Welding Tips and Tricks

MosquitoMoto wrote:Congratulations, well done.

Must feel good to finally have found the right machine. You are going to have so much fun.



Kym

Thanks Kym. I have gotten some really good deals off of Craigslist before but it's not easy to do so I got lucky. I just realized that getting a lathe is going to lead to me wanting a mill...I think I am going to die broke...but I'll have alot of tools

exnailpounder wrote:

MosquitoMoto wrote:Congratulations, well done.

Must feel good to finally have found the right machine. You are going to have so much fun.



Kym

Thanks Kym. I have gotten some really good deals off of Craigslist before but it's not easy to do so I got lucky. I just realized that getting a lathe is going to lead to me wanting a mill...I think I am going to die broke...but I'll have alot of tools

You and I both...I need a lathe and I also need a mill, but before I buy either of these I simply need a bigger shed! The plan is to move out to a property in the hills and build a truly enormous shed into the deal when we buy.

Hey, post some pics of your new toy when you get a sec, okay?



Kym

electrode wrote:Just remember to be careful if you never used a lathe before. No long sleeves. Safety glasses. And no distractions.

No shit. My buddy was turning a high speed finish pass on something for me and he snatched my ass to keep me from walking into the spinning chuck jaws.

exnailpounder wrote:

MosquitoMoto wrote:Congratulations, well done.

Must feel good to finally have found the right machine. You are going to have so much fun.



Kym

Thanks Kym. I have gotten some really good deals off of Craigslist before but it's not easy to do so I got lucky. I just realized that getting a lathe is going to lead to me wanting a mill...I think I am going to die broke...but I'll have alot of tools

Remember, he who dies with the most toys wins !

Very nice find. Now go buy a lottery ticket..........

Man, that was quick. Well done, I hope you'll both be very happy together

FoxZulu wrote:Man, that was quick. Well done, I hope you'll both be very happy together

I have been looking for awhile and biding my time. Now a friend of mine offered me a really nice little Atlas lathe that he has had sitting in his garage for 20 years. I am waiting to find out what tooling he has to go with and I just might have to buy it. Is there a 12 step program somewhere for wayward welders and tool collectors? I need help

jeff
please sign me up too.
craig

I have been looking for awhile and biding my time. Now a friend of mine offered me a really nice little Atlas lathe that he has had sitting in his garage for 20 years. I am waiting to find out what tooling he has to go with and I just might have to buy it. Is there a 12 step program somewhere for wayward welders and tool collectors? I need help [/quote]


Well sounds like your going to be two tools closer to the cure for the disease.

Here's how you solve that problem:

1). Send the first lathe to me (you pay shipping).
2). Send the next one to Poland after you purchase lathe #3 (stipulation from step #1 applies here as well).
3). Keep repeating this process with other site members til you go broke.
4). Problem solved.

I could probably find room for one in my garage.

I've got my fathers Clausing in the basement and a Atlas in the garage that was my grandfathers I haven't bought mine yet!
It's strange but I can finally walk through the tool departments and not see something I need it's disturbing!!

Here is my lathe in the sellers basement.

Tom Osselton wrote:I've got my fathers Clausing in the basement and a Atlas in the garage that was my grandfathers I haven't bought mine yet!
It's strange but I can finally walk through the tool departments and not see something I need it's disturbing!!

I have a high-end tool store a couple miles away and I do a "walk through" from time to time and I am in the same boat...Lots of new goodies I would love to have but I already have the beat-up version that's paid for.

Here is my lathe after I tore it down to parts, stripped off the old paint, re-painted it and started putting it back together. The paint is as close to the 1947 original color as I could get but the flash makes it look like Ford blue but it is actually very dark. I love refurbishing great old equipment. I'll send a couple more when I get her running again.

Looks like your almost there! I'd love to have one with the taper attachment but I haven't found one yet.

exnailpounder wrote:

20161201_134209.jpg

Here is my lathe after I tore it down to parts, stripped off the old paint, re-painted it and started putting it back together. The paint is as close to the 1947 original color as I could get but the flash makes it look like Ford blue but it is actually very dark. I love refurbishing great old equipment. I'll send a couple more when I get her running again.

