanding how to correctly operate CNC machines. "Feel" teaches you much that words cannot express.

Ignore me and ask any professional.

>>1285980
The parts the screws bear on are still gibs, just simple ones vs. the "dovetail" variety on commercial machines. If they get the play out, all well and good!

>>1286075
Some small commercial lathes use automotive tapered roller bearings. It's an old practice making overhaul easy.

Aluminum "expensive"?? If you are casting you can use quality scrap.

I'd rather make a machine from steel plate and shapes. A combination of weldments and plate is used on many commercial manual lathes. Cast aluminum is weak and the only reason for casting is to get particular shapes you've not figured out weldments for. There are plenty of old books on machine design to help.

Having some of your parts Blanchard ground is affordable if you've a shop in reasonable distance which does it. You can also have blank plate ground then finish machine that. Most hobbyists don't know this but it's a hyuuuge time saver for machine builders.

>>1286120
Beveled gibs tighten horizontally and vertically. Consider that for a much tighter machine.

[Anonymous No.1286326]

>>1286147
>the money i would spend on renting rigging stuff, a big enough trailor, in most cases i'm not allowed to drive because the load is too heavy so i even need a driver, material for the tools you describe (let alone i have no experience lifting heavy stuff and don't want to start with a lathe in someone elses shop with probably expensive stuff around) and gas is around the same as for a mini lathe and definitely a lot more than for material for an eternal lathe project.

If you read up on the subject all becomes MUCH easier than one might assume. I'm a cheap fucker and get it done on a regular basis. Do as you please but continue to study moving machinery because that intimidates most noobs and should not. My method is actually safer than a forklift or skates and I used scrap 4" channel for most of it. Hoard heavy scrap you don't think you will need no matter what you do. I cut up 12" I-beam with a recip saw and cheap spray lube to cool the blades because I couldn't use a torch at that location. Now my shop sits upon them.

You can use heavy beam for your lathe bed too, and have the edges ground if you wish.

You can buy Acme threaded rod, nuts and buy or make "half nuts". Avoid using other threads for that purpose.

Other fun things to keep in mind are used machinery parts. Estate auctions etc often have useful bits and pieces the pros ignore. You'll know what you can use when you see it.

Small, old turret lathes can be had dirt cheap. Most people ignore how useful they are. You can fab or adapt tail stocks to them.

If you want adjusting screws to stay put and you have enough room, metal lock nuts used as jam nuts work nicely.

If your local scrap yard are cool you may find all sorts of useful parts, sometimes including machine tools. Scrap prices are still low at least in CONUS.

[Anonymous No.1286329]

>>1286326
>CONUS.

fuck. here in US shit is expensive

[Anonymous No.1286361]

>>1286329
>fuck. here in US shit is expensive

Retail, yes. There are many ways around that retail and every shop including small professional shops use them. My pro machinistbro gets nearly all his carbide and other tooling from Ebay and auctions. He's fucking wallowing in it. Self and hobbybros do very well but it takes time to hone your scrounge-fu. We monitor sources online in the evenings and message each other if something looks interesting. I provide the truck, old car trailer and basic rigging gear. If it's for him, he buys fuel and food. If for me, he brings his gear and helps and I pay consumables. If there's something my half-ton trucks (with upgraded rear springs) won't haul, we have bros with bigger vehicles. If they suddenly died then I'd rent something suitable.

It's easy to go from zero to too much gear. We never stop hunting but after a while it's so instinctual there's little effort.

[Anonymous No.1286363]

>>1286109
You need a surface grinder based on your monolog.

[Anonymous No.1286455]

>>1285939
This is relevant to my interests
Thank you

[Anonymous No.1286458]

>>1286121
So, /Do it yourself/ has become /Shopping/ ?

[Mr.T !LeoPard6uk No.1286487]

>>1286458
>So, /Do it yourself/ has become /Shopping/ ?

When you need some steel, are you buying one or mining ore?

When you need a drill bit, you are buying one?

