Material for metal lathe practice/Enco Code

[southernclay]

Looking at making a small order with Enco to get some practice materials to learn on the Grizzly G0602 I got. Looking around I've come up with Delrin (for practicing threading as well, 6061 aluminum and 303 stainless. Thinking brass as well, any recommendations to type? Any recommendations of other items to check out with Enco (broad question I know) but the website isn't the user friendliest of the lot.

Lathe came with chucks, centers, Jacobs chuck, tapping fluid, carbide cutters a few HSS blanks, quick change toolrest and some other misc items. Any tips would be great. Enco has another free shipping code and 15% off today and tomorrow if that helps anyone.

Not planning into rushing into turning until I learn more but want to be ready when I feel ready.

Double Dip! Get 15% off + free shipping when you use codes "DOUBLE" & "OFFER" at checkout!

 

[KenV]

Warren

Stainless has different machinability with some being much more challenging than others. You might want to start with appealed 416 before getting into the more challenging stainless.

 

[Ed McDonnell]

Hi Warren - My recommendation would be to use online metals instead of enco for bar stock. What I found useful for learning:

Aluminum - 6061-T6511 Extruded Round Bar (NOT cold rolled / finish).

Brass - C360 Half Hard Rod (aka free machining). Note that it is the addition of a significant amount of lead that makes this alloy easier to machine. That can be an issue in some end products. Brass is also very grabby when drilling if you don't have an appropriate grind on your bits. It will pull a chuck right out of a morse taper if you give it half a chance with the bits you normally use for woodworking.

Stainless - 303 is supposed to be easier to machine than 304 or 316. This may be true, but to me it was like the difference between really really hard to machine and really really really hard to machine. The wimpier your lathe and the less you like to make a mess with coolant, the harder it will be to machine. I have a wimpy metal lathe and I don't like using coolant with my metal lathe. I don't use stainless.....

Copper - C145 Tellurium Copper. You didn't ask about copper, but you might enjoy it.

Delrin is a type of homopolymer acetal. I found that copolymer acetal machined better than Delrin, but that could be my imagination at work. I use acetal for PR molds and it seemed to me that copolymer acetal worked better than Delrin (also my imagination?). Copolymer acetal is also a lot less expensive than Delrin (which may be why I am imagining it to be better than Delrin in a lot of ways).

I use Enco for a lot of things, but the reason I prefer online metals for materials is that I'm more certain about what I'm getting and their prices are pretty good. Especially if you take advantage of the frequent sales that they have.

Ed

 

[Ed McDonnell]

One other thought. I think PR is a good practice material. With sharp tooling set up correctly you will get a good finish. Dull tooling and / or bad setup will give you a finish that will look like you used a cheese grater on it.

Ed

 

[southernclay]

Thanks Ken and Ed.

Ed that helped, I had looked on online metals but some of the choices were a bit confusing, however it makes sense that they are more descriptive so you know exactly what you're getting.....if you have the knowledge :biggrin:

That's a very helpful list to clarify, and yes copper would be of interest too. Great heads up on brass drilling too.

I've got a good bit of PR and know the cheese grater look from digging in too deep on the wood lathe, that's a good tip on learning technique.

Man there's so much to learn but I'm liking the research. Have an upcoming vacation so will hopefully have some time at night to read up and watch youtubes. Once I get some help to unload and setup the lathe I'll post up some pics.

 

[BRobbins629]

Rather than stainless, I would try nickel silver also available from online metals. I've even turned some on a wood lathe with carbide insert tools. Polishes real nice and has a look similar to stainless.

 

[More4dan]

Online metals but Don't forget Amazon. I've gotten good prices on aluminum. Get some good cutting fluid. It will make a diffference. You will tempted to get carbide inserts. I did but once I went to HSS I have not gone back. Much better surface finish with HSS and cheaper. Save the carbide for really hard steels or a lathe with plenty of power to cut deep and fast. There are some good forums for learning. Start with aluminum. Its forgiving, cheap, and you get the satisfaction of cutting metal and making chips. Just don't hit the chuck with the cutter ... Don't even ask.

 

[frank123]

All good materials, buy more than you need and in a diameter one step up from the largest you anticipate using. You'll undoubtedly find uses for it on other projects.

FWIW, a piece of bronze rod wouldn't be bad to have on hand just in case you want some sometime and don't want to pay shipping for a single item. Nickel Silver -actually a brass- is nice to have if you can afford it, it's sort of pricey just for learning practice till you've gotten used to machining cheaper materials.

I've always found 303 stainless to be a good material that cuts easily and polishes to a mirror finish without undue effort.

 

[southernclay]

You guys are great thanks! Any tips for buying the HSS tools? I've still got to go through what all was thrown in to see but there wasn't much as far as HSS in it from memory. Where to buy, basic ones needed, I assume presharpened is available over blanks but more expensive? Sorry for the total newbie questions. I'm hesitant to join another forum although I'm sure I will eventually. Feel like I did when I bought my first wood lathe at a pawn shop a few years ago trying to understand what centers and Morris (morse, didn't know better then) tapers are haha

 

[Dalecamino]

You guys are great thanks! Any tips for buying the HSS tools? I've still got to go through what all was thrown in to see but there wasn't much as far as HSS in it from memory. Where to buy, basic ones needed, I assume presharpened is available over blanks but more expensive? Sorry for the total newbie questions. I'm hesitant to join another forum although I'm sure I will eventually. Feel like I did when I bought my first wood lathe at a pawn shop a few years ago trying to understand what centers and Morris (morse, didn't know better then) tapers are haha

I really like these.
Insert, TCMM-221 1680 - LittleMachineShop.com

No grinding/sharpening.

 

[More4dan]

You guys are great thanks! Any tips for buying the HSS tools? I've still got to go through what all was thrown in to see but there wasn't much as far as HSS in it from memory. Where to buy, basic ones needed, I assume presharpened is available over blanks but more expensive? Sorry for the total newbie questions. I'm hesitant to join another forum although I'm sure I will eventually. Feel like I did when I bought my first wood lathe at a pawn shop a few years ago trying to understand what centers and Morris (morse, didn't know better then) tapers are haha

Little machine shop too. Here is a good article on grinding your own. It was easier than I thought it would be. I used a belt sander.

Grinding Lathe Tools on a Belt Sander – For the New Guy | MachinistBlog.com

Grinding Lathe Tools on a Belt Sander – Part 2 | MachinistBlog.com

Grinding Lathe Tools on a Belt Sander – Part 3 | MachinistBlog.com

Danny

 

[BryceRichterDesign]

Delrin (acetal) is a great material to machine, and not just for practice. As far as plastics go it has good mechanical properties and is great for making up non marring fixtures and jigs. it's cheap too, which is a plus.

 

[southernclay]

Thanks Bryce,
I should get a fun order in from online metals soon. Still don't have the lathe off the trailer, but back from vacation and hopefully this weekend will be able to get it all setup and start playing soon.

 

[BryceRichterDesign]

Oh, one more thing I didn't see mentioned, but you might find useful, HDPE or UHMW turns decent and NOTHING sticks to it. CA, epoxy, Gorilla Glue, you name it. just pops right off like nothing.