You did all that in one day? Wow! That was quick. Looking good.

jeff
did it come with a set of cast legs?
craig

exnailpounder wrote: Here is my lathe after I tore it down to parts, stripped off the old paint, re-painted it and started putting it back together. The paint is as close to the 1947 original color as I could get but the flash makes it look like Ford blue but it is actually very dark. I love refurbishing great old equipment. I'll send a couple more when I get her running again.

Hey Jeff, I like that straight edge you have leaning against the shelf, comes in handy.

motox wrote:jeff
did it come with a set of cast legs?
craig

No Craig...just an old table. It's actually very well made and thick but I'll overbuild it so it's steady.

LtBadd wrote:

exnailpounder wrote: Here is my lathe after I tore it down to parts, stripped off the old paint, re-painted it and started putting it back together. The paint is as close to the 1947 original color as I could get but the flash makes it look like Ford blue but it is actually very dark. I love refurbishing great old equipment. I'll send a couple more when I get her running again.

Hey Jeff, I like that straight edge you have leaning against the shelf, comes in handy.

LOL...now you guys get to look around my shop a little bit I use the straight edge alot when plasma cutting. Notice the 2 metal detectors hanging on the wall....my wife uses those to examine the plate in my head when I rescue an old machine. I see gold under 50 years of rust and grease...she sees junk...women

I bought a Grizzly Mini Lathe a month and a half ago and I'm really happy I bought this thing! I always thought turning round parts was pretty limited but that's not all you can turn and these things a very versatile. I've already built a few things for my mini lathe with my 3D printer to help out with things like keeping chips outta the hand gears and off the rails. The rail way brush setup I have is using sponge brushes too so you can oil them, so you can keep your rail ways and always oiled.
I also took a couple models and built a DRO setup using a digital caliper and no mods to the lathe.
I've already built a few things too like new motorcycle mirrors, taper rollers for stainless steel cable, and a couple others. I need to build a tube roller soon too and so that'll be done partly with my Mini Lathe

Have fun man and enjoy!
P.S. try a sponge brush for cleanup vs. a bristle brush. Also I found that clear packing tape covering the underside where chips fall is awesome because oil and chips won't stick to it. These two saved me over half my clean up time, which makes you enjoy your lathe more

a cheap small shop vac is great to remove and cleanup
chips.
craig

The purpose of leveling a lathe is to ensure that both
ways run as perfectly parallel as possible with each other in the
vertical plane, and has little to do with 'level' with respect to
gravity. If the front or back way is slightly higher or lower than
the other one, it doesn't matter as long as the deviation is constant
from one end of the machine to the other.
jeff borrow a level from one of your machinist
buddies if you do not have one. carpenters
level is not accurate enough. get it within
.0005 over 8"s. length first the width.
craig

motox wrote:The purpose of leveling a lathe is to ensure that both
ways run as perfectly parallel as possible with each other in the
vertical plane, and has little to do with 'level' with respect to
gravity. If the front or back way is slightly higher or lower than
the other one, it doesn't matter as long as the deviation is constant
from one end of the machine to the other.
jeff borrow a level from one of your machinist
buddies if you do not have one. carpenters
level is not accurate enough. get it within
.0005 over 8"s. length first the width.
craig

This is step one. Then you need to turn 2 diameters on a foot long rod shaped like a barbell- bigger on the ends.
Turn one end then move to the other WITHOUT moving the tool in or out and turn the other end. Measure with a micrometer and if both are the same diameter, your lathe is good, if one is bigger than the other your bed is twisted and needs adjustment. This is assuming your tailstock is adjusted to the head stock, center to center

Well she's alive...haven't oiled her properly and haven't leveled the bench but I put it back together and she runs. I will tweak her in the next few days. Thanks for the advice on leveling and theory. I will put it to use. You guys are great.