Milling machine

I have just purchased an 8 x 16 750 watt Chinese lathe with the intention of trying to make a steam engine & boiler, I have watched a few YouTube videos and they all use a milling machine as well as a lathe, can it all be made on a lathe of will I need to get a milling machine, by the way have never used either apart from a wood lathe. Regards Mike

Edited By Michael Foster 4 on 02/01/2022 13:18:17

Michael you can mill using a lathe if you can get a suitable vertical slide. What size steam engine are you considering ? One of the smaller Stuart engines would be a good starting point.

Hi Peter, I purchased a Elmers 24 beam engine casting set to practice on but won’t start until I come used to operating the lathe.

Michael the kit looks suitable for lathe only work, enjoy your lathe when it arrives.

I’m not familiar with that kit, what I would say is as a beginner with a Chinese lathe I attempted milling via a vertical slide. Perhaps a more skilled operator would have achieved more. I broadly wasted £100 in parts for milling on a lathe. I now own a milling machine (also Chinese) it’s a fine compliment to the lathe.

your mileage may vary.

There are lots of Youtube videos, Google posts, etc about making a steam engine on only a lathe. OK for a small, simple engine but not realy suitable for anything more complex.

I have build a steam traction engine and found that the majority of the work was was milling operations and much easier on a milling machine.

Hi Michael,

To begin with I used a vertical slide on my lathe (similar size to yours) to do simple milling, it worked but I had to take very light cuts using small diameter cutters. Later I got a Mini-Mill and what a difference. If you can afford a small milling machine it will perform much better than using the lathe.

Thor

At the time Elmer's book was written hardly any home workshops had a mill and the lathe may well have been a treddle lathe, same with many of the model engineering designs about today they were all done at a time when the lathe was the main workhorse.

So they can all be done on just a lathe, though some lathes may be better suited than others eg the Myford with it's many tee slots and a handwheel on the leadscrew is more suited then a machine with no slots and just the carriage handwheel to put on a cut.

It can be done, that Minnie Traction engine in my avatar was done without a mill but as others have said it is easier on a mill and with the relatively low cost of them now the money spent on a half decent vertical slide etc could be better put towards a small mill.

Your set of barstock for the beam engine will be a bit easier than as set of castings and looking at the drawings the minimal amount of milling could be done without the need for even a vertical slice, just clamping the work to the cross slide or making use of the tool post to hold the various bits of stock. Elmer would also have made more use of the common or garden file than a lot of people seem to want to do these days!

Edited By JasonB on 03/01/2022 07:18:41

Thankyou for your comments looks like I will be saving for a mini mill, regards Mike