Dorset newbie questions

Hi All,

You will probably have guessed by now that I'm new here, and I live in Dorset. I suppose I had better confess straight away that my interests do not presently include model railway or road vehicles...

If anyone is still reading, i have just bought a used Unimat 3 lathe with drilling/milling pillar and some accessories. And made some room in the garage to put it. And ordered a book from Amazon. And that's about it, so far.

It's about 40 years since I last used a lathe or milling machine, and that only on a three week training course with grown up machines - and supervision. I am an electronics engineer by background.

I am hoping initially to construct some musical instruments of the concertina and accordion varieties, perhaps a little experimental. These have mechanical actions, so I will be looking for instance at turned posts, bushes/bearings, and some turned buttons and knobs. I will need some milled slots, and some fairly accurate drilling. But not serious precision.

Materials are likely to be plastic - Delrin, probably, perhaps some brass or maybe stainless steel. And, at some point, some small scale woodwork.

First question - is this a good forum to get some beginner advice on using the lathe, setting up problems etc or is there somewhere more suitable?

And can anyone suggest any clubs, groups etc in the Dorset area (pref east Dorset) that I can maybe join?

Thanks

Malcolm

Hi Malcolm

East Dorset would probably be Wimbourne club and possibly Bournemouth club.

regards David

Welcome to the forum.

Yes, it's a good place to get info from - but as with any forum, it helps if you can ask specific questions rather than general ones. Also, you have to recognise that with some of this stuff there isn't simply one 'right' answer, and because of the wide breadth of experience here you might get more advice than you were expecting...

My only immediate comment on what you want to do is that you should probably get some turning experience with the physically harder materials first before playing with Delrin. Delrin is seriously easy to machine (with sharp tools), but unless you are very careful with it, its dimensional stability during machining isn't wonderful, especially if you get it a little warm. Even though on the face of it, it sounds a little crazy, coolant is actually a good thing here, if you can organise it, and the colder it is, the better!

Hi there, Malcolm,

You didn't say which book you've ordered from Amazon.

My personal recommendation would be 'The Amateur's Lathe' by Lawrence (or is it Laurence?) Sparey. It's been republished over and over which is a pretty good vote of confidence. I believe it is still in print but second hand copies are to be had on eBay or Abe Books.

Best regards,

Swarf, Mostly!

Thanks for the replies so far - definitely food for thought.

I have ordered David Fenner's Mini-Lathe book, but 'The Amateur's Lathe' is still available from Amazon - 1998 edition, but the lathe's probably that old... Also a 1954 edition, but I'm not going there... so I will get that as well, it's reasonably priced.

Delrin, black and white, is used by commercial manufacturers for at least some of the parts I need to make, hence the interest, but the points about working it are noted.

Malcolm

Hi Malcolm

If you google the name "Rex Tingey" you will find he wrote quite extensively on using the Unimat lathe during the 70s & 80s if I recall correctly & I'm sure he wrote several books on using the Unimat which must still be available via Amazon or EBay. The Unimat is a very popular little lathe and if you have the milling & drilling attachment too you've got the basis of a nice little starter package.

Good luck with your project and I'm sure you'll get advise in abundance on this forum! As Steve pointed out above, the more specific you can be with your questions the more likely you are to get a few concise responses rather than loads of replies asking you to be more specific!

regards Martin.

Yes, Rex Tingey does come up quite quickly but his books seem to be out of print with inflated "scarcity value" prices

However, I will have a look for a source.

With questions - I'm sure I will have lots of specific queries once I get going!

Thanks again,

Malcolm

Malcolm - my first lathe was (still have it) a Unimat 3 with mill attachment. Nice little machine and can produce some fine work - with patience!

Rex Tingey and, particularly, Bob Loader produced some useful books on its use and Gerald Wingrove published a make your own tools handbook IIRC. One tip, which Ihaven't seen anywhere else, re, drive belt longevity. I was getting through drive belts at an unacceptable rate - mainly the large drive belt. Eventually tried taking the large belt off the pulleys between work sessions - success!! It seems that the belts weaken if left in the stretched 'working curve' position. Could be worth a try.

Rgds

Bill

Hi There

I think all of the Tingey and Wingrove books may be on the Yahoo Unimat group.

That would be a good place to join.

regards David

Yahoo list located and joined! - It does look to have a lot of the above literature in the files area.

I guess that's one of the first things I will need to do, check it over and look at belts etc. AFAIK the previous owner was/is a serious lathe user and looked after it, certainly hope so, but I have no idea how long since it was last used.

Bob Loader's books seem to still be in print. Useful reference list building up.

Cheers

Malcolm