Who has machine tools?!?

[DocsMachine]

When I get a new old tool, I like to get the rust off and wipe it down with an oily rag. Do you have a favorite oil or coating for wiping down machines? I am never satisfied that I'm using the best stuff.

-There is no "best" stuff. Any oil is sufficient, as long as it's not a thin "penetrating" type that evaporates.

Generally speaking, for day-to-day one-off stuff, I use simple, inexpensive motor oil as a cutting oil. I have more exotic stuff, like dark sulfurized cutting oil, Tap Magics, way oils, etc. that I use as needed, but if I'm just tapping a hole in mild steel with a good sharp tap, a dab of motor oil does the job just fine.

I'll also use that, on a rag, to mop a bit of oil on something I don't want to rust, like parallels and sine bars.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with using it on exposed cast iron- like a tablesaw top- to help prevent rust. (Apart from, of course, having to clean it off before use.)

That said, most of my machines get regular use, and thus regular distribution of normal lubes. Between that and a relatively low local humidity, flash rust isn't generally an issue for me.

Doc.

[DocsMachine]

Latest acquisition:

-Just under four months later. Almost fully rebuilt and repainted, and as of today, 100% operational.



Can't wait to start makin' proper chips with it.

Doc.

[Jellyghost]

Chips? You know a machine is old when it has a name like No 2.

[DocsMachine]

That's actually a size designation. It's not like it's only the second one they built.

The smallest is a No.1, this one's the next up, a No.3 is only marginally larger but has more features, the No. 4 is considerably larger, and the No.5 is probably twice as large. Then there's the 1A, 2A, etc. up to the 5A, which weighs over 20,000 pounds.

Doc.

[Jellyghost]

I figured that. But when they make things today, they call it the Dremel 2000 or the Rikon 70-220VSR lathe. If you called it No. 2, everybody would think it's too simple to be worth much.

[Jellyghost]

A South Bend Lathe just came up at a local estate sale. It is on sale tomorrow. I don't know if they realize what they have here (I don't either). How low would this need to go for you to buy it? Am I right in thinking that those things on the wall go with the lathe, and the value is north of $1500?

[netsurferdude2]

I wouldn't go more than $500 on a 9in Southbend like that. What type of tooling does it come with? 3 and 4 jaw chuck?

I have been in the market for a heavy 10 southbend for the past year.

[DocsMachine]

How low would this need to go for you to buy it?

-Depends on your local market. On the East Coast, that's a $300 machine if it works. On the West Coast, maybe more like $500-$700, depending on the area. Up here in Alaska, somebody'd give you $1500 for it, but that's only because it's a machine-tool desert. Heavy iron costs a fortune to ship up here, and so even mediocre machines go for more than most of you lower-forty-eighters might pay.

Am I right in thinking that those things on the wall go with the lathe[?]

-Probably. One looks like a drill chuck or live center for the tailstock. The rest are hard to ID, but look like wrenches and such.

The most important thing to look for, if you're interested in buying, is a set of change gears. They'll be iron gears from around 2" up to about 6" in diameter, and might be as many as a dozen. That machine doesn't have a quick-change gearbox, so in order to change threading rates or feed rates, you have to swap physical gears. If there are no gears with the machine, cut the asking price in half.

[A]nd the value is north of $1500?

-In my opinion, no. It's an antique plain-bearing machine, limited in spindle speed, and is a change-gear machine. It'd be fine for a hobbyist who just wants to putter, and it'd likely be a very good learning machine.

IF it's in good condition, with minimal bed wear and minimal spindle slop, and the so-called "Silent Chain" drive (the big overhead assembly) is in good shape, AND you're in kind of a machine-tool desert area, it might be worth $700-$800.

Keeping in mind there is basically no such thing as a machine-tool collector- an older machine, even in great shape, is not worth any more just 'cause it's old.

Doc.

[Jellyghost]

Great. Info and thank you. Someone beat me to the Lathe and all of the wood planes. I left with a milk jar of marbles and an oil can. I really needed an oil can.

[CrowsFeast]

I left with a milk jar of marbles and an oil can. I really needed an oil can.

Something about that statement just made me crack up.

[DocsMachine]

Great. Info and thank you. Someone beat me to the Lathe and all of the wood planes.

-It happens, unfortunately. Not long ago, I got beat out on a cherry late-model and near-zero-miles (!) Colchester, complete with Heidenhain DRO, built-in metric threading, a 2+ spindle bore and a 2K RPM top speed. Would have been a very sweet machine, despite being 480V, which just meant that I'd have had to dig up a transformer.

I even had the cash, which itself was a rare thing.

But the seller, despite knowing I wanted it, and knowing I had the cash, and knowing I was just needing to arrange a way to come and pick it up, sold it to another guy who was able to get there about 24 hours ahead of me.

