Thread: In a bit of a pickle here

There is an old saying that "to a man with a hammer, everything is a nail". In the same vein you don't need to have projects in mind to warrant having a lathe - if you have the lathe then the ideas for using it will follow suit.

My advice would be - if you have the ability to get a lathe at you age then go for it. As you get older and start with the whole mortgage and family thing it becomes far more difficult to justify buying one so get in now while you have the opportunity. I envy you, it took me until I was 50 to get my own lathe, I would have killed for one at your age.

Good to see a young bloke with the foresight that you have , a solid trade background in the hands on skills is a good foundation for a degree in mech engineering .
I have come across many mech engineers who have no idea how to make anything.

Gavin is right , get your lathe now .Remember that as you grow in your skill base you will want to do larger jobs so don't restrict your self to a small lathe if you can help it.
Took me along time to get my lathe due to moving around and family commitments .
Now my kids are grown up I can finally get to do the things I had to sideline for so many years.

There are many projects you can make , like centre height gauges , die and tap holders for the tail stock , cross drilling jigs etc .
Look at the workshop practice series of books and you will find a heap of stuff to make.

Also you will be able to do small jobs for friends and neighbours , stuff that a machine shop will charge a fortune for , but because you have low overheads you can charge much less, and make a bit of cash on the side to fund your purchasing of tools etc.Now life is too short , weekends are even shorter.
I am so busy I don' t know how I find time to attend my day job.

Kev.

If you want to become a mechanical engineer, you may want to look into making small simple steam/air engines..

Welcome Fabricator,

Don,t worry about finding the projects, they will find you.
As people find out you have a lathe you be surprised at what they will want you to make and what you can do.

As the guys have indicated get the biggest lathe you can .In you case probably the biggest that you can move about with as you will most likely be moving about as a young fella..
However to wet your whistle ,so to speak here are some links,
Betch ya find some thing you will want to make.

http://www.projectsinmetal.com/free-...-faced-hammer/

http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~bolo/workshop/metal.html

http://www.frets.com/HomeShopTech/hstpages.html

Cheers
Grahame

so you want a lathe eh what a great idea that AL-50 is a good machine but if you live up here in Brisbane or in Melbourne then look at the Steel master brand ones they are the same machines just a little cheaper and sometimes with more accessories and specs. the smaller 7" machines are also good loads of people do great stuff on them. if you do want a larger machine be warned they take more work

thankyou all, i asked dad about the workshop today, and he said maybe in the holidays we can build it. and he wants me to make the angle brackets to hold the roof up up!! so im hoping i can start turning real soon

also what do you guys think about shop layout? i have two fairly solid buit benches, one for welding ( outside under the awning ) and one for fitting i have in my lil mini shop at the moment. i also plan to have a cupboard at the fornt with all the PPE i will need. so when i move into the new shop, i hope to build a big, strong bnech capable of holding a drill, cut off saw , grinder and the possible ( fingers crossed ) lathe. but what would be the best layout and place to put tooling and other random stuff i use
http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/3279/shop.png

Rule number 1. Keep your grinder and cut-off saw as far away from the precision equipment like your lathe (and milling machine in time). The grinder and cut-off saw generate lots of metal dust - if this gets onto the ways of your lathe it will act as a grinding paste and wear them quickly. I have my metal workshop divided into "dirty" and "clean" areas to reduce the risk but I still keep the lathe & mill covered up when grinding or using the cutoff saw.

Rule number 2. You can never have enough storage space, cupboards, drawers.

Keep your eye out for a short length of railway line, about a foot or 300mm. Mounted on a piece of pipe welded to a cement filled car rim it makes a great anvil - much better than beating on your vice. Probably best not to cut it from a current rail-line though - they don't like gaps in train lines for some strange reason

When you are locating the machines make sure you will not be working in your own shadow, especially with the lathe you need good light to see what you are doing.

Lengths of PVC pipe strapped to one wall make a good way of storing lengths of material. Keep the steel stock greased to reduce surface rust,

Looking at your diagram I note that your welding area is down the end away from the doors, personally I'd have them nearer to the doors - welding generates plenty of fumes and you really need good ventilation. Also you will surely end up welding stuff up that will not easily fit into your workshop - in which case you need your welders as close to the outside as possible.

phew, theres a lot to think about when setting up, but thanks heaps. that would have saved me a bed regrind down the track

haha i just re-read your post Gavin and saw the (milling machine in time) i laughed because i can see myself buying one because "i have a lathe, of course i need a mill"

I wouldn't get overly hung up over the layout just yet. Experience will tell you where things work the best as you develop so just arrange things as you think best now, over time you'll shift things around as you find better ways of doing things.

I've been in my current 20m x 10m workshop for at least 30 years and I still move things around from time to time. My solution for space was to build a second shed for woodworking and then a third for flammable stores - but there is a limit to this expansion - it's called the local council or the wife!

Make sure you have plenty of power outlets - you can never have enough of those! Also make sure you have a decent fire extinguisher located near the door and make sure you know how to use it.

Originally Posted by the fabricator

haha i just re-read your post Gavin and saw the (milling machine in time) i laughed because i can see myself buying one because "i have a lathe, of course i need a mill"

Yes, my missus reckons I spend most of my lathe time making tooling for the mill and most of my mill time making tooling for the lathe. At least she knows where I am.

Speaking of which, it's a bit early for you at 16 but when/if you get married and buy a house you need to set up the ground rules, when the boss and I married thirty odd years ago I told her that the workshop was for working in, not for storage of house stuff. We've stuck to that and thus I have a clear shop to work(play) in. In contrast I know a number of guys who never get to do much in their shed as it's stuffed full of household c#$p.

i work in a storage space now and have to crawl and duck under and over bikes and camping gear to find that one tool or headset bearing, so there aint nothing getting stored in the shop, except tooling i use

G'day Fabricator and welcome to our version of the Goon Show.

Look in the woodwork forums, there are plenty of things associated with Woodwork that you can do also. Indexing plates, steadies, Coles jaws, lathe parts for repair or replacement. You can make metal pens.

Tears ago when I had the orchard I went to Tech and learnt to weld. Also taught myself basic mechanical stuphph. A young fellow in town was working for an engineering place and was a bit fed up with the nonsense so went out on his own.He got loads of small odd jobs from people like me. One day he said to me that he loved what he was doing because every job was different and that made him think.My older brother is a fitter and turner by trade and when people found he had s small lathe he was swamped with "can you...?" He ended p doing a lot of work for a mower place.

Plenty to do.
You could advertise your services but don't neglect school in the process

Originally Posted by artme

G'day Fabricator and welcome to our version of the Goon Show.

Now someone is going to have to explain the mysteries of Bluebottle, Eccles, Neddy Seagoon and the rest to him, I suspect that 16 year olds don't have much exposure to Spike's genius.