retiring to machinist

[clockworkcheval]

Please consider an important setback of combo machines: you bang you head on the milling/drilling column!

 

[mrbugbums]

there's so much unknown. is there not a lathe that can be absolutely certain of being capable of also milling with the right attachments? and that mill is not more than 300 lbs? i think it would be so great to get a small lathe with milling attachments and I learn on a small scale making small items and after learning the fundamentals I pass that machine on to my son... and then I move this summer and build my workshop and buy whatever mill and lathe is necessary to be capable of fashioning any product item job...etc. I really really want to have the equipment to make money doing jobs in my workshop. hire tutors, take the college course again...volunteer at shops....whatever... built stuff, fix things for people, make one off items that people need.... invent knew machines items like my perogie pounder machine idea.... whatever anything.... yes its true i've never milled or lathed yet.... i've only studied, watched and dreamed so far.... and so far the reviews and advice are horrendously negative towards anything less than a knee mill or 1.5" bore lathe.... I haven't understood 90% of what everyone has written regarding the equipment and need to start somewhere. but again..... the reviews are sooooo bad for anything mini or small....

 

[Courierdog]

IF this is strictly a home shop and not going to do any 3rd party work. Then you build the shop, have any inspection come before any machines, period.
Keep every machine as a plug in receptacle only and the inspection stops at the receptacle. For how use the inspection even in Ontario Stops at the Receptacle.
Commercial is another matter.
If it is truly a HOME SHOP The inspectors do not care or even want to be involved beyond the receptacle. I grew up in Nova Scotia then moved to Ontario. The Ontario Electrical code is quite stiff but not unreasonable.
When we moved to Alberta it was laughable at best out here, code what code, now they are scrambling to over compensate, dumb.

 

[awake]

Ah, you raise a good point. A lot of hobby machining has been done using milling attachments on a lathe - the type of attachment that fastens to the carriage and has provision for clamping a part and adjusting its position up and down. You then do the milling by putting a milling cutter in the chuck, then moving the carriage back and forth and left and right to do the milling. I don't know if anyone is currently making a lathe that has such attachments commercially available, but you can certainly find a used lathe that has the milling attachments, or the used milling attachments alone, on places such as eBay. Alternately, you can make your own milling attachment - that has often been done, and in fact some of what you will find on eBay are home built. There are plans and articles aplenty on making these.

So if you go this route, pick a lathe that is the size you want to start with, start using it and get used to speeds and depths of cut, measuring, hitting the desired precision, etc. If you have a 4-jaw chuck (make sure you have a 4-jaw chuck), you can even do some "milling" directly in the lathe, at least as far as flattening and sizing stock and boring holes. When you have some experience, then build the milling attachment, and you will add further capabilities. Down the road, if you acquire a true milling machine, you may put the milling attachment away, never to be used again ... but if you ever sell that lathe, it will add to the resale value.

 

[Courierdog]

I too am having a happy day.
My bits and pieces i.e. diamond tools came from Eccentric Engineering UK to add to my AcuteT&C have arrived

It all came with a Best Wishes card for my aged and somewhat uncertain future.

Cheers


Norman

You are in for a real treat. I hope you got both the LH and RH tools as well as the sharpening Jig. I have two complete sets, Never regretted the purchase. 90% of my lathe work is done using the Diamond Tool Holder.
As Gary suggests set them up on a QCTP adaptor one Left Cutting and one Right Cutting. the QCTP allows that tiny bit of precision that enables these tiny options that make each and every cut so simple.
Enjoy!

 

[ajoeiam]

and then I move this summer and build my workshop and buy whatever mill and lathe is necessary to be capable of fashioning any product item job...etc. I really really want to have the equipment to make money doing jobs in my workshop

I would suggest that your desires will far exceeded your pocket book - - - - grin.
I think the way you're starting, or appear to anyway, is not bad, just machining is a huge field.
I've found a marked diversion between fabricating and repair and most could care less about repair- - - - likely 'cause its not sexy.
Except if you can help others in this way - - - - - you just might find your circle of influence expanding (besides your knowledge- - - grin!).

I can remember making a manual noodle press - - - - cheap ones can be bought in the $20 something (CAN) range - - we spent some way over $100 on just materials never mind our time (donated). The guy loved it - - - - sounds like he's been using it for the last over 15 years to - - - -which makes it feel even better.
That's become my idea of 'fun' (ok - - - so I'm weird - - - grin!)

 

[L98fiero]

if I was real serious about having a combo machine I would get one of these . There were several of this type made at one time
animal

At the first machine shop I worked at in Regina Saskatchewan, there was a combo machine made by Parker-Hannifin, I assume it was something they were told to make for the WWII war effort, it was a combo horizontal mill, vertical mill, drill press and lathe, all in one. The the central column had a lathe spindle with the unsupported bed extending to the right, on the left of the column there was a milling table, at the front there was a drill table and the vertical milling head could be rotated over the drill table or the milling table and the drive motor was in the base. Super cool machine except that somewhere in the intervening 25 years between the end of the war and when I saw it, the cross slide went missing. I found a picture on the internet one time about ten years ago but haven't seen anything since, I was told it was referred to as a armourers lathe. I tried to buy it as it wasn't, an couldn't be used in the shop and I wanted to get into the hobby, the old guy running the shop had once sold a machine and the buyer started up a competing shop so he refused to sell anything anymore, he'd rather scrap it.

