Anyone do any home metal machining?

I've forever wanted a metal lathe and a mill, hell I've never even owned a pillar drill 'also known as a drill press or drill stand' until when doing some spring cleaning I found one my dad bought years ago when it was on sale in the supermarket,the box was broken and honestly he paid about £20 for it.

I was really excited it was the first pillar drill I've ever used other than in school even though I'm always building something.I built it, set it up and drilled a hole just for fun This is awesome I thought,mush easier than drilling with my cordless it seems to cut through quarter inch steel like butter.

I then tried to drill a hole where I wanted it:confused In a compressor I'm building to clean out computers,I then realised why it was so cheap :-D The bit was all over the place.

So this is one of those things where I was looking at a simple lathe,a cheap one just for turning metal and its slowly escalated into outfitting the shed with machines that look out of place in a Honda factory and as with everything reality kicked in as I realised I can't afford the lathe and mill I want.:-D

So I'm just gonna have to settle for something that works but I'm a bit lost,there are hundreds of different lathes and they all have mixed reviews,especially all the imported Chinese one's which most of them are.

Any advice on what to look for will be well received but mainly I'm just interested in seeing what you guys have if anything,pictures are more than welcome,really,I just want to see your machine shops or just work areas. In the coming months I will upload some pictures of the machine shop progress,I've just finished outfitting the shed with a wooden bench using 3X3 timber joists as it has to be strong enough to hold a lathe weighing a quarter ton "250kg or 500lbs" and metal mill weighing around 100kg or 220lbs.

 

The only metalwork I do at home is small fabrication to repair or attach or mount things. I have a really good bench grinder and a good corded drill. I have a couple of cordless but they don't cut the heavy work. Woodwork is my interest. I have a table saw, chop saw, router skill saw, all reasonably good. Only projects so far are related to renovations
I would've liked to be a machinist. My job has taken me to the machine shop several times. Engine blocks, heads, cranks laying around everywhere. The precision in the finished product is what gets me.

 

Muhahaha:-D I've wanted some decent machining tools as long as I can remember but I've never thought I could afford them.I've got some cash saved up for a decent TV or projector for my room but the more I thought about it the less I liked the idea of sitting in my room on my own watching movies until the time came when it was useless or no longer used it,it would have then lost all it's value.

Lathes and mills ect hold their value pretty good,if its a good lathe thats been looked after it can easily be sold for half or more of its value in 10-15 years.

Making stuff Vs TV,its tough choice but making stuff has won out:cool

EDIT

When I used to build rockets the main thing holding me back was not being able to make decent parts such as fins,nose cones,air frame basically the whole think had to be made by hand on a bench,I'm enthusiastic but it got old doing everything the long way round.

Over the years there has been so many things I could have used a mill and lathe for,my airgun for one doing barrel and breach work,computer cases and parts,with a decent mill I can machine a water block from scratch plus all the water fittings,PCB's for circuits I've built,model helicopter parts,the list just goes on.

 

Hey your post just cought my eye well my wife's eyes (this is her domain I do not have one with major geeks), anyway I'm a tool and die maker by trade and wold eventually love to have a small shop in my garage just to keep me busy, one thing to look for when purchasing any kind of machinery is what do you want to do with it ( is it going to be heavy duty work every day or just small projects for home?), my dilema is that i would like to buy something that would handle both... but this is not about me but trying to help you decide what you need, there are light to medium duty machines ( lathes/milling machine) in the market that would work "good" in a shop/garage with a 220V electrical outlet... i don't if you have looked into buying a combination machine lathe/mill...i've seen them and for home improvements they are more than enough, you could look them up at mscdirect.com they come in diferent sizes, also i do recomend to look into your own country's machine tool catalogues just to get yourself an idea of price ranges, also this kind of plases have a great variety of machine parts replacements to really fix up your drill press... it sounds like you need a new either arbor or a chuck LOL, in my opinion not all chinese machinery is bad but be very carefull when choosing remember you will get what you pay for
You could search Bridgeport, exel0, cincinnatti ( well known machine manufacturers) just to mention some but as i said check your local catalogues for better info.
Good luck and keep those chips (metal chips) multiplying.

