Thinking about a Lathe and Milling Machine

Did a bit of a shopping spree this morning and got a 3-axis DRO coming, collets, end mills (in 2 and 4 flute variants), hold-downs, and some other bits.

At some point I'll want to get a fly cutter/shell mill but don't think I'm necessarily ready to buy that just yet.
 
Ted said:
I've learned a lot quickly. We didn't get any formal machine tool training in college, which was a shame because we did have a full and good machine shop and staff who were good and knew how to use the things. We basically were just left to our own devices. But the more I think about what this can do and how that pertains to various projects I have, the more I want to learn about using it.
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The thing about having these machines available is pretty soon you won't be able to hang picture or most any other project without making something on the machine.

Brian
 
brcase said:
The thing about having these machines available is pretty soon you won't be able to hang picture or most any other project without making something on the machine.

Brian
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The first project I have in mind is making some metal shelves for the niche in our shower. We're looking for this sort of style:

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But they don't sell them in the size we need. So it's a perfect first project.
 
Ted said:
Ok, and another question. I want to buy a DRO. I'm happy to see that this one includes multiple languages including Germany:

View attachment 112038

@vontresc would be especially happy at that.

But this one as a 4-axis seems like it would probably be a decent value perhaps:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/224533772677

It seems like if I'm going to bother with a DRO, having the 4th axis for a quill measurement would be good. Per the Googles, my travel are 33.5" for X, 15" for Y, 16" for Z, and then 5" for quill.

Doesn't have to be super precise for what I'm doing. But, thoughts and recommendations?
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LOL love how it's labelled "Germany" instead of German
 
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Tools said:
Probably a Bijur, easy company to work with.
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Yep, it’s a Bijur pump. I’ll clean it up enough to hopefully see what the part number is and then go from there.
 
I unpacked my tooling and collets that came, as well as the lubrication pack. Got the head well lubed up and did a few passes on a scrap connecting rod. I made a few passes and started getting into the rod bolt which is the imperfection in the middle, but got a decent cut and surface finish.

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You're gonna find yourself using it just because you can. Today I was making an overhead lamp as part of a kitchen remodeling project, I had to cut a nipple (the threaded tubes that are standard for lamps) to length. Instead of using a hacksaw, or even my powered hacksaw, I just chucked it up in the lathe and parted it off nice and square.
 
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Did I mention desperation? Moving to my last field (driving machinery on the road is the worst part of farming) at night (first mistake) on an unfamiliar road (second mistake), I drove down into the ditch to let a car pass me (third mistake). Pulling back up onto the road, the tire apparently got caught on the edge of the steep shoulder and snapped the front spindle off the walking tandem. I got a new spindle overnighted, but couldn't get the broken one out of the weldment, even with the 20 ton press pushing as hard as I could pump it, the air hammer, copious PB Blaster, and heating the tube with the oxy-acetylene torch. My next idea is to drill 8 holes right on the edge of the spindle and fill them with PB, hoping it will seep between the holes and break the rust free. I ordered a new weldment, but they have to make it and say it's going to be four weeks. With my tractor and chisel sitting in a random field that's not mine....I'd like to get it fixed sooner than that....like I said....desperation.

drill tandem.jpg
 
Chuck that thing in the lathe, poke a hole in it, and with boring bar, cut it out. ;) Oh, nevermind, your lathe ain't got that kinda swing. Another idea; while you have it in the vertical mill, Cut a hole in it with the biggest end mill that you have, then saw a slot in it, and remove it that way.
You have the equipment to get it done, just need to think outside the box for a minnit. ;)
 
bluerooster said:
Chuck that thing in the lathe, poke a hole in it, and with boring bar, cut it out. ;) Oh, nevermind, your lathe ain't got that kinda swing. Another idea; while you have it in the vertical mill, Cut a hole in it with the biggest end mill that you have, then saw a slot in it, and remove it that way.
You have the equipment to get it done, just need to think outside the box for a minnit. ;)
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I like the hole/slot idea... I'll keep that one in my back pocket. I'm this case, that spindle is about 12" long, so I didn't have anything that would go all the way through. That bit is the longest one I have and it's a little less than 6". After letting the penetrating oil soak in the new holes for a couple hours, I put it in the press and got about 2mm of movement.... but it was moving. Flipped it over and pressed the other direction... did that about 6 times and it finally came out. That's two days I've spent on that sob now, but at least I'll be able to get it back together before it gets cold.
 