When you need a hand drill, a hammer are you buying one or making one on your own?


99% of DIY visitors/posters aren't experienced enough to estimate time/effort required to a build something simple, not to mention a lathe.

The other issue is lack of common sense and experience with machining in this very thread.

Building rigid / precise lathe requires solid knowledge in strength of materials field which many DIY's lack.

Ever wonder why metal working lathes are built that heavy?

[Anonymous No.1286491]

>>1286458
If you want EFFECTIVE /diy/ you learn what NOT to DIY so you don't get bogged down by futile time sinks and actually end up with something useful CAPABLE OF PRODUCING PARTS TO SPEC!

Hurf, durf, maek errything....drool.....

When it comes to machine tools I fully understand the fog of horny desperation to find alternatives. I also understand how to inspect, repair and modify machine tools but the reason I don't BUILD the motherfuckers is I want to USE my machine tools to get real fucking work done. Process is relatively simple. Get machine tool, clean and adjust machine tool, fit with VFD or RPC if no three phase, then start making chips. You can use lathes and mills to make lathe and mill parts, jigs, fixtures and much more. Or you can play fiddle fuck. Your choice.

The best avenue of attack is copying actual fucking success. Not your retarded porch primate dreams of silly shit. Go make homebrew Play Doh or something then paint it to simulate tendies you moronic human obstacle crybaby shitbag. Kill yourself, your pets, your relatives and anyone who looks like you.

Ever wonder why the world isn't flooded with EFFECTIVE home shop built machine tools? Think about it. We've had centuries to make it happen. Contemplate why it hasn't despite epic DIY jobs of every other type, some on large scale like building (proper, not shipping container) metal-hulled boats. The answer you will find is that many jobs don't realistically DOWNSCALE. Casting lathe beds comes to mind, but shucks, let's grab some iron pipe from da hardware store and have at it. Say you come up with a large home foundry, learn over many castings how to make proper patterns, and manage to cast the bed from nice stable iron (not your melted beer can collection). Then you still have to mill it with a large horizontal mill then grind then scrape the bed. Don't have scrapers or straight edges? Make those. You still need every other cast and machined part.

[Anonymous No.1286503]

>>1286163
>Ask me how I know you're a millennial.
It took me well over 10 years of hard, dedicated work to realize how fucking important work / life balance.

I'm a software engineer, I make good $$$, also I see what happens to young guys in 3-4 years of dedicated work. There are a lot of "autists" in SW Engineering and many of them are living like shit. They do not excersize, do not go to gym, do not hang out with mates, and in few years they are all slouching and have typical skinny fat look (tiny arms and a belly).

[Anonymous No.1286511]

>>1286487
Thats nice, but why so tripfag tripfag?

[Anonymous No.1286619]

>>1286292
That's a typical clockmakers lathe design. I'd say definitely made with a mill and lathe. I guess homemade lathe is not only homemade lathe gingery style without other machine tools. The stiffness comes from the bed and not from the stand. I never understood the heavier is always better argument. You need weight in the right places, not just weight. It doesn't scale so of course you need a dedicated foundation for a huge industrial lathe.


>>1286311
Scrap aluminium is expensive. It's actually not that weak compared to cast iron. The main reason against it seems to be that it creeps over time, is expensive and has very low dampening.

I think for the head- and tailstock i will use weldments but i try to avoid that if i can. My mother actually has an oven big enough to stress relieve a small lathe bed but refuses me to use it for that purpose. The rest will be just bolted steel plates. Bolt connections are very stiff if the surfaces are scraped or treated with DHW and increase dampening a LOT.

Having stuff ground is completely out of the question as it's more expensive as a new machine would be. I plan to do the same as some big manufacturers do to eliminate grinding and machining -> DHW and Moglice.

If you mean beveled as in dovetail way that's excactly what i try to circumvent. As i said scraping stuff parallel is easy and fast. Dovetails need prior machining of stock which induces stress, everything moves on you yadadada So you have to mill it 4 times till it's nearly flat and in the right geometry. I have a mill but still that's not something i plan on doing (tried that already).

