I was looking at the costs of some race parts like alloy hubs, stub axles, etc. Just curious, who's making their own stuff - milling, drilling, turning.... What kind of parts are you making?
Seems like if you ever use more than a single part/set it would be about the same or less to pick up a lathe on specialty bits. Thoughts???
Does building my own lathe count?
Yeah - did you do a "gingery" style lathe?
Yeah- I wanna know if a mini-lathe/mini-mill (like at littlemachineshop.com) is worth the money. Don't really have the lifestyle to buy full-size yet (military moves) but would really like to get into making my own stuff.
I don't make big stuff based on my mill limitations imposed by my old basement shop stairs. The new place will fix all that...
Over the past 15 years I've ended up with a pretty full setup. A hotrodded Smithy 1340 Granite w/ Shooting Star DROs on 3 axis, loads of tooling, drill press, vertical and horizontal bandsaws, 12" disc/48" belt sander, shear, brake, notcher, TIG-MIG-gas welding, plasma cutter, bead blast, press, bench and pedestal grinders, tool grinder, 1" belt sander, and tons of smaller stuff.
I use all of it, all the time. I had a small side business making prototype lab instruments and doing performance mods on skateboard trucks for slalom and downhill racers. It paid for the the machine shop stuff and much of the fab stuff.
It's great being able to make anything you need, when you need it. It's saved the day for myself and any number of racer friends.
As my dad has always said "I can't imagine how you run a house without a lathe"
Don't forget to factor in the costs of cutting tools, measurement equipment, etc into the cost of buying a lathe - this adds up very quickly and is usually more than the cost of a low priced or used lathe. Also, don't forget that a lot of parts, like axles, are not only turned on a lathe, but are then ground. They are also heat treated, so that will add some cost to your parts, as well as require you to determine what the appropriate heat treat spec is.
If you have the ability and knowledge to make your own parts, it is a great way to save some money or a way to get something not readily available from a vendor.
Bob
Schmidlap wrote:Don't forget to factor in the costs of cutting tools, measurement equipment, etc into the cost of buying a lathe - this adds up very quickly and is usually more than the cost of a low priced or used lathe. Also, don't forget that a lot of parts, like axles, are not only turned on a lathe, but are then ground. They are also heat treated, so that will add some cost to your parts, as well as require you to determine what the appropriate heat treat spec is.
If you have the ability and knowledge to make your own parts, it is a great way to save some money or a way to get something not readily available from a vendor.
Bob
No question that my tooling has exceeded the cost of my machinery. In my case I knew that someday I'd have space for a proper lathe and mill - so when I bought the Smithy the fact that it had a D1-4 headstock and R8 spindle was a consideration. All my tooling will transfer to the nice used Bridgeport mill and Clausing-Colchester lathe I'll eventually have.
I've amassed a Kennedy apprentice chest full of nice old Starrett tools, but don't use them all that much. I've got Mitutoyo digitals for day-in day-out, and much of the setup stuff is Chinese Enco house brand. I'm never working any tighter than .001" - so there's no need.
A few links to while away the workday..
http://www.travers.com/index.asp
http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/index.php
http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/forumdisplay.php?s=fa4b33620da8a4ccd095cb26cf4e85...
oldtin wrote:Yeah - did you do a "gingery" style lathe?
not yet, and only kinda sorta...but I have plans!
Bed: 
laid flat with a steel plate bolted for ways, some cast arms slid into the side channel for all thread for the carriage to be driven off, and a pair of uprights Id cast to hold one of these: 
and add a chuck 
to the end. I have a 1800 rpm continuous duty electric motor, and will cast some step pulleys to bring it down to 400-800 rpm chuck speed.Theres various other fiddly bits that will be needed as well, but I have a friend that has the patterns for me to use to cast them, and those he doesnt have will be easy-ish to recreate.
This will be fun, and should be less than $100 to build (minus tooling). Im just waiting till the beginning of the year for the holiday craziness and spending to be over.
