taking the plunge

[Mosey]

From the point of view of this beginner, I would buy the best Swiss, Japanese, or American made 0-1" digital micrometer I can afford. At least $125.00. Or buy a used one from EBay of same quality. You'll have it for the rest of your life, use it every day, and depend on it like the rock.
I did (Mitutoyo) about 15-20 years ago, and am glad every time I pick it up. I have filled in with the larger mechanical ones 1"-3", later from EBay, and got some almost new Starrett, Lufkin, etc. for $35-50.00.
I believe in the truth of the saying "buy cheap, buy twice".
I also have a 23 year old Sears 1/3 hp bench grinder that I wish would die so I can replace it with something good, but it just keeps going. Damn!

 

[mklotz]

The typical hobbyist doesn't need a tubing micrometer. On the rare occasion when one needs to accurately measure a tubing wall thickness, one can buy a fitting for an ordinary micrometer. It consists of a precision steel ball that is held to the micrometer anvil with a neoprene boot.

 

[steamer]

A standard micrometer would be more useful....let your conscience be your guide

Dave

 

[Rayanth]

just don't want to take that long trip back up there just for one little tool trade. i will call them during the week and report the problem. perhaps they'll pay shipping to let me ship it back.

- Ryan

 

[Rayanth]

Workbench complete, lathe lifted up onto it, but still need to clean the bugger. tons of gunk and fun.

Workbench is fairly square, but is not level. it's in a garage, i didn't really expect it to be level. Looking at options for leveling, and I never really liked shims, so the following was suggested :

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=2053&site=ROCKLER

I would need 2 sets, and have 2 spares at the end of it, as I have 6 legs and they are only sold in sets of 4. however it allows more solid footing than legs balanced on shims, and is a bit more precise than shims. Still thinking on it.

As for the lathe - does it need to be leveled? seems to me everything is relative to the ways, not the bench, so as long as it isn't *twisted* it shouldn't matter if it's level.

Am I wrong?

- Ryan

 

[Mosey]

Leveling of the bed front to back is very important. Many lathes have leveling screws built-into the bed at the tailstock end.

 

[rebush]

Ryan: I'm sure you don't like shims, but, if you build good sturdy legs I think adjustable leg levelers are a step backwards. I'd use wooden shims and a little PL-400 or simular adhesive on the shims, trim off the excess shim stock, and put a bead of adhesive around each leg. Once the bench is level it makes leveling the lathe easier. Roger

 

[Rayanth]

Leveling of the bed front to back is very important. Many lathes have leveling screws built-into the bed at the tailstock end.

Mosey, can you explain why? I'm struggling to understand what could possibly go wrong if it's not level - leveling to gravity shouldn't have a lot of effect when the part's spinning and its gyroscopic forces are largely canceling gravity's affect on it anyway.

I know I'm missing something, I just can't place it.

- Ryan

Edit: also flipped through lathe manual again - nothing in the manual suggests leveling it, nor any of the troubleshooting things say to check for level

 

[Admiral_dk]

There has been some arguments about it earlier on this forum and most believe that the only way to set up your lathe is having it totally leveled horizontally - it will work in other directions too, it's just harder to set it up so there's no twisting forces in the chassis.

 

[steamer]

What the Admiral said....

Southbend themselves only look at the bed level front to back. This was to remove twist.

What you will run into is that a precision level, if it's turned very far off level across the vial, the accuracy will be reduced.

It's easiest to just level it in both directions...which takes the guess work out of all of it.

Dave

 

[Mosey]

I think that the reason behind leveling (front to back) is this, if you level one end and then the other, you know that they are parallel to each other. How else could you know they are parallel? That is the objective... that they are parallel and have no twist. Twist will produce a tapered product. And yes, South Bend calls for leveling front to back only.

 

[Ken I]

The machine was designed & built level - its simply good practice to do so - I bought a 0.02mm in 1000mm precision spirit level (I install machines and have to be professional about it).

Sure a lathe will work all over the place - but - and this is a very big but... if you bolt it down skew and impart a twist into your bed, not only will you screw up its accuracy but long term that twist will become permanent.

Good practice never hurts.