 

[goldstar31]

[/QUOTE]

I have Left Cutting and the Right Cutting tool.

Thank you for your help and good wishes
I do have both tools to go with the Acute System

Regards

Norman

 

[Tug40]

mrbugbums, if a combo machine is what you really want at this point, then buy one.
Everybody has an opinion, (including me), most are negative , but you will learn on anything you buy, anything is better than nothing.
And you can always sell & move up to better machines.

 

[fcheslop]

I built my 2inch scale Clayton steam waggon on a Myford ML7 with a vertical slide .
Would I do it again? No way it was a real pain in the neck literally having to squint around the slide to see the cut
It all boils down to what sized bits n bobs you want to make
If you ever need any info on commercial cappuccino makers just shout up , For my sins I owned and worked on them for nigh on 20 years
cheers

 

[Courierdog]

I have Left Cutting and the Right Cutting tool.

Thank you for your help and good wishes
I do have both tools to go with the Acute System

Regards

Norman
[/QUOTE]
I have the Acute Tool Sharpening System Kit. Now I have acquire the metric tooling (drills reamers ETC) to build it Not easy to find in Canada

 

[goldstar31]

[/QUOTE]
I have the Acute Tool Sharpening System Kit. Now I have acquire the metric tooling (drills reamers ETC) to build it Not easy to find in Canada
[/QUOTE]

As a complete aside, I have just had my daughter getting a Quebec dish with lips, gravy and cheese on top.
So back to the Acute tool. I always thought that you Canadians were 'metric' creatures

I want another tool rest and that will be made out of a heap of mild steel scrap.
I was running low during the pandemoniumD) and got 30 kilos of mild steel offcuts and £40 of assorted metric round free cutting leaded stuff.
Having said all that, I'm on making a Hemingwaykits lathe height gauge- and using some of the assorted stuff to make another on which will be destined to go on the SiegC4 metric lathe.
It or they are a surprising lot more work and I have had to buy 7/16th X32 ( ME Coarse series) taps and die.
All go but enjoyable

Regards

Norman

 

[Courierdog]

Norman:
You have to find Imperial and I have to find Metric. And it looks like we has similar Lathes. Mine is from Little Machine Shop HiTorque 8.5x16 Bench Lathe - 3536 it is a Sieg C4 Variant. I also have the Sieg X2 variant Little Machine Shop HiTorque Solid Column 3960 Mill. Most hobby Machinists in Canada order from Busy Bee Tooling which are Weiss based machines. Most Hobby Machinists in North America us the Sieg based machines and I wanted the most common machine in the hope that more forum members would have solutions.
So far these machines have been excellent to work with and the forum support has been encouraging.
The other new tool I got is the Tormek DBS-22 Drill bit sharpening jig. It allows me to sharpen my drill bis for 4 facet points which are really great for an improved drilling function. the holes are more round and far less pressure is required to make the drills bit into the metal.
The Jig also allows me to tailor the drill bits for the metal being cut.
Thanks for Listening

 

[goldstar31]

Good Morning Courierdog and those following on

My SiegC4 was very 2nd hand at only £350 . So it's my spate lathe- here in the warmth.
I had to add bits as can be expected. Of course, adding bits adds up to quite a total.
So I added a few 'almost freebies' in the form of tee nuts silver soldered to cheap metric studding and assorted lumps of steel to take drilled holes and tapped ones to hold things accurately for machining. Once they are worn out, chuck them away and start again.
With scrap steel bits, I can fasten things like vices and things like rotary tables and dividing heads. What are things 'like'? well vices and rotary tables and so on
I was wondering what to tackle next and want to make narrow almost parting tools to do the base of one of the height gauges for the lathes.
And now to boring tools. Mine are all homemade to Geo H Thomas's Model Engineers Workshop Manual

Thank you for stopping bye. Have a safe weekend

Norman

 

[STEVEJ]

They don`t make them like they used to, do they?

 

[corrad]

There is a beautiful Emco Maximat Super 11 on Ebay here in Australia for A$6500. Even with the transport costs to your country this will be a good option.

 

[goldstar31]

There is a beautiful Emco Maximat Super 11 on Ebay here in Australia for A$6500. Even with the transport costs to your country this will be a good option.

So being the only one in step in the parade, I read some of your old posts. Did you ever get a pair of Myford ML10 steadies? This prompts me to recall the sale of my quite dent ML10 which only raised £300 as opposed to perhaps TEN times that for tthe suggested Emco. So why not keep it in Australia? EH? So even assuming that it will cross the briny( and incur a LOT of extra coins, what else comes with it( apart from sawdust?) So I'm one of these guys who spentfar too long working, jus how many extras will our newcomer get and more importantly,, how much and how difficult will he have to incur in either repairing the thing or adding essentials will become involved?

