Ready to pull my hair out!

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wiset1

wiset1

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So about a year ago I bought the 7x16 MicroLux metal lathe with grand visions. Well, work kicked off and I spent over 200+ days on the road never really doing anything with it other than moving it from bench top to bench top due to a move in that time. Well, today I throw in a rod of aluminum just to try things out and WOW :mad: I have no idea what I'm doing and I'm really hating this thing. I spent a good 6 hours messing with it today and became very skilled at scratching the surface of the rod. I have a real appreciation for those who work with these machines.

With the wood lathe I had 5 pens made the first two days messing with it. This metal lathe has me wanting to sell it off for parts. I need to hire someone to train me what the heck I'm doing wrong...

:mad: Time for a shower
 
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Hi Tim
Well the principles the same other than instead of using hand tools you have a carriage. what doesnt seem right to you and we can try and shine some light on it for you?

Theres lots of setup things to do before turning on a metal lathe, likeensuring your tooling is level with the point of your centre in your tailstock,

tailstock centre meets headstock centre point to point,

machine is level

I usually work aluminium at around 1100RPM
 
:bananen_smilies104:Tim; A hate to be the one to tell you this, but a metal lathe is a whole new ball game from a wood lathe. Once you get to know your metal lathe it is much faster and less hair-raising then a wood lathe. I don't know where to even start to solve your problems !!! It sounds as if you are not able to take a clean cut out of your rod. Alignment of your cutter, or angle that your bit is ground at would be my first choises. I would suggest looking up the thread by Brad G from the UK, offering free downloads of old lathe books that tell you all the ins, outs, and how to set up and turn on a lathe. Jim S

I see Brad beat me to the punch. They must have faster PCs in the UK.
 
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Could be a lot of things going wrong for you. Hard to say from what you posted.

Can you post a picture of the cutting tool you are using (side and top shot would help)?

How about a picture of the lathe set up to cut and a picture of your results?

Sharp tools, lathe tool set on center and taking reasonable size cuts (try max cut of 0.010" until you get the hang of things) should give you great results.

I'm no expert. Not even close. But I have made some pretty nice stuff on my microlux in the last couple of months I've had it.

Ed
 
Thanks guys.

The first problem I had was that the switch was in the reverse mode instead of forward. So after the first 45 minutes I made that flip and it was turning into the tool which seemed to remove material better. I'm using the carbide cutters, but I also tried the HSS tools as well just to see what would work better. I also modified my lathe and attached the Dream Cutter, but after reading some of the feedback I noticed that I'll need to shim the tool to center it with the tail stock. I just figured with all the money spent on the carbide tipped tools and fancy shmancy Dream Cutter that the material would roll off like butter. I'll adjust the height of the tool tomorrow with a shim and see if that changes things.

Everything is new, and sharp!
 
BRobbins629 said:
Maybe try something other than aluminum, which is one of the hardest materials to machine. If you want metal, try some brass - much easier to learn on. Hang in there.
Click to expand...

I'll give that a try then. I bought rods of Brass, Copper, Aluminum, Stainless Steel, and Damascus and figured the cheap aluminum would be better to learn on, but I'll give Brass a go tomorrow.
 
You might want to put copper at the bottom of the list of things to try. Or at least wait for your hair to grow back so you have some more to pull out.

I would also suggest removing the dream cutter and just learning how to get good quality straight cuts on the lathe. Once you know you can get good simple cuts with your tooling then get fancy with the radius cutter. At least that's what I would do.

Do you have a quick change tool post? If you don't, consider getting one. It will greatly simplify your life as you change tools for different cuts.

Ed
 
parklandturner said:
You might want to put copper at the bottom of the list of things to try. Or at least wait for your hair to grow back so you have some more to pull out.

I would also suggest removing the dream cutter and just learning how to get good quality straight cuts on the lathe. Once you know you can get good simple cuts with your tooling then get fancy with the radius cutter. At least that's what I would do.

Do you have a quick change tool post? If you don't, consider getting one. It will greatly simplify your life as you change tools for different cuts.

Ed
Click to expand...