And yes i plan on using the same taper roller bearings as all the smaller china machines do (30207 or 32007?).

[Anonymous No.1286629]

>>1286326
Tried to lift a machine the right way once. After hours of googling i still didn't know if i'm actually allowed to put broad lifting straps through eye bolts or not. I found no book or material on that subject other than load ratings for different types of hardware.

I remember moving a big drill at my uncles place when i was younger. We used a prybar to put in steel round bars and it was easy to move around. They also had to move a big lathe. But for transportation i think they just gave in and used a big truck with a crane (wasn't there anymore).

Fork lifts are actually a pretty dangerous method of moving machinery unless the machine is designed for it. Saw a lot of machines on the market damaged exactly that way.

I saw a few turret and second op lathes too but sadly on the cheaper ones often other important parts are missing too (like the crossslide).

Heavy beam is similar to my plan. Of course i would use ACME screws. I can't understand how people use allthread even at the lowest of budgets. It seems to be about the same or maybe a little higher price but even comes with a specified lead error often around 0.1-0.05mm/300mm.

>>1286363
>You need a surface grinder

YES. But it's main purpose of making things very flat is one of the few things i can do with hand tools. So i definitely won't buy a surface grinder before i have a lathe.
A surface grinder able to do what i can do with a small surface plate would have to be pretty huge anyway.

[Anonymous No.1286632]

>>1286491
>If you want EFFECTIVE /diy/ you learn what NOT to DIY so you don't get bogged down by futile time sinks

Yeah that's true. But sometimes the time sink is the actual thing of interest, sometimes it's about finding out if something possible (admittedly one of the harder DIY fields. Look at Ben Krasnows channel btw. He is good at it)

I guess machine tools are often the goal of such undertakings because they seem to be very rewarding and their buying counterparts are very expensive.

I think the world isn't flooded because up to ten years ago it was nearly impossible to gather all the information you need in a lifetime. Today it's just 20sec google till you find the bearing seat specifications and possible arrangements of high precision stuff. When i buy ACME screws at my supplier you get all the stuff like torque needed, critical RPM, buckling forces, duty cycles... for free without even asking. Machine tools need a very broad range of knowledge too. Still i get mad at a lot of youtube people (espacially the i build useless shit like a dremel from a DC motor with hot glue with shitty generic dubstep background music but i have 1200000 subs type) who start to make shit without any research at all.

Effective and efficient is relative. Casting e.g. is for mass production. It's not just the way it should be done. Steel welding+dampening is the way to go for one offs (btw principles of rapid machine design - great info). Being effective on this level means to me that i buy a surface plate (could make one myself) but scrape rails (very expensive to buy the same precision). I weld before i cast. I bought my scraper (files are shit). But the most important part what most people get wrong: If you do something new, put at least at much time in planning/research as in execution, and under no circumstances expect it to be cheaper than the existing solution.

[Mr.T !LeoPard6uk No.1286638]

>>1286632
>If you do something new, put at least at much time in planning/research as in execution,
> and under no circumstances expect it to be cheaper than the existing solution.

[Anonymous No.1286643]

>>1286638
Tell us more wise one.

[Anonymous No.1286758]

>>1285944
dmg uses it for their cross slides, so why the heck not

[Anonymous No.1286780]

>>1286643
If you don't respond to him, he'll go away.

[Anonymous No.1287013]

here is a picture of my lathe that i have been building for a while now. the main difficulty, and what has been the most time consuming in research and production, has been spindle/bearing preload

[Anonymous No.1287022]

it is still work in progress, and the spindle is functional, but it is missing some of its main features and i wanted to get the spindles working before i started on the rest of the lathe, this spindle is a combo of high speed and gearbox driven. the cylinder has a cam slide thing to engage/dis engage the harmonic gearbox attached to the back of the spindle for milling operations. this lathe will also have a y axis to be able to preform proper xyz milling operations . live tooling variations pictured in back right of pic with brushless dc motor

[Anonymous No.1287107]

Why not make the chink shit milling machine from a laundry list of chinese industrial lego off banggood?

