Is a lathe a good thing?

[Esser]

Hi everybody I was thinkig of maybe getting me a metal lathe. But then i was thinking, is it a tool you can use a lot? I mean for making pulsejets, but also for other things? So, you people that have one, do you use it a lot?

[loco]

hello,

I spent a lot of time looking into Lathes as I was going to buy one to make a valved engine. Basically, you need to spend quite a lot of money before you can buy a half decent lathe. Cheaper lathes may still be accurate, but lack some features and are quite limited in terms of the diameter of metal they can work on.
There are some decent hobby lathe/mill combo units that can do a wide range of jobs.

When I first got into pulsejets, I was looking into building a valved model, but after looking at the price of lathes, the difficulty in finding the correct steel for springs and of course the short lifespan, I went for a valveless.

On the other hand, when I was looking into buying a lathe, I looked into what could be done with it, and there's loads. I saw one book that gave you instructions on how to make a model steam engine, pistons and everything, using a lathe.

Do you have a welding rig? If not, i'd invest in one of those over a lathe any day.

[Esser]

hello,

I spent a lot of time looking into Lathes as I was going to buy one to make a valved engine. Basically, you need to spend quite a lot of money before you can buy a half decent lathe. Cheaper lathes may still be accurate, but lack some features and are quite limited in terms of the diameter of metal they can work on.
There are some decent hobby lathe/mill combo units that can do a wide range of jobs.

When I first got into pulsejets, I was looking into building a valved model, but after looking at the price of lathes, the difficulty in finding the correct steel for springs and of course the short lifespan, I went for a valveless.

On the other hand, when I was looking into buying a lathe, I looked into what could be done with it, and there's loads. I saw one book that gave you instructions on how to make a model steam engine, pistons and everything, using a lathe.

Do you have a welding rig? If not, i'd invest in one of those over a lathe any day.

Yeah sure, a welding rig is way more usefull But i have one... But i build a lot of stuff in metal... Not art or something like that. But vehicles and pulsejets and stuff like that Would it be usefull for that?

[isprins]

Of course. You can do a LOT of things with a lathe. You can, cut treads, mill, drill, flare end of tubes + ++....
A lathe that has the possibility of flowing cutting fluid is wery nice to have. It should altso have different sets of chucks. I know that a good deal of older lathes are often sold cheap or even trown away because the company's are switching to CNC controlled equipment. The old fasion lathes are often pretty solid units that can take mishaps and small accidents. You should try to get one that has a built in gearbox like this one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Boxford-Industrial- ... dZViewItem

A milling machine is altso very nice to have. It should have variable speed, powerfeed and cutting fluid supply. This is a good example of an nice "hobbyist/semi proffesional" macine:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Index-1-HP-Vert-Mil ... dZViewItem

Sadly, the deep knowledge of how to use a milling machine/lathe is in a way of dying out thanks to the heavy use of CNC in the industry.

[Ghrey]

A lathe is a good thing.

Oh, and I am a machinist, Manual, old school. NOT DEAD YET.

[Ape]

A lathe is a very good thing! Basically, a lathe is The Thing. With a lathe and some skill, you won't even need a mill, since, by setting up your lathe proper, it will do the milling jobs just fine.

Now, I know this guy has got some serious hardcore skills, and that there's prolly very, very, very few who'd ever reach his level of expertise, but take a look at just how "good" a thing a lathe is ; http://www.craftsmanshipmuseum.com/Ahmed.htm

And yeah, CNC is taking over, though not entirely. I'm an apprentice precision mechanic, and we're all (the four apprentices in shop) supposed to be able to make do with the lathes, if all else fails. These specific lathes are (as far as I recall) labeled Colchester Triumph 2000, and are way older than me, but works like a dream. I love 'em!

[Irvine.J]

I have a CNC but I also want a lathe, there are some things one can't do that the other can. A lathe is a nice bit of kit so have fun splurging Harbour frieght also sell lathes too, check those out.

[Emily]

Some things you can do lathes, as well as preparing plane surfaces, is to produce screw threads. I think it's especially helpful if you wSome things you can do lathes, as well as preparing plane surfaces, is to produce screw threads. I think it's especially helpful if you want a tight seal but the specs are not right for mass produced screws, and you can create your own.

[Nick]

Yes, a lathe is a good thing , in fact the lathe (metal cutting) is a the foundation stone on which almost everything else we have is built on, with a lathe you can build everything else you could want including a bigger lathe.
(given the time obviously)

Nick

[vturbine]

I built my own lathe. I also built a milling attachment for it. I didn't have a lathe to start with, it was built with hand tools.

If you don't have money and really want to learn about lathes (and milling), and such lost arts as hand scraping, then you might consider building your own lathe, and making it do whatever you need to do.

And no, you don't probably need anything bigger than a 7" by 12" lathe (if you don't have the money) for pulsejet use unless you intend to build an Argus. And even then, you can always make a temporary rig to turn anything bigger. In fact, a lathe can be a set of pillow blocks, a shaft, a homemade faceplate, a steady, and a graving tool made out of an allen key, heated, straightened, tempered and ground, and stuck into a wood dowel handle. That's what many early metal turners used.

Ingenuity will take you anywhere you want to go. Purchases will take you only where you can be led.

If you want to learn machining on your own, and can't afford an apprenticeship, build a machine. There is nothing more rewarding.

Here are some pictures of mine being built:

http://www.sredmond.com/machine_projects.htm

Here's a homemade (and designed) rotary milling attachment on my lathe being used to mill a compressor stator:

http://www.sredmond.com/disk_turbine_p6.htm

Here's the book I used to build the lathe:

http://www.lindsaybks.com/dgjp/djgbk/series/index.html