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I Forge Iron

Show me your Lathe


Glenn

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I have a tiny little craftsman lathe, 6x18". I found it in a metal scrap dumpster missing the chuck, motor, and needing a bit of cleaning. I am slowly collecting bits to make it run, but I'll probably sell it to raise money for a real machine tool. It's not really suited to working steel. I have a wood lathe of similar low quality. I can hardly wait until both are gone and some heavy old American iron is brought into the shop.

There is lots of good info here: Griffiths Engineering

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I am fortunate (maybe) to have two. The little green 10x36 Sheldon is a workhorse and has served me faithfully for 20 years - I can run it in my sleep. It started life serving on a Navy ship and was built in 1946. My cousin purchased it from government surplus in the 1960's and I bought it from him in 1987.

I recently got the 15x48 Clausing for next to nothing from my place of work but the gear box was crunched. The spindle and everything else is fine but an idiot crashed it under power feed twice and once while threading (yes, he was fired) so the QC box is a basket case. I have been busy with blacksmithing for the past 9 months so have not gotten a chance to do anything with it but will make an attempt now that it's starting to cool off. The parts are available but for the price, I can make them during my spare time and be way ahead. It is a real beast for hogging material but will hold tenths while finish turning manually so is worth spending some time on.

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My Li'l HF Mini-lathe. 7" deep x 10" long. Turret can hold 4 bits but I generally just keep two for balance ;) Supposedly will cut threads but I haven't tried it yet. Also supposed to be able to put 3/4" diameter through chuck and head but I think they meant the Chinese version of 3/4". 5/8" will fit tho :) Two geared speed ranges with rheostat to control RPM. Picture of rollers was the first real job I did on it. Rollers are idlers for my belt grinder.

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My son-in-laws gingery lathe built from tin cans, pistons, and a 12' extension ladder. Really.... Home-built Gingery Lathe the lathe is finished but the web site is not. click on the pic's for the details. The head and tail stock as well as all the pulleys wheels and knobs we sand cast in a home built foundry, with a home built blown forge burner. Milling was done on my brother's bridgeport all turned parts were made in the lathe as it was assembled. It was quite the project and works well for our needs. A small Mill is the next project.

Our real hobby: Mad Splatter :D:o

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after i had to quit work, i missed it so much i made me a lathe just so i could make chips again, anyway, i built the Gingery lathe, made all the patterns and saved all my pop cans, all the aluminum castings are 100% popcanalloy

the little lathe just takes up valuable work bench space and collects dust now

since then i was able to get a 1895 Leblond 18" lathe, its missing 2 gears for threading, one day i will make the 2 needed gears, this lathe is very very accurate, only thing i dont like about it is, it just runs to slow, im not sure what the fastest speed the spindle bearings can take, but maybe some day i can get a few more RPM's out of it

i called Leblond and asked if they had any information on it, all he could tell me was the year it was made and that it is really a 20" swing, even tho it has 18" cast right into the headstock

Ron

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  • 1 month later...

I have 4 metal lathes. 2 SB 10 inchers. A light 10K and a heavy 10L. The 10L i just bought and don't have set up yet. My 10K has been my use daily lathe for the last 3 years. There are lots of projects i have made here southbend10k : SouthBendLathe10k and lathe projects. I have made almost all the tooling i use and it works fine and was cheap to make. I also made an ER40 collet chuck for my 10K as well as a giant cast iron face plate. I also made a cross slide hole driller that can drill set screw holes without removing the part from the lathe and it works great.
I also have 2 Craftsman 6x12's that i don't use except for real small stuff. Here are a few pics. First one is the 10L i bought off ebay. 2nd and 3rd pic is my 10K which is also an ebay lathe.
If anyone ever needs anything made give me a yell. If you are around NE Ohio/ western PA and want to learn how to run a lathe give me a yell also, my shop is always open to anyone...Bob

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  • 4 weeks later...

WELL I guess I'm going to have to show my age here! ...Well the age of my lathe anyway. This is a "A" model Monarch, I've been cleaning it up for some time, and have been using it here lately. STILL have afew "issues" but has been very enjoyable!

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

3A WARNER & SWASEY SADDLE TYPE TURRET LATHE

GENERAL SPECIFICATIONS:

SPINDLE SPEEDS .................................................. ...... 12 to 851 RPM

SPINDLE BAR CAPACITY ............................................. 6"

SPINDLE NOSE TYPE A1 ............................................... 15"

24" 3-jaw chuck

SWING OVER CARRIAGE GUARD ................................ 23 1/2"

CROSS SLIDE CROSS TRAVEL ..................................... 14 3/8"

CROSS SLIDE LONGITUDINAL TRAVEL ......................... 51"

FEEDS (16) .................................................. ................. .0025 to .082

HEXAGON TURRET LONGITUDINAL TRAVEL .................. 51"

FEEDS (16) .................................................. ................. .005 to .167

RAPID TRAVERSE ON CROSS SLIDE & HEX TURRET

25 HP MAIN MOTOR 3-phase, 220/440 VOLT

WEIGHT APPROX............................................ ............... 20,000 LBS.

------------------------------
trying-it

Warner & Swasey 3A turret lathe like mine; I have 3 - Blacksmith Photo Gallery

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My Li'l HF Mini-lathe. 7" deep x 10" long. Turret can hold 4 bits but I generally just keep two for balance ;) Supposedly will cut threads but I haven't tried it yet. Also supposed to be able to put 3/4" diameter through chuck and head but I think they meant the Chinese version of 3/4". 5/8" will fit tho :) Two geared speed ranges with rheostat to control RPM. Picture of rollers was the first real job I did on it. Rollers are idlers for my belt grinder.


Hey dodge,
Does it work Ok? I thouht about getting one to learn on.

Thanks,Chris
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Chris,
This lathe works good for small stuff and it would be great to learn the principles on. Aluminum rollers I made were easy, but steel requires smaller cuts, as it would on any lathe. Precision is, of course up to the operator, but I wouldn't try to make space shuttle parts with it. ;) Also, it's billed as a 7 x 10, but I don't know if I would feel comfortable with a piece of 7" diameter by 10" long piece of steel spinning in front of my face. LOL

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I have one of the older model Taig lathes with lots of attachments and parts. Bought it at an auction, still haven't set it up. Most of the parts are still packed in the original grease....

Usually walk up the hill and "borrow" my friend's lathe if I need one....

Chuck

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Ok AWESOME! Might you know where I could get a CHeap Used one(not abused)



Chris,
Not sure how "local" your local harbor freight is... but we got our 9x20 as a "returned item." Meaning basically someone had bought it, used it once, decided they didn't like it, and brought it back (without the faceplate:( ). We were asking about details on one and the manager mentioned they had the returned one in the back. Can't remember off the top of my head, but I am pretty sure we got about 25% off because of it being returned and all (without the faceplate:( ). Otherwise just keep watching the 'bay. One might turn up sooner or later.
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