[Anonymous No.1287126]

>>1286487
So, shopping is your diy then?
Where do you draw the line?
Why machine when you can just buy parts?
There's always someone who can do it better anyway.
Most of us are just looking for something to fool around with between Gingery and full on Bridgeport.
At least I am.

[Anonymous No.1287127]

>>1286491
>I want to USE my machine tools to get real fucking work done
I want to build stuff and dick around as a hobby.
I do real work at work.

[Mr.T !LeoPard6uk No.1287158]

>>1287126
>So, shopping is your diy then?
I can't build anything w/o shopping. I buy pipes, round stock, tools, fasteners, I also pay others to machine stuff I can't.

I bought TIG AC/DC welder despite I can easily make one. Because it was cheaper and much faster, I decided I'd spend my time learning how to weld instead.

I didn't built a lathe and it didn't take a year, I spent few weeks restoring old lathe instead.

I built DIY turbo kit for my bike, I love getting things done and I don't like wasting time doing redundant/unnecessary stuff.

If your hobby is time wasting then go ahead. If you enjoy building / fabricating then it's better to understand that you don't have infinity time to spare and you should not waste years for something that can be done in weeks.

[Anonymous No.1287168]

>>1287158
What you enjoy building and what other people enjoy building can be entirely different things.

Some people actually like building tools.

[Mr.T !LeoPard6uk No.1287187]

>>1287168
>Some people actually like building tools.
I surely understand that. I just try to point out that you should not waste your life trying to build subpar lathe suitable for extremely light duty when you can have a used one and move on.

[Anonymous No.1287262]

>>1286109
fyi scraping steel requires a 20 degreee positive rake where cast iron requires negative 5.

[Anonymous No.1287289]

>>1287107
I don't get that Z axis.

[Anonymous No.1287293]

>>1287289
>I don't get that Z axis.

I built one using that guide and all I ever got it to do was drill a hole. It was cool watching the drill press move all over the place but the stock moved with it. I think it proves the special theory of relativity or some shit.

[Anonymous No.1287385]

>>1287262
I thought heavy positive rake is mostly for powerscraping but i may try that with a HSS scraper. I don't really have problems with chatter, more with the blade digging in at the end of the cut. As Richard King proposed on practical machinist i'm trying to lift up the scraper at the end of the cut which works but seems to be slower and i have less controll that way.

[Anonymous No.1287436]

>>1286487
>99% of DIY visitors/posters

I suppose you're the glorious 1% Mr. Tripfag.

[Anonymous No.1287447]

get a cheap Prvomajska from and restore it
these things are like tanks and every fellow machinist was though on one of them.
Still have one and damn there's nothing like them

[Anonymous No.1287524]

>>1286629
The right way on a budget (and superior in many cases to typical rigging) is how I do it.

Lift with pry bar and blocking to slide predrilled downward facing channel or similar under machine base. Drop your previously cut quality allthread through the bolt holes in the base and through the holes you drilled in the channel. Lift allthread enough to slide your hex nut underneath it which you can hold by open end wrench, visegrip etc. Spin allthread into nut until you've got ~1/4" of threads on the other side. Then spin another nut down the upper section of that allthread. Snug firmly but don't go insane. Repeat for other mount points.

You can also use angle, which I prefer for milling machines. Either way, when you cut your material leave enough room to do the same allthread trick with two (preferably castered) outriggers perpendicular to your base metal.

Then you can lift your machine easily using a wrench on the top nut of the allthread. Snug nuts after lift and drag your machine where ever you want. Size your outriggers to fit standard car trailers or whatever trailer you use. No tipping, no sliding, and unlike a forklift you can use this method in very confined areas.