 

Deciding on the size is one my biggest problems,the lathe is easy I want it to be 500mm and above so it can handle 20inch air rifle barrels,only the quality of the lathe has me guessing,I also don't know how much to put aside for lathe bits.:confused

The mill is more of challenge size wise,I really don't know whether to go for a large one to take large things such as car and motorcycle cylinder heads or a smaller one with more features 'which I would probably use more:confused' for small things such as cpu waterblocks ect.

There's nothing between the Chinese one's really,I believe they're all made in the same factories then have different brands stamped on them,like everything Chinese if you get a good one you get a bargain but there are also stories of 3 in a row being returned.

I'd like to buy a western engineered one but you pay a premium for them as with everything.

Here are a couple I've been looking at,so far Warco appear to be the best quality each piece of equipment comes calibrated and accuracy tested,excellent customer support is also very high up on my list.

http://www.warco.co.uk/WM-14-Variable-speed-milling-machine---metric-84F32488C0.aspx#

Only 22cm of horizontal travel and a max of 16mm milling bit.

Or

http://www.warco.co.uk/ZX-15-Milling-Machine-7B040AEC96.aspx#

35cm of horizontal travel,max 16mm

http://www.warco.co.uk/Economy-Milling-Drilling-Machine-463F8F120F.aspx

36cm of horizontal travel but can mill with 20mm bits,I'd struggle to fit this beast in though its base is a square metre and its a metre tall.

This is my favourite Lathe's so far,I think its pretty expensive but its nothing compared to what you can spend.

http://www.warco.co.uk/WMT300-lathe-3BCEC62B61.aspx

Or this

http://www.warco.co.uk/WM-240-Variable-speed-lathe-250FDC728B.aspx

Problem is I could get this one which can take 24 inch air gun barrels for a few bucks more

http://www.warco.co.uk/WM-250-Variable-Speed-Lathe-9DC1EABD7F.aspx

I'm budgeting about £1500 for both a lathe and mill,I really don't want to spend that much I don't know if I'll use them enough to make them worth the cost and that would pretty much break my bank leaving me little money for other things such as lathe and milling tools and accessories.

If I could live with a lathe that was useless for gun barrels and model rocket airframes i could cut the lathe size in half,along with the price.

Here's an example of a Chinese latheI'm interested in for comparision

http://www.chesteruk.net/store/db8_variable_speed_lathe.htm

This is driving me nuts.:-D

BTW lego I live in the UK so none of those makes are available to me,I don't really want to pay shipping from the US on a 250kg machine:-D I also wouldn't want to pay shipping to send it back if it doesn't work:-D

Its a shame I don't live in the US you guys still have a half decent machine manufacturing industry,i will see if any of those makes have uk dealers though thanks

 

Home? Not much, in a previous job, well I ran a 60" table Blanchard grinder and a Bridgeport Series I mill with a 48" table. By seeing what you listed you are looking at "hobby machines" not that that's bad just a different world than what I was used to. I would shy away from the Chinese machines, not saying they are all bad just stick with a name you have heard of with a proven track record. One place you should sign up at is 'practical machinist' and read and read and read. Also maybe look into some classes on basic machining or befriend a old-timer with some machinery, they have knowledge that can be learned from a book.


Also, RESPECT the machine. Even the smaller ones with a 1/4 horse motor on them are so geared down you CAN NOT stop them. No gloves, no long sleeves, no long hair dangling in the wind. Even very experienced machinist have been hurt and killed by machinery. Not to put a damper on your plans but google image search for "lathe accident" this is make you take the machine serious, one millisecond and bad things can happen.

 

I'm bald and I only wear white T's.:-D

Wish hadn't googled lathe accident...

But it is useful though and has had right effect

 

Rikky I've looked at the machinery you are looking on purchasing:
The "milling machines" I saw you listed I would not be too confortable with, first of all they all looked like drill presses on "steroids" roflmao, to tell you the truth I have worked on some machines very similar to the ones your are looking at and really as i say they are Drill presses with a ("X" & "Y") table on them not very sturdy, secondly you already have a drill press, you could save a "ton of dough" ( $$$) by buying a table for your drill press....yes they do sell those.
For the lathe I recomend to look more into a machine like the WM-300 variable speed, it seems robust enough to take a prety good load, do not be impress by stuff like, cooland tray and back splash you probably could pick those up for very cheap on a garage sell or make it yourself out of sheet metal and sit your cheaper to purchase lathe on it, or digital read out (don't need it) a good dial indicator with a magnetic base does the same or a much better job than the so called digital read out, now for the accesories you could buy cutting tools don't go cheap on that, a mount for a grinder and a hand grinder (I have use a die grinder on a lathe before for internal and external cylindrical grinding), boring bars different sizes, etc,etc,etc... one could go crazy with all the stuff is out there now days.
I do hope you find these helpful.
Salud!!!

