Manual Lathes and Mills
This page is under construction! We are working on assembling classes on machining using the lathes and mills. Until then, check out these fine youtube channels to get some starting information. They all have excellent how-to's, and even if they are not teaching a specific topic you can learn a LOT just by watching them work on a project.
AvE Comedy and learning all in one? Who'da thunk it?
Clickspring Some excellent work in brass, specializing in clockmaking and other small-scale metalwork.
Halligan142 Excellent lathe tutorials, among other bits of shop knowledge.
Tubalcain He knows everything.
ProjectsInMetal Some neat projects to build.
Contents
Bridgeport Type Mill (Safety Check Required)
A Bridgeport milling machine clone. This machine is capable of precision drilling, milling, and boring of metals and engineering plastics. The head is mounted on the ram by joints that allow it to swivel in two directions. The ram can slide back and forth on the turret, which can swivel on the column. The table sits on the knee, and it can move horizontally in the X and Y axes. The knee rides up and down the column (one form of Z-axis movement), and the head contains a quill in which the spindle can slide up and down (another form of Z-axis movement or, when the head is swiveled, an additional axis).
Useful info:
X Travel:36"
Y Travel: 12"
Z Travel:16"
Quill Travel:5"
RPM (High range):600-1200
RPM (Low range):70-250
Spindle Taper: R8
JET 1024 Manual Lathe (Safety Check Required)
A lathe with a 10" swing (Max part diameter) and a 24" bed length. Suitable for precision turning of metals and plastics. We have 3-and 4-jaw chucks for it, allowing you to work on round, hexagonal, square, and odd shaped parts. We have a tailstock as well (Bore is #2MT), which allows for drilling, reaming, and tapping operations (With the drill chuck) or supporting the end of a long or heavy part with a center. We have live and dead centers to assist with this. For really long or heavy parts, we have a steady rest which is placed on the bed in the middle of the workpiece. The spindle has a ~1" passthrough, so longer pieces of stock can be extended behind the chuck and fed forward as needed.
The lathe has power feed on both the carriage and the cross-slide, as well as a threading leadscrew. Please DO NOT use the threading screw as a carriage power feed, even though they appear to have a similar function. To change power feed speeds or the threads-per-inch, use the quick change gearbox on the bottom left of the lathe. There is a chart showing the lever locations corresponding to the different gear ratios and resulting TPI.
The JET lathe has an Aloris quick change toolpost (QCTP) and uses AXA toolholders. We have a couple of turning/facing holders, an angled cutoff blade holder, and a knurling holder. We could use a few more turning holders and some boring bar holders in the future.
Useful Info
Spindle head:
RPM: 60-1200 (Set with belts/pulleys)
Tailstock Taper: #2 Morse Taper (AKA MT2)
