Category Archives: lathe

Preparing For A Lathe: How to Move 3000 Pounds of Iron

Posted on June 4, 2018 by Fernando Gomes

You say to yourself, “Self, I want, nay, need a lathe”. Being a good little trooper, you then did all your research, having chosen Import or American, Imperial or Metric, and all your feed options and such. You then pulled the trigger and the machine is en route to your shop. Now what?

Choosing a Spot for a Serious Tool

First and foremost, you need to figure out where to put it. Sure, you probably should have done that before you bought it, and maybe a pulling a tape measure would have been a good idea. Never let pesky details …read more

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Posted in how to move heavy equipment, Interest, lathe, machine tools, tool hacks, winch | Leave a comment

A Buyer’s Guide to Lathe Options

Posted on April 24, 2018 by Fernando Gomes

Lathes are complicated machines, and buying one requires weighing a lot of options. We’ve already talked about buying new Asian, or old American machines (with apologies to the Germans, British, Swiss, and all the other fine 20th century machine tool making-countries). We also talked about bed length and swing, and you ain’t got nothin’ if you ain’t got that swing. Let’s talk about the feature set now. If you’re buying new, you’ll shop on these details. If you’re buying used, knowing the differences will help you pick a good project machine.

Imperial or Metric?

First and foremost — Imperial or …read more

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Posted in lathe, machine tools, options, power feed, tool post | Leave a comment

Shutter Bug Goes Extreme with Scratch-Built Film Camera

Posted on April 15, 2018 by Fernando Gomes

Should a camera build start with a sand mold and molten aluminum? That’s the route [CroppedCamera] took with this thoroughly impressive camera project.

When we think of cameras these days, chances are we picture the ones that live inside the phones in our pockets. They’re the go-to image capture devices for most of us, but even for the more photographically advanced among us, when a more capable camera is called for, it’s usually an off-the-shelf DSLR from Canon, Nikon, or the like. Where do hand-built cameras fall in today’s photography world? They’re a great way to add a film option …read more

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Posted in lathe, lens, machining, metalworking, mill, misc hacks, optics, petrobond, shutter | Leave a comment

Buying Machine Tools: Foreign or Domestic, New or Used?

Posted on March 21, 2018 by Fernando Gomes

The last time we discussed machine tools, we talked about how to choose the size of the new metalworking lathe that your wallet is itching to pour itself into. The next big decision to make is “new or used?” If you’re in North America, this question has a lot of overlap with the classic question “Import or American?”. The answer boils down to what your needs are, and what you want to get out of this machine.

If you are new to machining, and want to learn the skills, I recommend starting with an Asian import machine. If you’re careful …read more

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Posted in Interest, lathe, metalworking, Original Art | Leave a comment

Mini Lathe Makes Tiny Hydraulic Cylinders for RC Snow Plow

Posted on February 18, 2018 by Fernando Gomes

You can get pretty much any part you need online these days, but some specialty parts are a little hard to come by. So if your needs are esoteric, like tiny hydraulic cylinders for RC snow plows, you might just have to roll your own.

To be honest, we never really knew that realistic working hydraulics on such a small scale were a thing, but [tintek33]’s video below opened our eyes to a new world of miniature mechanicals. You’d think a linear actuator would be a fine stand-in for the hydraulic ram on a tiny snow plow for an RC …read more

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Posted in hydraulic, lathe, machining, misc hacks, rc, snow plow, turning | Leave a comment

Vintage Logan Lathe Gets 3D Printed Gears

Posted on January 13, 2018 by Fernando Gomes

In December 2016, [Bruno M.] was lucky enough to score a 70+ year old Logan 825 lathe for free from Craigslist. But as you might expect for a piece of machinery older than 95% of the people reading this page, it wasn’t in the best of condition. He’s made plenty of progress so far, and recently started tackling some broken gears in the machine’s transmission. There’s only one problem: the broken gears have a retail price of about $80 USD each. Ouch.

On his blog, [Bruno] documents his attempts at replacing these expensive gears with 3D printed versions, which so …read more

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Posted in lathe, Logan 825, parts, repair, repair hacks | Leave a comment

Star Chart Watch is a Romantic Tragedy

Posted on January 10, 2018 by Fernando Gomes

It’s becoming abundantly clear that [Colin Merkel] doesn’t know the definition of “good enough”. Not only has he recently completed his third (and most impressive) wristwatch build, but he also managed to put together one of the most ridiculously romantic gifts ever conceived. While some of us are giving our significant others a gift card to Starbucks, he made his girlfriend a watch with a chart on the face representing the position of the stars at the time and place of their first meeting.

As per his usual style, the documentation on this build is phenomenal. If paging through his …read more

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Posted in lathe, metal working, PyEphem, star chart, watch, wearable hacks | Leave a comment

Fighting Machine Tool Chatter with a 555 Timer

Posted on October 7, 2017 by Fernando Gomes

Vibration is a fact of life in almost every machining operation. Whether you’re milling, drilling, turning, or grinding, vibration can result in chatter that can ruin a part. Fighting chatter has generally been a matter of adding more mass to the machine, but if you’re clever about things, chatter reduction can be accomplished electronically, too. (YouTube, embedded below.)

When you know a little something about resonance, machine vibration and chatter start to make sense. [AvE] spends quite a bit of time explaining and demonstrating resonance in the video — fair warning about his usual salty shop language. His goal with …read more

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Posted in lathe, milling machine, resonance, tool hacks, variable frequency drive, vfd, vibration | Leave a comment

Engineering and Artistry Meet an Untimely End at Burning Man

Posted on October 6, 2017 by Fernando Gomes

Burning Man is so many different things to so many people, that it defies neat description. For those who attend, it always seems to be a life-changing experience, for good or for ill. The story of one man’s Burning Man exhibition is a lesson in true craftsmanship and mind-boggling engineering, as well as how some events can bring out the worst in people.

For [Malcolm Tibbets], aka [the tahoeturner], Burning Man 2017 was a new experience. Having visited last year’s desert saturnalia to see his son [Andy]’s exhibition, the studio artist decided to undertake a massive display in his medium …read more

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Posted in kinetic, lathe, misc hacks, redwood, sculpture, segmented wood turning, steel, wood | Leave a comment

Enresoning An iPhone 8 Ring

Posted on September 30, 2017 by Fernando Gomes

The iPhone 8 was just released last week, and that means some people were standing in line in front of an Apple store for hours waiting to get their hands on the latest and greatest glowing rectangle. [Patrick Adair] had a better idea: he would stand in front of an Apple store for four hours, then do something productive with his new smartphone. With the help of a waterjet, some resin, a lathe, and some very fine grades of sandpaper, he created the Apple Ring.

Setting aside the whole process of actually acquiring an iPhone 8 on launch day, the …read more

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Posted in lathe, misc hacks, resin, turning, waterjet | Leave a comment