New member in New Zealand

Hello Folks,

New member from Auckland New Zealand here. Complete beginner and I have just bought and cleaned up a Hobbymat MD65. Looking forward to learning a lot 😀

Cheers,

Ed

Welcome Ed.

All the info' on here you'll ever need. What's your objective?

Welcome!

You are not the only member in the antipodes

ANY query, ask away. Someone will always try to help, (But use the correct terminology for fear that the you will get an answer to a question that you didn't ask, and that doesn't make sense to you! )

Howard

Thanks for the welcome. My objective is to learn how to use a lathe. Didn't have metal work at my school and I have always wanted to make stuff. Most of my fathers side of the family were engineers and my father and uncles did their apprenticeship at Holmans in Cornwall in the 1930s.

Howard, I will be asking plenty of questions - only if I haven't managed to work things out myself and am prepared for all kinds of answers !! I have done some research on lathe lube, ways oil, bed butter or whatever people like to call it. There are more opinions on that subject than types of oil !!!!!!

A couple of blokes I work with have already hit me up to: 1, make some bow fishing arrow heads. 2, turn down a .22 airgun barrel to fit a .177 stock. I just need to teach myself how to do it ...

Welcome to forum

H

Welcome Ed.

Once you start, you'll never stop! So be warned!

Loads of experience on this forum and plenty of friendly banter .

Enjoy.

DWIW, learn how to use the lathe before starting on any projects, especially for other people.

Beware of thise who say "Can you just...?."

Buy a book or two on latheworki, "Basic Lathework" by Stan Bray, "Lathework" by Harold Hall, " The Amateur's Lathe" by L H Sparey. are all useful aids.

"The Amateur's Workshop" by Ian Bradley is a good book, also.

"The Model Engineers handbook" by Tubal cain is a good reference book.

A set of Zeus Charts, if you don't have them will be usedul for years!

You can expand your library with books from the Workshop Practice Series, on specifgic procedures and tools.

Get used to the lathe and its use by making simple projects, such as A Centrte Height Gauge (A tool that is not on centre height will not cut properly, if at all ), A sliding Tailstock ,Die Holder, a sliding Tailstock Tap Holder, A Mandrel Handle.

These are simple tools which give you familiarity with the lathe and its operatioon, drilling and tapping, and leave you with tools that will be usedul in the future.

You need to learn the ntechnoque of turning the handwheels steadily so as to produce a msteadyn bfeed. OInce the skill has been acquired, you should be able to produce a good finish.

My prefermce is for H S S tools, ,although carbide tips can be verybnuseful

You might find a Tangential Turning Tool a handy tool (If yuou prefer to buy, rathgerbvthan make, the Diamond Tool mfrom Eccentric Engineering inn Oz may suit you. Easy to grind, needing bonly face to be ground., and can be used mfor turning or facing.

HTH

Howard

Thanks Howard, I have told the " can you just " crowd that I need to learn how to use it before I start and not to expect anything in the near future.

I am pleasantly surprised by the positive reaction from a lot of people on my purchase of an old MD65. I have started a collection of books and picked up a copy of Machinerys Handbook in a second hand bookshop last year. The Auckland libraries also have a very good selection of books so I can try before I buy !

Thanks for the suggestion of useful tools to make. That will give me plenty to work on.As regards cutting tools, I think I would prefer HSs as I have always been envious of people that can sharpen their own stuff and Eccentric Engineering has some interesting goodies.

Unfortunately Zeus tables and lathe tooling appear to be very expensive here compared to the UK and shipping can be horrendous. I will be back in the UK shortly and plan on some serious shopping !!!

Cheers

Ed

Hi Ed, I am across the ditch in Sydney.

There are lots of good videos on Youtube about leaning to use a lathe and mill.

eg: Blondihacks **LINK**

Or Joe Pie (Pyzynski) **LINK**

Hi Ed, I sent you a PM message.

Im down the island in Hamilton.