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3rd March 2014, 11:50 AM #1
And so it begins: Turn, turn, turn!
Hi All,
I was on here a while back, asking about which lathes to buy, and received some good advice. Having just moved house, and finally started setting up my workshop/shed/mancave, I got talking to a family friend and fellow woodworker... Who said;
"I have a lathe that's in a bit of a sad state- It's been underwater... take it, have a play with it, see if you can get it running a bit better."
It's one of those generic lathes that Gasweld/Supercheap/whoever else sell; i.e; Not exactly the last word in quality.
It's also old. And has been for a swim.
Even so, it spun up just fine, if sounding a bit rattly (bearings methinks).
Problem 1; The tool rest spindle has cracked sometime in the past, and a previous owner has put a HSS pin(Possibly a drill bit shank) through it, but it still rotates a bit under pressure.
I grabbed a bit of firewood from the pile, cut the ends square, tapped it onto the headstock drive spurs, wound in the tailstock, and hit the go button... All the youtube tutorials I'd watched didn't stop me getting a mega catch in seconds. The corners of my roughing gouge dug into the work... Higher tool rest next time!
Fortunately, being the gutless wonder it is, that immediately stalled the motor. I was able to resume turning for a few minutes until...
Problem 2: The bottom plate on the tailstock clamp cracked just next to an old weld.
So now the bottom clamp plate and the tool rest are with my neighbour who is a model train engineer(The steam/diesel ride on ones), and his mate who apparently is a whiz with cast iron.
Hopefully, I'll be back at it this afternoon, and I'll throw up some pictures of my little adventure into turning!
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3rd March 2014, 12:49 PM #2
...and so the saga begins!
- Andy Mc
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3rd March 2014, 05:23 PM #3
This is one way to start by fixing up an old lathe. Then you can decide if it is right for you.
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3rd March 2014, 06:30 PM #4Skwair2rownd
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G'day McPete. I had one of those beasts (borrowed ) in Brasil. It proved to be a complete PITA.
Perhaps I was spoiled by having used MUCH better lathes but I would run a mile from ever
using one again. Still, it will be a good experience for you..
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4th March 2014, 01:06 PM #5
Unfortunately, my neighbor has deemed them too far gone. Fortunately, the machinists here at work are helpful souls too, and have taken pity on me.
We're going to mill up a pair of new bottom-half clamps from solid MS tomorrow, and drill out a 19mm hollow in the bottom of the tool rest, put in either a brass or MS 19mm rod in, then pin it through the front of the rest... then, hopefully, I can get back tomaking a huge messer, learning how to turn.
A better lathe is on the cards for later in the year, I hope. I'm leaning toward a Record Power.
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4th March 2014, 02:25 PM #6
Well, the tool rest is fixed, as described. Just hoping that the machinists have a bit more spare time this afternoon to mill up the bottom clamps... SWMBO is at a staff meeting tonight (6 to 8:30!) so I might have a bit of a window to get cracking.
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7th March 2014, 09:36 AM #7
So... I got a bit distracted the other day. I have a functional lathe!
Still learning what all the tools do, how to do roundovers and coves and the usual stuff, but ti's good fun and very messy. Love it!
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7th March 2014, 11:10 AM #8
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