For those looking for a lathe, first consider what you're going to do with it. I know not many here are planning on going into production, but even still, many of the features that make it better for guys like me, make it more pleasant to use even for beginners or part-time tinkerers.

The main issue with that above South Bend is the fact it had no quick-change gearbox. That means switching from 20 thou per rev to 40 thou per rev, requires physically unbolting a gar, and replacing it with another. Ditto going from turning to threading.

If there's no other option, or affordable option, available locally, you can certainly make it work. One of my first lathes was that way- a Logan-built 9" Powermatic- and it did the job, but after a while it gets annoying, of not occasionally frustrating.

If you're planning on using it for real project work (car, truck, motorcycle, paintball, drone, whatever) it gets annoying when it takes longer to set up the machine than it does to make the cut.

Doc.

[XEMON]

That's kind of how I feel about my mini cnc ... It's an awesome lathe but it takes me 1/2h to prep the part, 1/2+h to program it for a job that I can make in 15-20 minutes on a regular lathe ...
That's exactly why I would love to find a larger manual lathe to complement the mini cnc ...

A mill would be nice too ... But I definitely do NOT have the room for both ...

I already know the answer, but do you have any experience with a combo?

[DocsMachine]

I already know the answer, but do you have any experience with a combo?

-Like a 3-in-1 machine? Simply put, I wouldn't have one unless for some reason I absolutely had to.

The main issue is that it'll always be set up for the wrong thing. You need to mill something? It'd set up as a lathe. Need to turn something? It'd set up as a mill. You'll spend a LOT of time just switching from one to the other.

Second, the mill head is always very limited. There's minimal "daylight" between the spindle nose and the 'mill' table- a drill, a drill chuck and a vise eat up a lot of that daylight in a big hurry.

On the flip side of that, there's always a limit to how close the spindle can get to the table- some guys with combo machines fab up risers to raise the vise for small parts.

Add on to that that the 'mill' table tends to be very small, the lathe rarely has back gears or a quickchange threading box, etc. and basically those machines are too limited to be really useful.

I have always recommended getting two separate machines- even when space is limited, a small desktop mill and a mini-lathe are often far more capable than a combo machine.

Doc.

[DocsMachine]

That ratty old antique I've been wasting time on is finally done!



As in 100% done, and fully operational. It's been placed, wired, filled with oil and given a preliminary levelling. I have a metric buttload of tools for it, and hope to run my first production batch through it this weekend.

Who else out there has machine tools? Don't be shy, let's see 'em!

Doc.

[XEMON]

Awesome!
What's gonna be the inogural parts?

[XEMON]

-Like a 3-in-1 machine? Simply put, I wouldn't have one unless for some reason I absolutely had to.

I have always recommended getting two separate machines- even when space is limited, a small desktop mill and a mini-lathe are often far more capable than a combo machine.

Doc.

thanks, that's what I was thought 😅

My drill press is a table top, and it live under my work bench, between my tool box and my OA set, I just pull it out and sit on the floor when I need to drill ...
My mini lathe is in an old TV cabinet ...

I thought about getting a table top mill and putting it where my tool box is and move the TB where the welder is, but then I need to move the argon tank too ... And where does the welder goes? ...

If you can have only one, lathe or mill, small full size/medium table to, which one would you want and why?

Also, my wife has a Shop Smith her grandpa bought in 56 new, he was making gunstock on it. Unfortunately all the tooling got lost in the last 40 years. Any idea how you make a gunstock on there?

[DocsMachine]

What's gonna be the inogural parts?

-Parts?!? Are you mad?!? Actually get this thing dirty with chips and cutting oil and swarf? That'd be like asking your supermodel girlfriend to wear a burlap sack and a luchador mask.

Doc.

[DocsMachine]

If you can have only one, lathe or mill, small full size/medium table to, which one would you want and why?

-It depends on what you're needing to do. If it's work on a paintball gun, I'd say a lathe, as so much of our stuff is round. Hammers, bolts, barrel threads, feed necks, etc. If you want to mill a 'Cocker body or make a grip frame, then you'll need a mill.

If for some reason I could only have one machine, it'd likely be a lathe. You can get "milling attachments" to let you do limited flatwork and slotting and the like.

Any idea how you make a gunstock on there?

-A ShopSmith is not a single machine. Chances are the used the bandsaw portion to cut out the rough shape, the tablesaw to slice some of the waste off to help make it round, the router/shaper attachment to inlet the barrel trough, the drill press to inlet the magazine well, and the disc sander to do some of the rough smoothing.

He could have also used a dado blade in the tablesaw for the inletting, and used the bandsaw for the initial rounding, etc.

Lots of ways to skin that particular cat.

Doc.