G'day, Aussie fairly new to site;

[ELM6061]

Well as the heading state's;
G'day
I m an Aussie whom is fairly new to the site, name is Eddie.
I am not an engine builder, nor a machinist, but do have a mill and lathe which I bought at auction (second hand) about 12 months back. Just wish I got to use them more often and more importantly, got to produce work like you guy's do. Amazing stuff and a credit to you all.
Not much of a book learner, more of a hands on sort of bloke, so seeing photo's of your gear, how you also setup your work, along with the detailed explanations, is really great. Mind you it also stir's up a few questions, and part of the reason I have come forward to say g'day, rather than just be a lurker in the background.

My Lathe is a Hafco AL960B Gap bed with 2 axis Digital readout (DRO);
Swing over bed - 330mm
Swing over Saddle centers 165mm
40 mm Bore with Cam Lock mounting
12 speed gear head range - 70-1400 rpm
6" x 3 jaw Chuck
8" x 4 jaw Chuck with reversible jaws
10" Face Plate
(also came with a Fuerda 3 jaw 4" self centering chuck, but with no back plate)

Mill is also a Hafco, HM50 mill drill;
Spindle taper - ISO30
Spindle Speeds - 220-2400, 2 x V belt drive
Quill travel 120mm
Table size 800x240mm
16mm T slot
Max drill - 30mm dia
Max (vertical milling) 25mm dia
Single Phase - 240 V, 1.5KW

Anyway, enough about me, time to go bury my head in a few more threads and motor builds and look forward to having a chat as well as picking your machining brains on some tips and tricks.

Eddie

 

[ProdEng]

Welcome from Perth, lots of good things going on here, enjoy! You have some nice machines there, I have used an HM50 before.

 

[Cogsy]

Let me add my welcome from Perth too!

Don't let the lack of experience stop you - I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing but still happily making chips, and sometimes even parts .

Have fun!

 

[compspecial]

Welcome Eddie, happy machining!
Stew.

 

[ELM6061]

Cogsy, ProdEng, couple of Perth lads hay!!! What a beautiful City it is too, well used to be, 30 odd years since my last visit. Guessing there may have been a few changes between now and then but used to believe it was Australia's nicest city.

Compspecial, as well, thanks for the welcome also, hope to maybe chat again sometime in the future.

Eddie

 

[dsquire]

Eddie

Hi and welcome to HMEM. It looks like you are set up pretty good with a lathe and mill now just to make chips fly. I am sure that you will find lots of projects on the forum to follow along and pick up a few tips as you go. If you have any questions don't be scared to ask as there is always someone around to answer or at least give an opinion. We look forward to your participation in the various forums.

Cheers

Don

 

[tel]

Welcome from the right side Eddie. Which side are you on?

 

[waynes world]

welcome from latrobe valley victoria, you can get a face plate & backplates for your machine @ hare and forbes in your state or all over aus as they sell those machines you have.
good luck with it all and have bloody good fun with your equipment great investments.

cheers wayne.

 

[Annie]

That's a very nice lathe and mill you've got there. You should be well and truly set to make anything you want

 

[ELM6061]

G'day to all, thanks for the welcome. Sorry I have not replied earlier, but we are having line issues and constantly dropping out . Be a miracle if this makes it.

Welcome from the right side Eddie. Which side are you on?

Side?
I am from Victoria's Mornington Peninsula, guess I should update my profile to show it.

you can get a face plate & backplates for your machine @ hare and forbes
cheers wayne.

I have a 10" face plate.
What I do need (don't have), is a back plate (possibly two) to suit the 4" 3 jaw chuck, (1) so I can mount it to my rotary table, (2) also wondering if it is worth mounting on the lathe itself, for smaller work.
What do you guys think, is it worth mounting a 4" chuck on a lathe bigger than it is meant for ?? Do you see any benefit??
I have tried to turn an MT3 taper and back plate as to get a true centered back plate so I can mount the chuck on rotary table. Of course, I stuffed up the taper and steel stock I was using:wall:. All that is worth a thread of it's own and something I plan to bring up later on.


Ed

 

[Swifty]

Welcome Eddie, I'm from the Mornington Peninsula also, Mount Martha to be more specific. Recently moved my lathe and milling machine into my garage from where I had them stored whilst we spent nearly 2 years sorting out some land and building a new house. Really itching to get going and make something now.

Paul.

 

[dmac]

Hi Eddie,

MP is a nice area, I lived in Tyabb on an off for a while. Bit wet and cold though. Unlike Canberra, cold and windy this time of year.

I have the AL356V from H&F so a lathe of similar size (8 inch chucks), I've only had a very few instances when I wanted to chuck something really small when I wished I had a smaller chuck. So I guess it depends on what you want to spin in the lathe, really small things or say 4mm and larger.

I'm no expert, just a backyard engineer but if you need to grip little things, a set of collets might be better. They are on my list.

Welcome to the site.

Regards,

Dave.

