Teaching a 17 year old how to use a lathe

My 17 year old nephew has inherited, from a distant relative, a fully equipped Myford Super 7 complete with screw cutting gearbox, vertical slide etc.

He said " Uncle Andy will you show me how to use it?"

Where do I start and and carry on.

I did not serve time on the tools when I did my engineering at college and am a self taught (with book learning behind me) machinist. Amateur I hasten to add.

Edited By ANDY CAWLEY on 30/06/2018 08:47:07

Write up the really basic safety rules, and stick them on the wall behind the lathe.

Discuss what he might want to make, then guide him through it step by step. Making something he wants will help maintain interest and help with information retention as it helps relate processes to a real object.

Get him to research the processes himself on youtube, you want to teach him enough so he can teach himself, there's no point in having you do all the work in the learning process.

Edited By Cabinet Enforcer on 30/06/2018 09:03:53

Aside from the obvious merits of a practical project ... Download this: **LINK**

http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/1617/5795.pdf

'How to run a Lathe' by SouthBend ... it's a gem.

MichaelG.

Lucky Boy !!

Engineering is 95% applied common sense, which is why there are so many self-taught engineers.

Get him working on one of the basic Stuart singles, and that'll exercise many of the standard lathe operations.

Regarding safety, if you have access to a Harrison 245 manual get the young man to read the pages on Operating Safely in my opinion they are very sensible, not over the top. Also EITB used to issue some excellent training manuals. Maybe some one HERE may like to donate and has MichaelG.has said the South Bend book is good, I think is obtainable from Camden Books. John

Unfortunately Mick, there is no such thing as common sense! (The link also contains good advice about teaching and encouraging.)

I agree about starting with a simple engine that runs and can be shown off. The challenge with a 17 year old is catching and keeping his interest. Far more going on in his life than ours. I'd recommend Stewart Hart's Potty Mill. Not too expensive, no castings, and a good beginner challenge - neither difficult or too easy. Ideally make two; you make a part while he watches, then he makes it with you advising. Don't abandon the poor lad with an Engine Plan, list of safety instructions, pile of metal, lathe and a box of tools he doesn't recognise.

Dave

You have my sympathy. I've tried to teach my grandson. He was about 20 yrs old at the start, so I thought he must have some idea, but no. Safety basics need hammering in at first, but eventually (when he understood the reasons for silly rules) things progressed. He acquired an old bronze gong with no hammer and asked if he could make one. So started out with bits of scrap and ended up with a beater. Now wants to learn more, because he can see why things are done the way they are, but also there are other ways to work. And the basic safety seems to have stuck.

Regards Safety. If your worried someone might mess about with a a machine show them this sort of thing. Its not nasty in any way but does show well not to mess with machinery.

Rich

**LINK**

For today's 17yo, YoOutube might be more relevant than books as a learning tool. Youtube videos by Tubal Cain seem to be popular and start off with basics. Plenty of others too.

For a back up reference, LH Sparey's book "The Amateur's Lathe" features the Myford and is my favorite basics book.\

ISTR starting off in high school with simple projects like making a centre punch out of a bit of hex bar, candle holders and other simple pieces before moving on to a simple oscillating "wobbler" steam engine.

Nah, you can see that tract in your link was scribbled by a Manager, and we all know many of them have a problem with it..

But if catching and keeping the lads interest is a challenge, the battle's already half-lost.

Of course, the force of his interest isn't especially clear from the OP, but if I'd had such a chance at 17, I'd've bitten the uncle's 'and orf!

To maintain interest make sure you apply it to things he might be interested in. I've made basic mountain bike parts with my son (bar ends, that sort of thing) which seems to have kept his interest. At 17 a gearknob might be good, something like that. Rather than trying to push the engineering in its own right, show him how it can help him support an interest he already has.

I used to teach in a college and most of the students were keen enough, the two biggest issues were trying to stop them throwing themselves into it at a million miles an hour, and keeping the projects small enough to maintain a lad or ladies interest. A wobbler engine from stock is a great starting point, I suspect a stuart single would be a bit much for first ever project if no metal has ever been cut prior. Maybe it would be a good second project.

Andy, have a look in my album's at the Stirling Engine, this was built by my Grandson age 14 -- he's now 20 and most way through his engineering apprenticeship. He had used machine's since around 12 - always start young ! but this was the first proper project and he made everything himself under instruction - a great way to teach and they have something to show at the end.

This covered turning, milling, drilling & tapping, knurling, screw cutting, soldering, filing, sawing, marking out, so an all round project.

Good luck with your apprentice. John

Edited By JohnF on 30/06/2018 13:56:34 spellings etc ! darn auto correct !

Edited By JohnF on 30/06/2018 13:58:28

As a retired teacher of technology with 40 yrs experience I have spent hundreds of hours teaching basic lathe work to both boys and girls.

Advice:

Don't lecture but always demonstrate processes first.

Keep a keen eye on safe practice. Mind that sharp lathe tool - the source of many accidents!

After a few basic lessons make something useful that your nephew would be interested in using or give away as a gift to his mother or girl friend. Alternatively, build something together.

Current technology taught in most schools has little or no engineering involved (don't get me started). Inspiring people of your nephew's age is creditable so I hope all goes well.

You will know quickly if he is going to be interested and want to develop his skills.

As a previous apprentice instructor, male & female... safety, demonstrate the controls of machines, Identify tooling, demonstrate -basic speeds & feeds, correct tooling set up, different cutting finishes of materials et al, all demonstrated by you first. Then let him/her start themselves on the operation, set up etc, with you close by commenting & guiding him along. As with all apprentice pieces get him/her to make a centre punch / plumb bob first; includes taper turning, drilling & hand tapping/ threading with die stocks, checking lengths / diameters with rules / vernier callipers then micrometer. You'll soon see if his/her interest lasts after all that, then maybe you could build an easy starter project with him / her, that way you can keep an eye on him/her whilst they do the simple machining stages.

George.

I have a small lathe which I used to teach my 6 year old grandson how to do lathe work. He is now 7 going into 8 and he is quite a good turner. He seems to have a knack of getting DoCs and feed rates just right.

He is always closely supervised, but I hardly ever need to intervene. I seem to remember that Tubal Cain had a similarly aged grand daughter who was perhaps even better than my grandson on her small lathe.

Before I am roundly denigrated for risking my grandson's life and limb. I took a long time explaining the dangers inherent in lathe work. He has a retentive memory and I have hardly ever needed to intervene. I would think a 17 year old would be easier to teach.

Andrew.

The centre punch is a particularly good example, as the order of operations needs to be carefully thought out and heat treatment can be yet another addition, to demonstrate the extra options for the materials selected.

But safety is paramount, as others point out. One can always make another part, but replacement fingers, hands, eyes and lives are not possible.

The fastest way to teach safety with a machine tool is with a pork or lamb chop. Get the youngster to feed it into the spinning machinery and see what happens. Then ask the difference between the chop and fingers. They get the message loud and clear. Did something like it with my daughters and the 10" mitre saw I have in the workshop, but used frankfurters. Actually managed to put them off touching the tool for years.

Regards

Richard.

I also enjoy watching a guy on youtube called Tom’s Techniques. He has a no nonsense way of teaching and tends to be quite to the point. It’s easy for a teenager to lose interest quickly!