soft metals

hi getting my new small lathe next week can you tell me best soft metal and cheapest to use please

All the "soft" ones tend to be more costly.

Aluminium and Brass are easy to machine but not the cheapest.

A freecutting steel such as EN1A or 230M07 will cut well and be a lot cheaper to practice on

Soft example would be aluminium.....( lead? But wont turn very well )

Cheapest material is the free kind.....pricewise a toss up between bms and ally depending where you buy....I use Macc Models for all of my material usually...

Edited By John Rudd on 24/03/2016 08:50:31

Edited By John Rudd on 24/03/2016 08:51:02

Perhaps Matthew could be a bit more specific as to what "soft" refers to?

As a few have mentioned aluminium can be regarded as soft, but some ali alloys are definitely not soft! Same goes for steel, some are easier to machine, but not soft in the normal understanding of the word.

So Matthew could you be a little more specific?

Cheapest? Go to a local machine shop and ask if you can have a look through their scrap bin.

Easiest to machine? Brass or some alluminium alloys. Not pure aluminium or the stuff you find in DIY shops, it sticks to the tool tip.

Best to practice on? I would say freecutting mild steel, again not the stuff you find in DIY shops.

Russell.

Why not practice on some plastics? Nylon and delrin turn very easily. Cheap too.

Hi Matthew,

I would suggest you try a zinc based alloy (zamac). It machines beautifully and melts so easily you can reuse the swarf by recasting. Zamak is usually found as diecast parts.

Hope this helps.

Peter.

Hi Peter,

Is that the same stuff as Mazak?

Hi Mathew

Plastics will help you become delicate with the finer cuts and less aggressive with deeper ones and on the latter is less likely to damage your tool, lathe or you if you cut in to deep

Hi Rufus,

I beg to differ!

Plastics need razor sharp tools to work satisfactorily and they produce a lot of stringy swarf which makes seeing what is happening frustrating. Some types are also a pig to hold firmly, like trying to hold a lump of jelly!

For learning I would second the others, go and have a rummage through the off cut bins and find some free cutting BMS. Ali as mentioned can weld to the tool tip and then it just becomes impossible to cut well.

Instead of metal try machining some wood, say a few inches off a broom handle, it cost almost nothing and will give you a start before attempting metal. You won't get a good finish but you also won't break the tool if it digs in!

Yes.

Peter.

+1

Things to avoid in my experience, at least when first starting out:

• DIY store metals. Aluminium rod so soft and sticky that it tears rather than cuts. "Gritty" ferrous metals.
• Stainless steels. Many of these get harder and harder as you try to cut them
• Electrical conduit and gas pipe, my examples all have a tough outer skin
• Copper and lead - too soft
• Most of the plastics found in the home
• Odd bits of scrap. Unless you know what It is, it might well be horrible.

By all means experiment but don't get discouraged if your new lathe struggles to put a good finish on something you found in a hedge! I was gob-smacked when I first turned free-cutting mild-steel because it was so much nicer to work with than the rotary drier and other junk metal I started with!

The metal rods out of old computer printers and scanners seem to be good stuff.

Good luck,

Dave