K: Tools Do I need a metal turning lathe?

Chris Launders

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At technical college I had a friend nearly have a finger stripped bare with leaving a chuck key in a lathe. Beware the woolly jumper and exposed lead screws as well.
 

BigEd

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When I left engineering I went to uni to do a B.Ed Degree to go into teaching. We had to do some placement in schools as part of our teaching practice. I was in a school workshop one lunchtime making parts for one of my assignments. There were a few pupils in there trying to finish projects that had got behind on. One lad was using a small pillar drill and his school tie got caught by the drill and was being wound in. Fortunately, he was a strong lad and held himself back and the tie ripped. He got away with it and hopefully, it taught him a good lesson. It could have been bad for him and also bad for the teacher who was supposed to be supervising.
When I finished my degree and got a teaching post I always wore a shirt and tie to set some kind of standard. If I was taking a lesson in the workshop I wore a bow tie to lessen the chance of getting tangled in machinery. If a pupil asked why I wore a bow tie it was a good cue to relate the tie in the pillar drill story.
 

danno

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I’ll need to be careful being a pianist.
I think I left the key in the chuck once on that old drill in the pic.

I need something to replace that first and the Sieg SX2P looks just the thing. At the moment, any drilling is done with a Bosch hand drill and workmate.
It may even be ‘either or’ as regards hobby mill/drill and seperate lathe. 3 in 1 combis are neat and space saving but I would miss being able to offer up larger
stuff to the drill for general DIY.

I read that ability to interchange tools between mill and lathe can save a lot of money as they’re expensive.
Not sure if that’s possible with same brand Chinese machines ie Sieg SX2P mill and SC3 lathe.
 

oexing

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. . . . . wearing a tie in a workshop and at a machine . . . . . . never wore ties all my life . Would have been a reason for me to look at another job and profession to avoid this. When looking at old photos from last millennium it amuses me to see lots of workers in production to wear ties - seems to me like having been a status symbol - in olden times.
Danno,
looking at the Sieg lathe I would not be so positive about "high torque" claims. It has no gearbox so don´t expect too much of it. Anyway, try to lay hands on some before buying, ergonomics can be a nuisance all the time , even more so with very small lathes. Your hands get in your way with handles too close to each other. So have a look at ALL components of likely buys.

Vic
 

danno

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Anyway, try to lay hands on some before buying, ergonomics can be a nuisance all the time , even more so with very small lathes. Your hands get in your way with handles too close to each other. So have a look at ALL components of likely buys.

Vic

Good idea. Someone who reviewed a Sieg SX2P mill mounted it on 20mm wood batons to make wheel adjustment easier.
I have a local Machine Mart so can at least have a look at the Clarke range.
 

Monkeypants

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Threads like this are excellent for long overdue machine tool maintenance.
I did some reading about my free Tida lathe and learned that it was sold as Jet, Enco, and about ten other brands all made in Taiwan in the Tida factory. The factory shut down in 1987. All these years later, these machines are quite well liked. At 650 pounds they are fairly skookum for a small lathe (12x36). Unlike the little Atlas or Sears Craftsman lathes, these lathes have hardened beds with V ways and gears made from decent steel, not pot metal.
There were very few complaints about these lathes even after 40 years of use, albeit hobby type use, which is most of us.
One issue that cropped up was lack of lubrication to the back gear shaft. This could result in seizure of the shaft and a difficult repair.
The lubrication is done by removing set screws in the housing and filling the holes with oil. The set screws on my lathe were painted in with factory paint, so they had not been out since new in 1979.
Luckily the back gear shaft was ok as the back gear hadn't been used much. There are lube points like that in several spots on this lathe.
I counted 11 set screws in oil holes. The manual suggests monthly oiling of these with full time use. Once a year would work for occasional use.

I thought about painting the old thing and in the end just gave it a good cleaning. Some of the brown gunk in the earlier photo was original packing grease from 1979. I even straightened out the bent up chip tray.
This lathe doesn't get much use now, but it seemed worthy of a day of maintenance.
Then another half day doing similar with the Monarch after finding the carriage sump full of shavings and gunk. The shavings must have gotten in via the sump filler, which I suspect was left open while operating for a few years.
The 1944 Monarch has a much more modern lubrication system than the 1979 Tida, or maybe just a much more expensively constructed lubrication system. The lathe has 3 Bijur pumps, one of which is in the carriage and pumps throught copper lines to 14 orifices. All great except the carriage sump was full of swarf and oil sludge. Somehow it was still pumping nicely. The pump has a very effective filter, which was about 50% clogged.
About half of a day was spent on cleaning the pump and sump. At the end of it the sump and pump were both clean, but I was soaked in solvent, while my hands looked like black bear paws.
All because someone asked " Do I need a lathe?":)
Glen
 
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Monkeypants

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Too late, I'm cleaned up now. :)
Also spent a week in May going over and gussying up the K&T mill. Covid has been good for maintenance!
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Comet Rider

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My old lathe (before I got the Chipmaster) was an ex WW2 Lease Lend Lablond from Cincinnati, that probably had so much play in the bearings that it used oil by the gallon
 
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