This is why I blatantly refused to recommend a Myford ML7. I have a mate who just turned his calendar to 4 score years( I've added another 19) and he has had his since he was a first year apprentice. But dear old Roger is a time served tool room bloke and half way through his career had to be his own master- and earn a few pennies.

I'm afraid that our new found friend will have a long way to go to put a machine right.
Well that is my somewhat searching thought that might now require - a further search.

So the last miracle came from the East-- and I missed it-- damn
Norman

 

[corrad]

So being the only one in step in the parade, I read some of your old posts. Did you ever get a pair of Myford ML10 steadies? This prompts me to recall the sale of my quite dent ML10 which only raised £300 as opposed to perhaps TEN times that for tthe suggested Emco. So why not keep it in Australia? EH? So even assuming that it will cross the briny( and incur a LOT of extra coins, what else comes with it( apart from sawdust?) So I'm one of these guys who spentfar too long working, jus how many extras will our newcomer get and more importantly,, how much and how difficult will he have to incur in either repairing the thing or adding essentials will become involved?

This is why I blatantly refused to recommend a Myford ML7. I have a mate who just turned his calendar to 4 score years( I've added another 19) and he has had his since he was a first year apprentice. But dear old Roger is a time served tool room bloke and half way through his career had to be his own master- and earn a few pennies.

I'm afraid that our new found friend will have a long way to go to put a machine right.
Well that is my somewhat searching thought that might now require - a further search.

So the last miracle came from the East-- and I missed it-- damn
Norman

Y

So being the only one in step in the parade, I read some of your old posts. Did you ever get a pair of Myford ML10 steadies? This prompts me to recall the sale of my quite dent ML10 which only raised £300 as opposed to perhaps TEN times that for tthe suggested Emco. So why not keep it in Australia? EH? So even assuming that it will cross the briny( and incur a LOT of extra coins, what else comes with it( apart from sawdust?) So I'm one of these guys who spentfar too long working, jus how many extras will our newcomer get and more importantly,, how much and how difficult will he have to incur in either repairing the thing or adding essentials will become involved?

This is why I blatantly refused to recommend a Myford ML7. I have a mate who just turned his calendar to 4 score years( I've added another 19) and he has had his since he was a first year apprentice. But dear old Roger is a time served tool room bloke and half way through his career had to be his own master- and earn a few pennies.

I'm afraid that our new found friend will have a long way to go to put a machine right.
Well that is my somewhat searching thought that might now require - a further search.

So the last miracle came from the East-- and I missed it-- damn
Norman

yip, got them. Sold the ML 10 and bought a Myford Super 7. Fixed that and sold it when I got an opportunity to buy an Emco Maximat V10P. The Emco is just a level above the Myford. I am tempted to go for the Emco Super 11 but at my age I will stick to the Maximat V10P

 

[goldstar31]

Y

yip, got them. Sold the ML 10 and bought a Myford Super 7. Fixed that and sold it when I got an opportunity to buy an Emco Maximat V10P. The Emco is just a level above the Myford. I am tempted to go for the Emco Super 11 but at my age I will stick to the Maximat V10P

But why worry about age? I'm deaf, I have COPD and with macular degeneration am stumbling my partially blind way to my 91st Birthday!
I updated to a Myford Super7 with the gearbox and the power cross-feed and as I said earlier, have a rattling old SiegC4.
It's ALL in the mind. 90 today is no great thing. You have dentia or you don't. If you have, i'm so sorry and will not be the last to put my hand in my pocket in an effort to aid research. As you are merely dithering a bit about a better lathe, you should be clear of such a dreadful thing.
Most tablets that I take are covered in gelatine and it is a glue to keep us oldies in a semblance of order.
Dear old Elizabeth Alexandra Mary- Driver Mechanic once upon a uninformed time has to deal with an old ruin of nearly 100. I've no doubt that the odd law is broken at the Palace but who the Hell cares? I've got a stinking rotten letter from her Prime Minister and I've got an invitation to save the world by helping a poor mate to re-cycle an already half empty bottle of the finest single malt whisky. It would an act of mercy to help him to empty the remaining contents------ and start on another.

We are doing our bit to Save the World and don't want any medals for it-- but another full bottle would not be refused.

Meantime-- back to silver soldering
N

 

[Rata221]

mrbugbums

My 2 cents… and maybe not worth that.

Look for a decent used lathe and mill. Hopefully with some tool holders. And at a fair price. (Find someone knowledgable to help you - if needed) A size that you can readily move yourself and start machining. Where I live I don’t see good quality –desirable machines ever going down in value. When you are ready to move to your new shop, you should be able to sell the equipment and recoup your money. Any cutters you do buy will mostly be usable in any tool holders that fit your new machinery. You would have gotten started in your new hobby, at low cost and gained knowledge.

After you machine for a while, I think you would have a better insight into what will fill your needs. And you will get the joy of buying something you really want and not be anxious about it.

Good luck on your new journey and have fun.