Greetings from Norway!

[Vargen]

Hello everyone!
I don't have a lot to post about yet, just reading and learning as much as possible from you guys.
My main machining interest is gunsmithing, i have a few old guns that need maintenance and spare parts must be made from scratch. I've also always wanted to build small engines, steam in particular, and now that i have children I think building simple engines together would be a nice way to bond while learning useful skills.

I've had a tiny lathe for many years, a worn out old Perris (forerunner of the Cowells).
It has served me well enough for making small replacement screws in odd thread dimensions etc, but it is too small and anemic for serious use.
Therefore I've just purchased a real machine: a somewhat rusty Tos Trencin SA18 RA. It is currently sitting under a tarp in my driveyard, I'll have to somehow move its 1800kg mass into my garage and get three phase wiring installed so I can start using it.
Besides the lathe, I have a bunch of other tools like a mig welder, angle grinder, pillar drill, air compressor etc. No mill yet, I think I'll get a milling attachment for the lathe.
Oh, and I've also got an old pottery kiln that I plan to use for heat treating steel, maybe casting aluminium et as well since it gets hot enough for that.
I'll get back to you when I've made something!

 

[Mechanicboy]

Hello, you can use the lathe as a milling machine. No problem.

http://users.picknowl.com.au/~gloaming_agnet/mill.html

Hilsen fra Bergen,Norge / Greetings from Bergen, Norway

 

[kadora]

hello Vargen
Your 1800kg toy was made in my country.
I hope you will machine a lot of steamers on it.

 

[Vargen]

Will do!
It seems to be in decent shape, the rust is mainly in noncritical areas. The ways look pretty good, and everything moves smoothly without any slack that I can detect. A bit of backlash in the crosslide feed, but that'll adjust out I think. I need to find a manual for this thing, there are a lot of things to adjust and even more stuff to lubricate. Ball oiler ports everywhere, I haven't counted them all, plus at least three gearboxes with seperate oil level glass or dipsticks etc.

I managed to get the heavy beast into my garage today, all by my lonesome. Had to use two rented pallet jacks and a comealong/chain hoist. There was a slight uphill and some uneven ground just outside the garage, so there was no way I could roll it in without using the comealong.
Next problem: getting it down off the pallets.

 

[kvom]

My 1500kg lathe sits on two 4x4 pieces of lumber, high enough to get the pallet jack under it when needed.

If you can find lumber the same height as the pallets or a bit more then you could slide it under and then destroy the pallet afterwards.

 

[Vargen]

Well, I wanted to use the levelling screws to set it up properly. Not sure wood is stable enough under that much pressure, so I set it down on the concrete floor. Got it off the pallets by creative use of a garage jack, a jackstand, and a prybar. I could get it up on pallets again with the same trick if needed.