Lathe

Damn. She is just very good at what she does. There doesn't seem to be an extra word in the entire book. It's just so succinct and honest. What an excellent book.

I liked the story. It was clearly an homage to Dick and his shifting realties. She even worked some figurines in there! (he seems to be infatuated with figurines IMHO, and objects in general in his work)

Anyway, I really liked it, and i really like her writing style. I was not a fan of the dispossessed, but i really enjoyed this and the left hand of darkness. I guess i need to move on to her other works.

Maybe I'll re-read the dispossessed. I was 19 when i read it and thought it overly political Maybe i was the overly political one and should try again.

I am working on getting my lightsabers fixed. But I need more space inside the handle.

Is there anyone in the waterloo area with a lathe that can mill out a lightsaber?

When you look into the handle after about 2 inches the walls get thicker. I need that extra aluminum gone so I can fit in a larger battery.

Thanks.

https://preview.redd.it/qt35rfxs5a371.jpg?width=512&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=35c4cd5ce2eeb3736691fc8c0e489db30635f96b

I'm looking to start my own machining business within the next couple years, with the intent to eventually get into medical or aerospace work, but starting out with whatever work I can find. Do you guys think a lathe or a mill would be best to start out with? I will most likely be running everything out of a garage for the first few months at the least so either machine would definitely have a space constraint. I have both lathe and mill experience and like running each, and plan on owning both down the road... but I'd like to hear what people's thoughts are on which to get first to get cash flow started.

Hi all,

I'm pretty new to this and am not sure if this issue is caused by technique or the machine.

I'm trying to face a piece of 1" aluminum round bar stock. When I take a light cut and wind the cross slide in towards the workpiece, I get an OK finish. Not great, a bit 'grainy' but fairly consistent across the cut.

When I wind it back out, the tool seems to cut in and leaves concentric rings in the workpiece. They're evenly spaced and seem to be related to each revolution of the cross-slide handwheel.

I'm not moving the the tool away from the workpiece before I wind the cross slide back out (is this a technique fail?).

I've tried adjusting the cross slide gibs and it moves fairly freely with no perceptible play. I thought perhaps it was a bent lead screw or damaged nut, so I've just replaced those with brand new parts. The issue has lessened a little but not gone away completely.

Any suggestions please?

Edit: Thank you all so much for the info. The machine is a 1990s Smithy 1220XL Lathe/Mill combo. I got it used (in pretty rough shape) for about $500. I'm probably into it another $500 for parts and still don't have everything fixed.. I know it's not a very good machine in the first place.

Good morning all! I’m looking at a print for a nylon tube. Part is roughly 23” long, OD is 5”, ID is 4” (finished dimensions). I’ll be holding on to roughly 3-4” in the chuck. Now the question is this: how bad do y’all think this part will sag? The lathe I’m running it on doesn’t have a steady rest, and originally I wasn’t too concerned, but the more I think I about it, the more nervous I get about it sagging a lot. Thoughts?

Hey Yall. Planning on machining a super simple monocore supressor. Does anyone have any good resources explaining material strength/wall thickness requirements specific to certain cartridges?