Thanks Ed! I've never been one to do anything half way so I jumped right in with the Dream Cutter which I guess I should have waited to play with once I figured things out. Tomorrow I'll attach the quick change post back on the lathe since that's the only thing I did to the lathe before all this drama. Tomorrows a new day
 
I know Fred, but you know me! I'm a special kind of stupid when I get something stuck in my head, and I normally jump right in when I can. Since the end goal was to make my own components and be 100% custom without EVER having to buy from PSI again, I have a drive to succeed and reach that end goal. I guess that's why I'm not putting wood on it, but the way things went today I just may give it a try, ha ha ha.
 
You might want to start grinding your own HSS tool bits, the small mini lathes really don't have enough power and rigidity to handle the carbide bits, at least that's been my observation. I have a drawer FULL of carbide bits that I never use since I started grinding my own.
 
Wow !! 45mins to spot the machine was in reverse and 400 smackeroonies for a ball turner!!! :eek:
I don't know which I'm more impressed with !!! :biggrin:









Sorry Tim, just playing with you!!! :tongue:
 
skiprat said:
Wow !! 45mins to spot the machine was in reverse and 400 smackeroonies for a ball turner!!! :eek:
I don't know which I'm more impressed with !!!

Sorry Tim, just playing with you!!! :tongue:
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I know right! Its all stuff I bought about a year ago thinking I needed it and that it would make life easier for me. The 45 minutes, well...:rolleyes:
 
I agree with other post aluminum is real grabby, I found that 6061 turns the best for me. The cutter height is very important to cutting anything. Install your cutter then line the cutting edge up with the point of the live or dead center in your tailstock. Put a small piece of Rod in your Chuck with the end exposed, flatten the end of it with your cutter. If there is a little nib on the end of the rod after you face it, it's too low, make a slight adjustment and try again. When there's no nib it's dead on center. Hope this helps
 
Hexhead said:
That dream cutter can be duplicated very easily, and there sites that will show you many versions of people of made, without that high price.
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Again, it was bought a year ago before this whole metal lathe craze kicked in and I thought it would be a cool tool to try. I've messed around with the lathe again and with the adjusted tool height I was able to make cuts, but I'm still no closer to what I would call tolerant of the machine or material. This is going to take some time and understanding of both.
 
45mins to spot the machine was in reverse
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I still resharpen the tool with no success!!!!! when I fail to notice I've still got my lathe in reverse after "Parting-off". So don't be too embarrassed.
Regards,
John
 
Grab some scrap and take little steps. Watch the videos and play. DON"T try to make a pen right off the bat. Just make some really sharp shavings.

Just wait until you work hours on something getting it just perfect, then instead of backing the carriage OUT you force it into the perfect surface of the precision part you were making for the paying customer who needed it yesterday.

Did I hear someone say this was relaxing?
 
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Haynie said:
Grab some scrap and take little steps. Watch the videos and play. DON"T try to make a pen right off the bat. Just make some really sharp shavings.
Click to expand...


Yeah, I made a couple transitional items out of aluminum and brass once I got the bit centered. It just has a different feel to it so that's going to take some getting use to. One of these days I'll become a lover of the metal lathe and as Fred noted... I CAN use it to turn wood and acrylics if I have to.
 
never touched a wood lathe or so much as handled a skew ... pretty sure that woul all be alien to me if i picked up a wood lathe. not for me thanks :biggrin:
 
Back in the '80s, I started on a metal lathe turning plastics (polycarbonate mostly) first, then metals. Back then I tried to move to the wood lathe and it was difficult for me. I felt the metal lathe was more technical (in line with my nature), and the wood lathe required more "finesse" for lack of a better word coming to mind. BTW - last year when I was accepted by the New Orleans Arts Council was the 1st time in 45 years that anyone used the term "artist" in reference to me. Usually it was more along the lines of software engineer, programmer, techie, geek, nerd, and many, MANY others I can't repeat in good company. :eek:
 
Thanks Brad, Thanks Rob!

I know I'll get the hang of it and as noted I'm sure I'll even grow to love it. There just seems to be growing pains learning the metal lathe that I haven't experienced with other tools. For example, I just bought a scroll saw and went to town within 2 hours of owning it. It's probably just a state of mind and I need to take a second look at how I'm approaching the material.
 
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