Pic is bros dovetail ram Bridgeport on my outrigger setup on his trailer (which he built per his own design and MUCH stronger than it looks). Green color is a coincidence. Angle iron beneath machine base clears a pallet jack. Owner gave it back to me because he's short. I left my other angle under my BP.

Best way to load is to pull. I use Wyeth-Scott cast steel comealongs but any suitable winch or comealong will do.

[Anonymous No.1287526]

>>1287168
>Some people actually like building tools.

How many have you finished and what work do they perform?

[Anonymous No.1287544]

>>1287524

Jesus christ stop posting this.

Anyone with a brain: get some hilman rollers and a heel bar. I don't know why this guy is so fucking obsessed with displaying his rudimentary moving skills. Just fuck off already, there is one fucking way to move machinery, and that's with machinery fucking skates.

Also, do you have to write a goddamn novel every time? It just makes me think you have a sad, shitty life.

[Anonymous No.1287567]

>>1287385
even with the Biax you still use neg 5 for cast iron. I've never actually tried hand scraping steel, seems like it would be a massive bitch to do. also the neat thing about a Pos 20 blade is that you can flip it and the neg 20 side is about right for scraping aluminum.

[Anonymous No.1287581]

>>1287524
yeah i saw you posting this before and saved a smiliar picture. I'm not allowed to drive with such a trailer (let alone build one myself) though.

[Anonymous No.1287590]

>>1287567
actually it needed a lot less force to cut as i anticipated. It's just that there are a lot of burrs (the "digging in" raises a huge one) and the chips are tiny needles. I've read that before and weirdly didn't experience it on the first passes. But later my hands were full of tiny steel darts (and still are... some took 2 weeks to grow out again). Now i just put on some leather welding gloves while scraping. At the very beginning i tried a piece of some european variant of 12L14 and it was very easy to scrape but i think that wouldn't be a very suitable bearing material.

Today i found a supplier of "precision" ground prehardened tool steel which is quite reasonably costwise. I'll order a bar and check how parallel it is. If it is below or around 0.01mm maybe i just declare the problem solved and use that.

[Anonymous No.1287940]

>>1287581
Someone somewhere near where you live has a trailer and would likely help out for cash or barter. Don't people move things in the mysterious country you cannot post? Find out by asking around. You'd only need it for about one workday, less if you get your machine ready to roll beforehand.

That dolly style also works with rollback recovery trucks and similar. If it's a local move any towing company likely has machine moving experience and winching a nice sable machine (that dolly style is exceptionally stable) onto the bed is quite easy.

In Europe knuckleboom trucks are popular and their cranes can easily handle machinery. The dolly keeps the machine stable on the bed. They can lift using web slings etc. It's no different than picking a car.

http://c8.alamy.com/comp/CR98BP/car-on-a-tow-truck-munich-bavaria-germany-europe-CR98BP.jpg

Tell us approximately where you live and someone with local knowledge may be on this board.

[Anonymous No.1287952]

>>1287544
I do it because it works on surfaces your beloved skates do not, including gravel and rough pavement.

Your rollers and bar are fine on smooth, level, hard surfaces. They do NOTHING to stabilise the machine. Pic related is of my professional machinist bros using my gear because their skates wouldn't work nearly as well. They didn't get the idea until they used it.

Good luck safely controlling a mill or lathe (they got the lathe from that shop later the same way) on that surface and winching it onto a trailer using skates. Skates do nothing to keep machines stable on the trailer so you need to remove them for transport.

If your trailer shifts with a machine on skates you'd better have the machine controlled by straps during your loading, and that's much more work than a simple winch and tie down.

Skates work well on smooth surfaces in-shop but that's all. If you use four on anything but a perfect surface only three will be loaded, which is why experienced movers try to use three instead. I have plenty of skate time.

Now google "moving a Bridgeport" to see MANY custom machinery dollies made by pros and some amateurs.

Skates also fail traversing questionable floors where the rollers can stick on soft areas or because of high point loading even punch through. I use a pipe skid for those.

