Who has machine tools?!?

[DocsMachine]

Ah doc. Ill always take any knowledge you guys want to drop. I can likely learn or re learn something every day.

-That's the spirit. I certainly don't mean to sound like I'm "talking down" to anyone, and of course I can't keep track of who has years of experience and who doesn't.

When I first got into machining, I got tons of advice from lots of people- in many cases it was the same advice, repeated, and in some, it was bad advice ("Oh yeah, you can just slap that endmill in a drill chuck and go to town!" ) but it was all worth listening to.

And today, I try to give out the advice I wish I'd gotten back then.

Im hoping I know enough to make this a nice little hobby machine.

-There's tons of info online about those little lathes, full of tricks to make them better. There is, of course, a limit to how good they'll ever be, and some, like the electronic leadscrew, are kind of putting lipstick on a pig but with a little work, they're capable.

My first lathe in this biz was a Grizzly 9x20, and I did a lot of good work on that thing before upgrading. (And heck, half the reason I upgraded was just to get a bigger spindle bore. )

The tool post is a huge plus. He did add boring bars so the bar holder may also be usable.

-The problem with those is the cutting tip geometry is poor at best, and if you chip a tip, you pretty much have to have a diamond wheel to re-dress it. ($$$) They're certainly better than nothing, just be aware of the limitations.

Doc.

[Walker]

Working weekends and not feeling well, I haven't had a chance to remove the grease and set them up. I retire on June 3rd, so I will get more time...

Not to mention, I am new to machining...... I have a lot to learn....

[BrickHaus]

My coworker heard me talking about my lathe and " tool steel" he brought this box of old machinist materials to to work today. Said it was his grandfathers and he didnt know what half of it is. Such a super score here!!!

[flyweightnate]

I'm going to set about polishing the turd... getting my inexpensive 3-in-1 to be slightly more usable, starting with a milling vise and maybe moving to an AXA on a better compound. And replacing the heavily worn, heavily loaded halfnut.

Anyone have recommendations on resources for these little hobby machines?

[desertT1]

I'm going to set about polishing the turd... getting my inexpensive 3-in-1 to be slightly more usable, starting with a milling vise and maybe moving to an AXA on a better compound. And replacing the heavily worn, heavily loaded halfnut.

Anyone have recommendations on resources for these little hobby machines?

Not sure about 3-in-1 stuff, but little machine shop might have parts/accessories about the size you want.

[flyweightnate]

Looks like they might be able to help with the compound base.

Wondering about forums, etc as much as anything.

[desertT1]

I am not a big fan/user of Reddit, but I have found it useful for super specific or nuanced topics. I follow the ender3 and Tucson subs specifically because I didn’t really know where to get better information. Maybe there is a 3-in-1 sub, or maybe even one for your specific brand.

[flyweightnate]

Very cool, thanks

[flyweightnate]

I heard someone talking about the Coast Runner/ Ghost Gunner CNC mills recently - I'm not into real steel (not that I don't like it... but the wife doesn't) but it looks like a reasonably capable CNC, around the right size for paintball stuff, for ~$2500. Anyone have opinions on them? An aluminum-focused CNC horizontal with a 4" x 10" envelope seems about right for all sorts of weird airsmithing.

Not chump change, but might be worth budgeting for if they're well regarded.

[desertT1]

I have a Sieg X2 clone that I CNC kitted a while ago. The goal was to make molds, and had reasonable success at a learning level. I started running into lost steps and was trying to figure out if it was the gibs being poorly adjusted or my spindle drive assembly starting to go out. Plastic gears being the weak link, eventually.

Pretty sure the gear failed and pretty much hosed the job it was doing and I basically rage quit. I am considering getting back into things by replacing the gear drive with a belt drive from little machine shop. While I’d like to say having it up and running is the most exciting part, the noise reduction is actually the thing I look forward to the most.

I have a few more things I have to fund before I can get the belt kit, and then also redo the gib tension for the eleventy-billionth time. Once I get up and running again I think I should start off with a few projects that are way more simple, I just don’t know what.

[cryogenic76]

Grizzly 10X22 (with a few modifications--flood coolant, reverse gearing, etc) and a Taig CNC mill. They have made paintball parts, tools, engraved, and done work on some real firearms too. I learned everything the hard way, but I learned a lot!