 

That's basically the opposite of what I have been reading,a drill press no matter how good can't be used as mill due to the accuracy of the headstock,also the bearings in drill presses can't handle the the sideways load in milling jobs. Mills also have 'fine' accurate control of the mill/drill height,as well as the quick down handle like a drill press.

Every thread and guide I've read says don't bother with the drill press if your buying a mill,moreover once you have a mill the drill press will no longer be used due to its crudeness.:confused

The toughest thing for is gauging where the money should go,into the lathe or the mill :confused In general machining at engineering shops do the mills or the lathes get the most use:confused I've read a good lathe is the backbone workhorse of any machine shop but I've not seen anything else to back it up.

The WMT300 is the one I'm thinking of going for,would you consider a larger more heavy lathe to be more accurate even when doing fine work?

There's also another thing that's bothering me,I've watch lots of lathe tutorial videos and have a good grasp of the basics including thread cutting but I have no idea how one would cut a perfect cone shape:confused I know the the toolhead can automatically move back and forth for threads but would I have to manually shape a cone?

 

Hi Ricky!
Of course you are right about a milling machine being stronger/more accurate than a drill press, and of course a side thrust is not recommended on a drill press. But looking at the machines in your links, they look to me more like a drill press with X/Y movement, that is why I suggested adapting the drill press you already have. If you get a decent milling machine of course you won't use the drill press anymore.

I would get a milling machine first, but that's what I would use the most. It all depends on what you want to do. A milling machine is good for flats and squares, you can drill, tap, ream and bore (internal work) but you are very limited on any external cylindrical work dependent on the size of the arbor. On a lathe you can do all cylindrical work (internal and external). You can still bore, tap.. but it's not ideal for square blocks. You could use squares, but it gets complicated to set up, and unless you just want to bore down the middle, you're limited.

As far as the lathe you like, of course the heavier, the sturdier... it will give you more accurate work. Again the guide has to be what kind of stuff you want to do. I think the one you like is good for a small shop/garage.

To make a taper, anything from about 4 inches and up, you will need to use either a taper attachment or offset the tail stock. For something smaller, you will have to set the angle on the compound rest, which will give you up to 60-65 degrees, and feed it by hand.

Maybe if you look for tutorials that show "how to make a TAPER" you will be able to find something.

Hope this helps you. Let me know!

 

Yeah it does help thanks I checked on youtube and found this video was was a pretty cool demo of the compound attachment and described the drawbacks of the other two methods,the offset tailstock seems like madness to me:-D And the taper attachment can cost the same price as the whole lathe and that's if you can find one, I'll use the compound:major

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkqCdesrDwI&NR=1

I noticed in this video he's wearing a long sleeved shirt and every time he turns the machine on or off he passes within inches of the chuck,I'm obviously no expert but after your advice I won't be doing that.:major Looks like about a 3KW motor as well.

I'm probably gonna order them both together to cut the delivery down as its £45 per delivery,I dunno,no rush.

One more question regarding cylindrical work,on the mill I can picture horizontal,vertical and even diagonal cuts but what about complex shaped such as engraving your initials for example? Would you have follow a stencil or is there a more precise method? I'm struggling to picture turning both X and Y exactly to follow a design.

 

I want a spur gear maker for the mill,I don't need any spur gears for anything but I must have it!:-D

Too many toys:-D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHTXaU7GZC0

 

Hi Ricky!

For engraving you need a decal (some call it copy) machine - a whole other machine! It's like buying another milling machine. They are hard to come by here in America because CNC (computerized numerical control) machines do all that now. I initial my tools by using a pencil grinder!

For the indexing head for gear making, they are not too expensive because they are becoming obsolete, again because of CNC. I would love to have one myself - it is a dying trade/skill to make gears. If you want to buy the indexing head, you MUST HAVE an indexing table also roflmao. (The stuff you need to buy never ends!) You will find a lot of fun projects to do with them .

Keep it turning!!