You are ready to start cutting metal, but find that you didn't receive any cutting tools with the lathe. What else do you need to get started? This document covers the following lathes: Micro- Mark model 8. Micro. Lux 7 x 1. Miniature Lathe. Micro- Mark model 8. How to Use a Lathe Basic Operation of a Lathe Let's Use a Lathe! A lathe is a machine tool which turns cylindrical material, touches a cutting tool to it, and cuts the material. The lathe is one of the machine tools most well used by machining (Figure 1. In order to move the cutting tool, the lathe saddle and cross slide can be moved by hand. If you're feeding the saddle toward the headstock (as in the clip below) use a right-hand turning tool. Just as you can turn metal with a wood turning lathe, turning wood on a metal lathe is possible too. If you only need to turn wood occasionally, you can use your metal lathe. For a while during my early days as a turner I used an old 5 Micro. Lux 7 x 1. Heavy- Duty Lathe. Grizzly model G8. Mini Lathe. Harbor Freight model 3. Mini Lathe. Homier model 0. Speedway 7 x 1. 2 Metal Lathe. The tool rest is similar to a mechanical arm with a metal guide bar to support the chisel used for turning the work piece. It usually can be adjusted by sliding the length of the bed at its base, with an intermediate arm that can swing from a parallel to a perpendicular. Turning is the removal of metal from the outer diameter of a rotating cylindrical workpiece. Now we will use this pointed tool to make a square finishing cut into the corner of the shoulder. Since this is such a short distance, we will use hand feed, not power feed. Lathe Turning Tools Sheet Metal Machines Used Metalworking Machines We use cookies to help make our website better. For more information on cookies and how to block them, visit https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/online/cookies/. Http:// (view transcription of video below) Learn about the basics of metal lathe operations using our Smithy Granite combo lathe/mill/drill machines. You can visit us at www.smithy.com for more information or send us any questions about your project. Our trained technicians will be glad to help you with your. Turn the cutting tool upside down and reverse the machine’s spindle rotation. This creates a pulling force against the machine’s dovetail instead of a pushing one. If you have a similar small lathe, you might not need the exact part numbers described in this document, but you will need the same type of tools. We will discuss the tools you will need to perform different operations: turning, drilling, boring, and cutting off. Quick- Change? Before you start selecting particular tools, you might want to make a decision on whether or not you want to invest in a quick- change tool post. As we describe the various tools, we will show your options for each operation with and without a quick- change tool post. Quick- change tool posts are valuable in a production environment. You can change the cutting tool, knowing that you can return the tool to the exact same position relative to the work. This is important if you are turning out thousands of identical widgets. In most home shops, this is not important, as we are usually making one or two of a particular part. But quick- change tool posts have one feature that is important to home shop machinists, and that is height adjustment. You can quickly adjust the cutting edge of the tool to the exact center height of the work. Without a quick- change tool post, you have to shim tools that are too low, and simply can't use tools that are too high. Some of the tool posts that home shop machinists call quick- change tool posts don't have the . With a quick- change tool post you can use tools with shanks up to 3/8. It is reducing the outside diameter of a work piece. It's probably the first thing you will do with a lathe. There are two basic types of turning tools: high- speed steel tool bits, and carbide turning tools. High- speed steel tool bits start as rectangles of high- speed steel that you sharpen with a bench grinder. Before you can use it to cut metal, you use a bench grinder to shape and sharpen the end. There are several standard shapes for tool bits, which depend on the intended use. Here is information on rake and relief angles for high- speed steel lathe tool bits. Carbide turning tools come in two flavors. There are tool bits with brazed- on carbide tips, and indexable carbide turning tools. Tool bits with brazed- on carbide tips are relatively economical, but once the carbide tip is worn out, the entire tool bit is discarded. Indexable carbide turning tools consist of a shank of hardened steel with a small triangle of sintered carbide (called an insert) attached to the end. The carbide insert is factory sharpened with three cutting edges, one at each point of the triangle. When one point becomes dull, you rotate the next point into the cutting position. When all are dull you replace the insert. These turning tools are called indexable because you can change the insert without affecting the position of the cutting edge relative to the work piece. Cutting Tool Options. Part. Number. Product. Standard. Tool Post. Quick- Change. Tool Post. Tool Bit, 5/1. 