Thread: Question about metal lathe pen turning

Jack,
Simple answer is yes to both wood and metal, and as to the better or worse, that’s purely subjective, depends on whether you like the lathe you are using.
I do all of my pens on a Grizzly G4000 engine/tool room "metal" lathe.
I turn wood, acrylic, TrueStone, (also known as GemStone) and all types of metals such as brass, aluminum and steel.
These lathes allow for operations such as threading and taping, super precise cuts…lots of thing that are hard to accomplish with a lathe designed for wood alone.
Check the Kit-less threads here, most of them were done on a metal lathe, plus you can use them to make parts, bushings any size you wish, down to 1000th of inch tolerances.



All done on a metal lathe

If you are a competant metal lathe user then its a breeze You can turn between centres very easily and accurately ,wood stone,metals and other difficult materials can be done with light cuts and none of the dreaded "catches" A small variable lathe such as a C2 is Ideal ,compact and accurate enough. I turn a lot on mine ,then finish on my woodcraft to protect the metal lathe from water and CA Cheers ~ John

Same here, except I have a slightly larger variable speed metal lathe.

Like John I finish on my wood lathe.

Once you have a metal lathe a whole new world opens up for the pen turner, there are any number of tools and gadgets I regulalry make on my metal lathe, closed end mandrel, bushes in SS and Delrin etc.

Being able to work to precise measurements is a real boon.

Be careful though, it is a VERY slippery slope and the actual metal lathe is only the start (DAMHIKT)

My metal lathe has it in for me!!, it won't do those pecise 1000th" cuts!!
But---really--I think its owner needs more instruction, it has manage to turn some pens, bust as to tapers and rounding---the wood lathe has to be used! Amos

Originally Posted by Woodenink

My metal lathe has it in for me!!, it won't do those pecise 1000th" cuts!!
But---really--I think its owner needs more instruction, it has manage to turn some pens, bust as to tapers and rounding---the wood lathe has to be used! Amos

Amos if you are using those carbide tools they are not designed for light cuts ,they need speed and pressure of cut to work best, a nicely ground High speed steel is needed for fine work cheers ~ John

Amos,
First is the old Grizzly G4000, 12 years old, has thousands of hours on it, lots of modifications too, several thousand projects have been made with it, from gun parts to pens.
Second is the standard cutting tool with replacable insert, insert has medium radius, suitable for wood, acrylic and soft metals like brass and aluminum.
Last is a high carbon high strength cutting tool, will cut so fine most of the time all that is needed is a polish to finish the project.
Not knowing what type lathe you have, but these tool blanks are available at any maching shop supplier and on line, they fit everything from the small Unimat and Sherline up to floor mounted lathes like mine, you can grind and shape to suit your needs.

Thanks Ed and John, Fred has same machine as myself and does great work, I think in my case I need to learn angles and bits and tools and speed, I now use a HSS bit and it makes a difference, also was told about another lever that allows slower travel and that helps greatly. However, one thing bothers me, when the tool touches the material to be turned there is a slight turning of the bit before the cutting occurs and this wouldn't allow for a fine cut if needed because of the slack,. Amos

Amos, by the sound of it you haven't mounted your tool bit and/or toolpost correctly. There should be no movement of either of those, if there is there is something wrong.

I agree Fred

Amos,
I agree with Fred and Gawdelpus.
In the photos I posted, in the last one showing the HSS steel, look behind that and you will see two small hex nuts holding the tool post to the cross slide, these must be tight.
In the photo above that, you can see the tool holder, note the capped nut in the center, it too must be tight once you choose the cutting angle...dont worry about over tightening this, its is stout, even on smaller lathes.
None of your tooling should move, bend, flex, turn or twist, ever.
Go back over every nut and bolt, and tighten everything you can, you may even want to check the slop or slack in the cutting depth adjustment knobs, (this can be fixed by snugging the retaining nut up a little).
Check out a few of the articles and forum here
http://littlemachineshop.com/Info/links.php
lots of info for metal lathes.