Jim K said:
I like the hole/slot idea... I'll keep that one in my back pocket. I'm this case, that spindle is about 12" long, so I didn't have anything that would go all the way through. That bit is the longest one I have and it's a little less than 6". After letting the penetrating oil soak in the new holes for a couple hours, I put it in the press and got about 2mm of movement.... but it was moving. Flipped it over and pressed the other direction... did that about 6 times and it finally came out. That's two days I've spent on that sob now, but at least I'll be able to get it back together before it gets cold.
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Fire axe. It's my go to. When that don't work I bust out the leathers and the oxylance. That pin was only 9" long. But I've bored through pins on lowboy trailers 14" long. The heat and a hole down the center usually does the trick. Go to lunch and when you come back it might be cool enough to give a few whacks. The trick is keeping it straight and not blowing through the pin and welding to the bushing. imagejpeg_0_01.jpg
 
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Racerx said:
Fire axe. It's my go to. When that don't work I bust out the leathers and the oxylance. That pin was only 9" long. But I've bored through pins on lowboy trailers 14" long. The heat and a hole down the center usually does the trick. Go to lunch and when you come back it might be cool enough to give a few whacks. The trick is keeping it straight and not blowing through the pin and welding to the bushing. View attachment 112599
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I'll throw it in the lance and bring it up to you next time :D

Looks like you have a more serious press than me, too...
 
I don't know how it's all built, but looking at it I'm reading the horizontal thing as a piece of rectangular square tubing, with the receiver for the spindle welded into that. With you having a lathe and a torch, I'd cut the spindle out of the square tube with oxy, make a pair of steel plates with the right hole diameter to patch the rectangular tubing, fab a new spindle receiver out of mild steel tubing, and TIG weld it all up.

This is assuming the spindle holder doesn't have to have crazy internal features, or be made out of some special alloy.
 
Jim K said:
I'll throw it in the lance and bring it up to you next time :D

Looks like you have a more serious press than me, too...
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It's an old 75 ton dake...despite what some employee has written on it. It's on the long list of things that need upgrading or overhauling. New building first.

Not an oxylance but an arcair slice torch. Same principle. Was wanting to get one then some dude showed up and had two brand new in the box along with some other stuff so I took both. Don't use it but once every few years, but it's quite fun. On par with arc gouging, but not as loud. Took maybe 10 minutes on that pin.
 
Albany Tom said:
I don't know how it's all built, but looking at it I'm reading the horizontal thing as a piece of rectangular square tubing, with the receiver for the spindle welded into that. With you having a lathe and a torch, I'd cut the spindle out of the square tube with oxy, make a pair of steel plates with the right hole diameter to patch the rectangular tubing, fab a new spindle receiver out of mild steel tubing, and TIG weld it all up.

This is assuming the spindle holder doesn't have to have crazy internal features, or be made out of some special alloy.
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You're reading it correctly, and I believe it's all just mild steel, but I don't have any tube that big on hand. At that point you might as well just weld the spindle to the square tube, but I'm not convinced I'm good enough to get it perfectly square. I am thinking that a new spindle might be a good lathe project to make with one of the random big chunks of steel I have laying around. That way when the weldment I ordered shows up in a couple months I can get it all set up and ready to go if this ever happens again. Which will guarantee that it won't.
 