Do what I do with skates. I can borrow a set any time, They suck for picking up machinery at auctions. They don't lift the machine. They don't CONTROL the machine. It merely rests on them. They don't provide tiedown points.

Why does this trigger you? Most people have no idea how to do these jobs so I post useful info. The pro riggers at our auction pickups don't talk shit. They like the idea.

It's easy.
It's stable.
It's exceptionally safe.
It's dirt cheap.
It adapts to any load.
It controls lathes which are top heavy as fuck.

The "pipe skid" style you've also seen me post is used for oil field skids and much more. Are those guys stupid too?

[Anonymous No.1287971]

What have we here? Not mine, love the pivot design in pic related though.

(Add a Photobucket hotlink fix to your browser to see older pics in most forums.)

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/general/how-i-move-machinery-204802/?highlight=machinery+skates

[Anonymous No.1288032]

>>1287940
>Someone somewhere near where you live has a trailer and would likely help out for cash or barter. Don't people move things in the mysterious country you cannot post? Find out by asking around.

I know two people with the drivers license necessary and both are working more than full time and have zero time for my projects. I live in Germany so i can't just rent the biggest trailer i can find and go at it.

Those little trucks with a crane would be my number one choice (though i'm not allowed to drive them too). I'm planning to buy a mid size Maho, Deckel or similar CNC (those are easy to get here) in a few years and they're perfect for that. But for now i'm uni student and i'm talking about cheap lathes so below 1k €. A truck like that costs over 250€ a day gasonline included so it's not really an option.

>>1287952
I saved pic related some time ago because i think that's one of the best methods. In 90% of the cases theres slopes, grass and whatever to cross to get to a private shop. I really like the idea of stabilising the machine because most of them have a small footprint and are very top heavy (which makes it even more scary than just the pure weight).

At least some of the german made machines have a through hole at the center of gravity so lifting is quite easy with a 50mm steel bar. I think that's the best way for getting it on and off a truck.

[Anonymous No.1288039]

>>1288032
The good side is you are in a country which made and makes very nice machine tools.

Toolroom lathes are always hard to find since everyone wants them but would be worth hunting in case you get lucky.

[Anonymous No.1288084]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFrVdoOhu1Q

This is without a doubt one of the best homemade lathes ever. He gives some good advice for building your own.

[Anonymous No.1288090]

>>1287293
if you made the vertical portion a separate piece overhanging it, attached to the same base as the rest then it might work better. There's nothing attaching the side portion of the table to it in the diagram, but it has only a small distance before that would ram into it anyway.

[Anonymous No.1288093]

>>1285825
https://hackaday.com/2016/04/20/casting-a-lathe-out-of-concrete/

[Anonymous No.1288099]

>>1288084
That's a beauty, but calling it "home" made is a stretch unless he lives in his shop. You can see his very nice industrial shop through the windows. That's no hobby.

He correctly refers to it as "scratch built". Magnificent professional work.

[Anonymous No.1288100]

>>1288099
That really is his home shop, but yeah the guy's like the founder of a large engineering firm and does all prototyping at home. Doesn't take away that I'd suck a few cocks for a home shop like that.

https://spie.org/membership/spie-professional-magazine/spie-professional-archives-and-special-content/octob-2010-spie-professional/beginners-luck?SSO=1

[Anonymous No.1288110]

>>1285779
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFrVdoOhu1Q

Watch and weep at the inferiority of your works.

[Anonymous No.1288125]

>>1288084
Homemade yes but that's a different scale. You probably would get a nice HLV and CNC Mill for what he payed for parts. It's "homemade" but his home is better equiped than a lot of professional shops.

He knows his stuff though and his prototyping youtube series is great.

[Anonymous No.1288128]

>>1288125
Yeah I stowed away my dream of having one of those as soon as he mentioned that he got an engineer build a custom software package for him.

[Anonymous No.1288147]

>>1285779
just saw a atlas/craftsman 8" lathe with quick change gearbox for $100, had steady rest too - they just wanted to get rid of it

check out estate sales