 

[Swifty]

Eddie,

If you get a 4" chuck for your rotary table you can always hold it in your lathe chuck with outside jaws fitted, ok for the occasional use.

Paul.

 

[skyline1]

Hi from England and welcome to the forum Eddie

Some nice Machines you've got there I wish my setup was that impressive. I've only got a little English Myford ML7 (She's called Millie) but I've got a vertical slide for her and a 1/2" pedestal drill so I can do light milling (It just takes a little time to set it up).

I'm fairly new to the forum myself and they are a really friendly bunch. They are a goldmine of help and hints and tips. They range from complete novices who have never touched a machine tool before to highly skilled, professional, engineers, with 40+ years of experience, so there is always someone to help you.

With regard to using small chucks on larger machines, seems perfectly feasible to me, It will reduce the amount of weight being thrown around and will probably be more accurate.

I do something similar with the Myford quite often. It has a rather small spindle bore which is both a blessing and a curse. The curse bit is that I am very limited in what will pass through the spindle bore. But the blessing is that I can put a spare 2MT Jacobs (tailstock) Chuck in the spindle taper and use it for holding small components, they are really accurate (especially when new), quite cheap to buy, and give good access to the workpiece.

Paul's idea of gripping the small chuck in the big one is a very good idea and if you grip it in the big 4 jaw you could do all sorts of clever stuff. like weird offset turning (could be useful for crankshafts and eccentrics and the like).

So get stuck in and make some chips, or great long strings if it's aluminium (great material for practising on, it's very forgiving, less broken cutters) and have some fun.

Regards Mark

 

[AussieJimG]

Hi Ed, welcome to the mob. You look to be well on the way to having a good setup.

Jim (Bywong near Canberra)

 

[ELM6061]

G'day all and again thanks for the welcome.

Welcome Eddie, I'm from the Mornington Peninsula also, Mount Martha to be more specific. Recently moved my lathe and milling machine into my garage from where I had them stored whilst we spent nearly 2 years sorting out some land and building a new house. Really itching to get going and make something now.

Paul.

Should meet up for a coffee some time soon Swifty, say g'day in person.
Sounds good that you have got your machines in after 2 years.

As for holding the small 4" chuck with the larger chuck and then skyline suggesting offset work could also be done; That's why I love sites like this, the idea's and info that is offered so helpfully and freely.

@dmac Just had a look, the AL356V looks like a lovely machine. I could do with the pump, VFD, quick change tool post holder and what the heck, throw in that light as well. Very nice.
Dumb question, will the collets from my milling machine collet chuck work in a lathe chuck?

Edde

 

[gus]

Hi ELM,

Welcome to HMEM.Been dreaming of moving over to Perth/Sydney/Melbourne where my entire family has moved to.Buy a landed property with a two car garage and put medium size lathe,mills.drill press,shaper and welding transformer. Sweet dreams.
For now I have to contend with a mini lathe,mini vertical mill and drill press in the balcony workshop.

Gus from faraway Singapore.

 

[waynes world]

G'day all and again thanks for the welcome.

Should meet up for a coffee some time soon Swifty, say g'day in person.
Sounds good that you have got your machines in after 2 years.

As for holding the small 4" chuck with the larger chuck and then skyline suggesting offset work could also be done; That's why I love sites like this, the idea's and info that is offered so helpfully and freely.

@dmac Just had a look, the AL356V looks like a lovely machine. I could do with the pump, VFD, quick change tool post holder and what the heck, throw in that light as well. Very nice.
Dumb question, will the collets from my milling machine collet chuck work in a lathe chuck?

Edde

you can buy a 5c collet chuck kit for your lathe and the collets will go upto 1'' inch max . go to www.machineryhouse.com.au and get on the mail list for a cattle dog & sale items mail outs.

 

[steamboat willie]

Hello Dmac!
Got waylaid! What I wanted to mention to you is a company called CTC Tools - operated by a Dane out of Hong Kong and who deals with mainland China for manufacturing. I have some of his tooling and have found it excellent. I notice he also has collets available, and I suspect that they would be cheaper here than from other sources.
Just thought I would mention it.
Cheers!
Bill.

 

[ELM6061]

Hi ELM,

Welcome to HMEM.Been dreaming of moving over to Perth/Sydney/Melbourne where my entire family has moved to.Buy a landed property with a two car garage and put medium size lathe,mills.drill press,shaper and welding transformer. Sweet dreams.
For now I have to contend with a mini lathe,mini vertical mill and drill press in the balcony workshop.

Gus from faraway Singapore.

G'day Gus, Perth/Sydney/Melbourne, you must have a quid if you can afford to live in all three at once Gus, HaHaHa
Personally I would scratch Sydney off the list :hDe::fan::hDe:. Wouldn't mind pinching there bridge though, string the sucker from Queenscliff to Point Nepean.

As for collets and a collet adapter, I will just have to cross that bridge when I come to it, but apreciate all the idea/s.

Eddie