6. Instead of the drill bit turning, the work rotates and the drill bit is fixed in the tailstock. To hold the drill bit you need a drill chuck. The drill chuck attaches to an arbor of the proper size for the drill chuck on one end and for the tailstock on the other end. Drilling an accurate hole on a lathe is a three- (or more) step process. First a very short and stiff drill bit (called a center drill) is used to drill a small starter hole. The stiffness of the center drill ensures that this starter hole is in the correct location. Then a relatively small drill is used to drill a pilot hole. Finally, successively larger drills are used to enlarge the hole to the required size. Drilling Tool Options. Boring. Boring is the action of enlarging an existing hole with a turning type tool. Because you are turning from the inside out, the boring tool is a different form from a regular turning tool. As with other operations on the lathe, there are several different choices of tools that will do the job. Carbide tipped boring bars are an economical way to get started boring. They come in a set that provides boring bars for different diameters and different depths of hole. Indexable boring bars with carbide inserts are also available. Boring Tool Options. Part. Number. Product. Standard. Tool Post. Quick- Change. Tool Post. Boring Bar Holder, 1/2. Most cut- off tools are too large for the mini lathe. Many of the cut- off tool options are adaptations of larger cut- off blades to the mini lathe. Cut- off blades are a narrow, but tall cutting tool. The ones used on the mini lathe are usually 1/2. They come in various widths of 5/6. Put a dead center in the spindle bore to support the near end of the work piece. The spindle is machined with a #3 Morse taper in the bore just for this. Put a live center in the tailstock to support the far end of the work piece. This is what . The small drill bit creates a clearance hole. The counter sink creates a 6. Use the 3- jaw chuck and a steady rest to hold the work piece while you center drill both ends. The lathe dog drives the work piece. Use a long bolt in one of the holes in the spindle flange to drive the lathe dog. Turning Between Centers Tool Options. Lathe Chucks. The 3- jaw chuck that comes with the mini lathe is the correct work holding device for most work done on the mini lathe. When you want to work on larger work pieces, rectangular work pieces, or work to a precision you can't achieve with a 3- jaw chuck, then another chuck option is appropriate. Because each jaw is independently adjustable, you can center your work piece more accurately than you can in a 3- jaw self- centering chuck. And, you can easily center square and rectangular stock in a 4- jaw chuck. If you simply want to turn work pieces that are too big for the standard 3- jaw chuck, then a 4- jaw or larger 3- or 4- jaw chuck is in order. The mini lathe is designed for a 3. You need an adapter to mount a 4. The adapter bolts onto the lathe's spindle flange. Lathe Chuck Capacities. Rated Capacity. Practical Capacity*Chuck. Center Hole. Inside Jaws. Outside Jaws. Inside Jaws. Outside Jaws. 3. Knurling is sometimes done for decorative reasons, but usually done to provide a non- slip finish to a hand- operated knob or hand wheel. Knurling Tool Options. Other Accessories. There are many other accessories that you can use with your mini lathe. Following are a few that you might want to consider as you get stared with your mini lathe. Faceplate. A faceplate allows you to turn work that cannot be held in a lathe chuck or between centers. You clamp odd- shaped work pieces to the faceplate for turning. Steady Rest. The steady rest supports the far end or a long work piece. Many times a steady rest is used to support the end of a work piece while you center drill it in preparation for supporting it with a live center. Follower Rest. The follower rest supports a flexible work piece adjacent to the cutting tool to keep it from deflecting away from the cutting tool. The follower rest mounts on the carriage and moves with the cutting tool. Milling Attachment. The milling attachment allows you to do light milling on your lathe. It replaces the compound rest and holds the work piece. With an end mill in the lathe chuck or an end mill holder in the spindle, you can mill a work piece held in the in the milling attachment. Spindle Tachometer. The speed at which the surface of the work piece passes the tool bit is important to achieve the best surface finish and highest production. The spindle tachometer provides positive feedback of the speed at which the spindle is turning. Cutting speeds vary by material, type of tooling, and work piece diameter. Tailstock Turret Tool Holder. Drilling large holes in a work piece is a multi step process. The tailstock turret tool holder provides a way to make this process more efficient. The tailstock turret tool holder holds up to five different tools, making it easy to center drill, and then step drill to a large hole size. Other Accessory Options. Starter & Spares Kits. We have assembled some of the basic tools that everyone needs to get started into a starter kit for the mini lathe. The starter kit contains the following items: Five 5/1. The kit contains the parts that fail most frequently, including: Five GMA- 5 fuses. One 2- speed Intermediate shaft gear. One 2- speed spindle gear. One timing belt. One timing belt motor pulley. One timing belt intermediate shaft pulley. Two power MOSFET transistors. Starter & Spares Kit Options.
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