Lathes

[Al Smith]

Here a site many don't know about ,very informative http://www.lathes.co.uk/

 

[KS Plainsman]

Well yes location has a lot to do with availability .This area during the late 80's was dubbed the "rust belt" because of the declining industrial base . Every say large factory supported several small "job shops " .When it went off shore the little guys just turned off the lights locked the door .
My advice if somebody is looking at a smaller lathe ,older ,take somebody with you who knows something about them if you don't .Then if you don't have the tooling you can get more money in that than you have in the machine so that's something to consider as well .They are out there you just have to find them .

Yup, you fellas up there, are in the gold mine, for old machines! I'm envious! Lol! I actually do business with a machinery dealer in Ohio, since they get their hands n alot of different stuff. It's like everything else for me, I just have to bite the bullet and have stuff shipped! It's the price to pay for living in rural America I guess. I did get Lucky and found my South Bend and my Cincinnati No. 2 Plain horizontal Mill out here. One was about 20 miles the other was about 80 miles away, so I got lucky on those.

 

[Al Smith]

Old machinery and old chainsaws have kind of a following so to speak .The old adage that birds of a feather flock together rings true .
Last night Georgie Girl and I met an old buddy who has a repair shop for pizza and beer .This guy has five times the amount of stuff I do which is a lot .Years ago he gave me an American Hole Wizard radial drill .He got it some place for less than scrap iron price .He's a hell of a mechanical guy but not too much of an electrician ,guess who is .
He bought I think a 400 ton press on the cheap but didn't have a large enough hydraulic system to run it .I gave him a Vickers self contained 7.5 HP system and using three single phase transformers converted his 240 three phase to 480 to run it .Stuff like this pops up all the time .

 

[Al Smith]

Funny northern Ohio does have lots of old metal working machinery and some times old industrial wood working stuff .Kansas and the Dakotas have a zillion big old "wheat land "tractors .Those you just did not see in this area .
I dealt with a scrapper from Fargo until they went out of business for parts for old tractors .They had aftermarket parts for old Caterpillars for a fraction of what Cat got for them . Cat and John -Deere you can get any part for any machine they ever made but my heavens will you pay for it .

 

[The Carver 81]

Hello everyone I'm new to this forum and trying to learn where to post lol but to my question looking for input on a lathe specifically the
Grizzly G0768 https://www.grizzly.com/products/Grizzly-8-x-16-Variable-Speed-Benchtop-Lathe/G0768
looking at this lathe for machining the base and squish of chainsaws cylinder's

 

[KS Plainsman]

Hello everyone I'm new to this forum and trying to learn where to post lol but to my question looking for input on a lathe specifically the
Grizzly G0768 https://www.grizzly.com/products/Grizzly-8-x-16-Variable-Speed-Benchtop-Lathe/G0768
looking at this lathe for machining the base and squish of chainsaws cylinder's

Welcome aboard! You might consider starting a new thread. That way your question isn't lost in this thread.

 

[The Carver 81]

Welcome aboard! You might consider starting a new thread. That way your question isn't lost in this thread.

Thank you my friend. I didn't know and couldn't find a place dedicated to post about tools

 

[KS Plainsman]

Thank you my friend. I didn't know and couldn't find a place dedicated to post about tools

No problem man! I'd just make a new thread in this section. Maybe someone has experience with that lathe.

 

[mdavlee]

Hello everyone I'm new to this forum and trying to learn where to post lol but to my question looking for input on a lathe specifically the
Grizzly G0768 https://www.grizzly.com/products/Grizzly-8-x-16-Variable-Speed-Benchtop-Lathe/G0768
looking at this lathe for machining the base and squish of chainsaws cylinder's

I had a 4000 and cut a lot of parts on it. The screw on chucks is better than the backing plate to me. A good self centering 4 jaw is great for chucking Mandrels up in.

 

[srcarr52]

Hello everyone I'm new to this forum and trying to learn where to post lol but to my question looking for input on a lathe specifically the
Grizzly G0768 https://www.grizzly.com/products/Grizzly-8-x-16-Variable-Speed-Benchtop-Lathe/G0768
looking at this lathe for machining the base and squish of chainsaws cylinder's

I'd spend the extra $100 and go with the G4000. The intrinsic back plate would drive me crazy as often as I change chucks. You don't need infinite spindle speeds, I use 2 speed for most everything. 500 RPM from general machining, and the slowest I can go for heavy drilling and power tapping.