That makes sense... There are places that will sell you a short lengths of mild steel online. Much more expensive per foot than from a local distributor, but if you only need 2' of something it's overall probably cheaper. I think onlinemetals.com is one. Welding it square should be easy. Put a tack on, adjust, tack, adjust, tack, until you have it square all the way around. If it's out, angle grind it out. Then stitch between the tacks. That's why I love TIG. It's slower, but it's easy to be assured of full penetration, and it's possible to make a bunch of little welds glued together, mild steel, without any structural compromises.

I wouldn't weld the spindle directly, because then it you would have a hard time replacing it again, because it's likely hardened (guessing), and because I tend to screw up things when I don't have a second one to cover my mistakes. :)

Hoping your drill and rust remover strategy works and you don't have to do deal with it.
 
Jim K said:
You're reading it correctly, and I believe it's all just mild steel, but I don't have any tube that big on hand. At that point you might as well just weld the spindle to the square tube, but I'm not convinced I'm good enough to get it perfectly square. I am thinking that a new spindle might be a good lathe project to make with one of the random big chunks of steel I have laying around. That way when the weldment I ordered shows up in a couple months I can get it all set up and ready to go if this ever happens again. Which will guarantee that it won't.
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If I had something to go off, good chance we could fabricobble the same weldment in slightly quicker time. We usually trade off...let me hunt your fields, and we'll get the farmers taken care of
 
Today I managed to finish getting the DRO hooked up to the mill. Really not a hugely difficult task. The DROs have enough play in the sensor vs. the measurement bar (yeah there's a technical term, I don't know what it is) that the hardest part is figuring out where you want to attach everything (that takes a while, carefully drilling and tapping holes for the screws, making sure that you have the appropriate spacing and adjustment.

I started with the Z axis since that looked like it would end up being the easiest and most straightforward. I'm not sure if it necessarily was, but I was able to get it hooked up. I ended up having to use the mill on the measuring bar to enlarge one of the slots a bit, as the mount hole I drilled was just a hair off, enough that it didn't line up. All set and adjusted. Then I had to machine a slot in the bracket that mounts the sensor as a tap snapped off in the first hole I drilled.

I then followed up with the X axis, which after looking at it ended up being simpler than I thought it would. On that one I had to enlarge the slots on the bracket for the sensor, and then I also shortened one part of the bracket so that it fit better.

Last was the Y-axis. This I was able to use a pre-existing hole for one side of the measuring bar, and then was able to reuse a couple of existing holes for the bracket to mount the sensor. However, I then had to drill and machine a slot to line up. This was a good opportunity to use not only the mill, but also the DRO! I was able to measure the distance between the two holes, set the mill at 1 in one slot, and then moved the X axis the correct amount to make the second slot. Fit perfectly.

This was a long job, it took around 6 hours and I'd already hooked up the digital headunit previously. When I was first reading instructions I'd seen some references to it taking 10 hours to do. I suppose I'm at 7 total factoring in having hooked up the digital head unit before. It was still a fun thing to do, especially since it gave me an opportunity to use the DRO and the mill as part of the work! :)

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TCABM said:
Love the danger sign.
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We had a contract employee lose part of a finger and damage the rest of his hand while using a vertical mill this Spring. Wearing loose gloves and removed the guard on the machine, despite a warning sign specifically prohibiting use of machine without guard or using gloves/loose clothing. You can idiot-proof things, but then nature comes along with a newer version of idiot.
 
#1 buy with tooling, it’s cheap when bundled with an undesired machine.
#2 go to bidspitter com and sign up for local auctions. You’ll either find your dream or meet locals than buy, sell, and rig/deliver equipment.
#3 if you have an urge to dabble, and limited room like me, don’t be afraid to buy mini Asian used stuff. It may be garbage but you’ll learn a truth earlier than most which is you’ll always need to send out some projects, and that’s ok.

Normies can’t own everything!
 
This video covers nothing that I haven't discussed here, but if you scroll to the last few minutes you'll see some time lapse photos of putting the mill on and off the trailer, in case anyone following the thread is interested:

 
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