Copied an Orracle WGP LPR in brass:



Found an old Tippmann 98 barrel and threaded it for the CCI Phantom for reasons I still don't know:

[desertT1]

What do you do with your chips? I try to recycle as best I can in general, but does anyone know what the recyclers will actually process instead of just throwing away?

[DocsMachine]

I heard someone talking about the Coast Runner/ Ghost Gunner CNC mills recently [snip] Anyone have opinions on them?

-I was not impressed with the one I saw. They're very specialized for the task, tricky to program for anything but the task, and have a weird mounting system- you'd basically have to either invent a vise for it, or make a jig/fixture for every part you want to machine.

If you can find one for maybe half price or so, I'd say it might be worth playing with, but it's really kind of designed around that one task.

Doc.

[flyweightnate]

Appreciate the feedback... as my tasks would be different.

And yeah... the more I looked, the more fixturing looked like a nightmare.

[markdem]

South Bends are old but thanks to their popularity, parts are still available. This one has a 3d printed thread dial. Thanks ebay!

[XEMON]

I have the same one ... minus the thread dial ... but I'm putting an els on it 😅
Super nice lathe and easy to maintain 👍

[hairball]

Does it count if you work at a Die shop and can use the equipment?

[cougar20th]

Well time for a update. I am not currently a machine tool owner. I decided after a couple years of not touching the lathe (see link below) that I would give it to a friend. So I took it down to Baltimore when I went last spring. He will rehab it and use it. Something I truly don't have time to do.

https://www.mcarterbrown.com/forum/off-topic/the-garage/3459-who-has-machine-tools?p=255895#post255895

[desertT1]

Swapping my chewed up plastic drive gears to the LittleMachineShop belt kit. Things were going well til I had to remove this spacer. It is keyed and has to slide straight up to come off, but it’s stuck. The reference videos I watched had practically new machines (and mine is not) and this part just slid right off.

Mine won’t budge. It’s been gargling PBlaster for a day, tapped with a hammer as I rotate and lift, attempted to pry from the bottom edge while rotating (so like a can of paint), and my bearing puller jaws can’t catch.

I did have an idea about making a pulley looking part with a few set screws and cram those into this spacer and then use my bearing puller, but my lathe doesn’t have a chuck, only a collet system, so that’s a struggle.

For all I know, it’s not debris holing it on, but a slight press fit that was “convinced” at the factory to go on.

[desertT1]

There is a bottom of the head that is pressed in and I think that might be unseated as soon as the spindle is pressed into the head. There is a video I saw a while ago where they removed the gears from inside the head and they show those bearings being pressed out but you have to remove the head and I’d really like to avoid that. In my current situation, that might not be an option, but the only path forward.

[The Hobbit]

Can someone tell me more about the Cummins industrial brand? I have an old bench grinder labeled Cummins and have never been able to find anything specific on it. Off shoot of the engine company?

Also do you have a post detailing the machine in more detail? A bench top machine center is something that I’d like to have for playing with.

[desertT1]

It’s a clone of the Harbor Freight mini mill as best I can tell. The motor is slightly stronger than some of the other versions I have seen, but besides that I don’t know if any other differences. Well, it’s also blue. I got it used so have no idea what stores carried them originally.

[desertT1]

I’m going to make a ring with some set screws so I can catch the groove and pull that sleeve off with my bearing puller.

in order to do that I need to be able to use a Chuck on my lathe. However my lathe came to me with a 5C collet changer (no Chuck) and a turret (no tailstock). So I got a 5C Chuck forever ago and it doesn’t thread on correctly. The Chuck threads seem to interfere after a few turns.

I decided to try to fix that and got a die to chase the threads. It’s a 65mm die and my few ideas on how to turn it without the handle have not worked all that well. Was hoping to avoid having to buy the handle to use it one time, but here we are. Tank reg for scale. This thing is beefy.

[XEMON]

You've got a little mill right?
What about milling some flats on the side of the dye?

I've use a pipe wrench to turn dye in a bind/emergency, but I wouldn't recommend it, if you force it will collapse the dye and screw up the diameter ...

[tyronejk]

It may be easier (in the short term) to take a triangular file to those threads to clean them up.

[desertT1]

The mill doesn’t work because the spindle gears are broken and this effort is to pull a spacer off the spindle so I can get the new belt kit onto the mill. Ahhhhhhh! But yeah, if the mill worked I would cut a hole in some square plate I have, add 2 set screws and mount the die in that. Put that in the vise and try to he-man the chuck a little. The die has 2 dimples, so could get it from both sides with set screws.