 

[Trevj1]

Yeah, a point I pounded (mercilessly!) into the apprentices at work, was that the "Book" speeds and feed rates, are estimated to give a shop owner the best compromise between making money, and wearing out tooling and tools.
You can go a LOT slower, and much of the time what it gets you is done in more time, but very little in the way of severe wear on your cutters.

Slow is bad, if you are paying wages, electricity, a mortgage, and depreciation on the whole collection, but slower gives you as a beginner or non-production guy or gal, enough time to think. And to react, if things are moving the wrong direction!

Oh yeah. Learn to grind High Speed Steel tools! Cheap! Easy too! Practice will make it even easier! Angles are a lot less critical than you would think, as long as the edge is sharp. A tiny radius at the point is a help for durability too.

Carbide tooling is great if you have a bit of experience and confidence, but can become a very expensive source of a LOT of frustration as a beginner. At first, any wrong move will seemingly cost you a cutting edge off your tool.
There are a bunch of great tool grinding videos on youtube. I can recommend a fella called "This Old Tony" as worth watching, though I find his attempts at comedy a bit painful, as well as a fella by the moniker of "Clickspring".

I have 4 lathes, a shaper, a pantograph engraver, a manual mill and a cnc mill, as well as a whackload of tooling and other bits and pieces. Everything except enough floor space with adequate heat and lights <sigh>.
Yeah, it's a disease...

 

[blades]

"Yeah, it's a disease"

 

[KS Plainsman]

Yeah, a point I pounded (mercilessly!) into the apprentices at work, was that the "Book" speeds and feed rates, are estimated to give a shop owner the best compromise between making money, and wearing out tooling and tools.
You can go a LOT slower, and much of the time what it gets you is done in more time, but very little in the way of severe wear on your cutters.

Slow is bad, if you are paying wages, electricity, a mortgage, and depreciation on the whole collection, but slower gives you as a beginner or non-production guy or gal, enough time to think. And to react, if things are moving the wrong direction!

Oh yeah. Learn to grind High Speed Steel tools! Cheap! Easy too! Practice will make it even easier! Angles are a lot less critical than you would think, as long as the edge is sharp. A tiny radius at the point is a help for durability too.

Carbide tooling is great if you have a bit of experience and confidence, but can become a very expensive source of a LOT of frustration as a beginner. At first, any wrong move will seemingly cost you a cutting edge off your tool.
There are a bunch of great tool grinding videos on youtube. I can recommend a fella called "This Old Tony" as worth watching, though I find his attempts at comedy a bit painful, as well as a fella by the moniker of "Clickspring".

I have 4 lathes, a shaper, a pantograph engraver, a manual mill and a cnc mill, as well as a whackload of tooling and other bits and pieces. Everything except enough floor space with adequate heat and lights <sigh>.
Yeah, it's a disease...

My general rule of speeds and feeds is about half of what is recommended. Then again I machine for a hobby, with a few side jobs here and there. So I don't have tons of money to throw at tooling costs every month, that gets billed to customers. It comes out of my pocket.

I do also agree with grinding HSS. It will help a guy understand cutting tool geometry better than just picking carbide.

 

[Nutball]

I know I was surprised when I tried turning .014 off a 4" X 2.125"dia rod of 6061, it bent. So, I stick with .010 or less

 

[Al Smith]

It just goes to the old adage " measure twice cut once" .If not it's a lot easier to take it off but a chore to put it back on .

 

[HYPERSAWS]

I am currently in the market for a lathe looking for some advice on what I should get?

 

[dustinwilt68]

I wished I would have sprung for DRO on my grizzly, I went w a bigger lathe instead. 10x22 is perfect imo

 

[HYPERSAWS]

Thanks for the info

 

[CLEARCUT]

I am currently in the market for a lathe looking for some advice on what I should get?

Just bolt the cylinder to an electric motor and hold some sandpaper to it, lol.

 

[Mastermind]

I am currently in the market for a lathe looking for some advice on what I should get?

Get the best tool you can possibly afford.

That said, if you are fairly handy, you can make a 9 x 20 into a excellent lathe for the small items that you'll be working with modifying saws engines.

I use a 9 x 20 from Enco, but they are all pretty much the same. Jet, Grizzly, Enco, etc. Same tool, different paint.

You'll end up spending far more on chucks, collets, collet closers, live centers, quick change tool posts, etc than you will on the lathe itself.

On these 9 x 20 machines, there are a bunch of blogs, and forums dedicated to improving the machine. The first of many simple but effective mods needs to be a stronger compound mount. Detailed instructions are out there about building one.