Ken

 

[Blogwitch]

Ryan,

I have had to straighten out a few of these little lathes, where people had used them straight out of the box and used the four rubber feet that they sit on.

The lathe acts like the rubber they are sitting on, flexing all over the place and they do take on a permanent twist, like Ken has mentioned. I had to machine the twist out of them and get them straight again.

All that is really needed is to take off the rubber feet and bolt and shim the lathe, with it's drip tray, onto a piece of thick, flat kitchen worktop. That will keep it straight and without twist, as long as you shim the twist out in the first place. I did the same thing with my little Myford lathe (about the same sort of size as the mini lathe), well over 25 years ago, and it is still cutting spot on in my friends workshop.

It is the twist that is the killer, but getting it level all round does help in keeping your machining true.

They can be made into a fantastic little precision lathe, if a bit of care is taken in the initial setup.


John

 

[Rayanth]

thanks all for the inputs. I was uncertain on whether I should use the feet or bolt it to my workbench itself, guess that answers that question as well =)

Though I would need to find some way to seal the bolts. Silicon breaks down in some oils... maybe I can find some rubber washers or something.

Love this place. So many different levels of expertise and experience, you often get more info than you wanted, but there's always someone willing to help =)

- Ryan, who has a lot of long workdays ahead and won't get much done.

 

[Rayanth]

Well, the weekend is here, but seeing as I work nights and live in a quadplex home, I have to be careful about noise during my 'day'. Most of my shop work will be limited toa few hours a day at most, in the hours between 7am and 10am or so.

Friday morning I spent some time setting up for cleaning, and hanging the shop light I'd purchased during the week. Unfortunately while the light's box says it comes with mounting hardware, it does NOT come with the cup hooks to hang it from the rafters by its chains, so I had to delay its hanging a bit. Got the cup hooks later in the day but was too tired to hang it by then.

Did start dismantling the lathe as well, a little here and there, and learning what goes where and guessing as to why. I have a lot more cleaning than I expected. After annoying steamer with a PM ;D I came back and re-read this entire thread and found most of the questions I'd asked him already answered.... sometimes I swear I would forget my brain if it weren't permanently attached.

Simple Green just isn't cutting it, and after following some links and links from those links and more links, I've decided to grab some kerosene for the cleanup. The lathe's own instructions recommend a solvent/degreaser, but kerosene evidently does the trick nicely, and should be easily available in the morning (The other drawback to night life, nothing is open! But I can't work in the shop without light anyway)

I have settled on the EZ as my first engine, and gave up trying to find a local metal supplier with a good reputation and just went ahead and ordered from OnlineMetals.com -- and found out, on the shipping options page, that they are local! Well. sort of. they're in Seattle, about 30 minutes away. Still, for a larger order that'll have a heavier shipping cost, I can just swing down and pick it up for no shipping charge at all. I placed an order for about 2-3 times as much as I'll need for the EZ, and got the shipment the next day by standard ground UPS. No complaints there! Did forget to order the flywheel material but I can probably 'find' a 'cutoff' from standard shim stock at work and just sand or face off the primer. *cough*

Still on my shopping list is a drill chuck for the tailstock, a live center, some way oil, and center drills... I think I may make another trip up to grizzly this week to return the erroneous tube micrometer, and cross off the rest of that shopping list. Still in the market for a Bench grinder, and then I'll need a drill press (might have a lead at work for one for $50, but the guy is in europe on vacation), and a bandsaw. Right now I have a hacksaw, and need the exercise anyhow.

I can take the parts to work for drilling in our drill press there, if I can't fit the parts in the 4-jaw for drilling with the tailstock. For that matter, I can bring aluminum parts in for cutting on the bandsaw at work, too.

so really it's just a matter of cleaning the lathe! and taking pictures. Must remember the pictures.

- Ryan

PS: (which stands for Post-Script, or something added after the original writing, for those who never knew that) Sorry for the rambling. I tend to do that when I've had lots of sleep followed by lots of caffeine, and a bit of excitement over a project.

Mental Note for shopping list:
- parting-off bits. these could be important.

 

[steamer]

No annoyance Ryan....one step at a time.....think about what your doing.....and you'll get there.

Dave