New member and new L-H009

[rdenis]

Hi folks, my name is Rich. I just turned 40 and decided to take up machining as a new hobby. My highschool was never fortunate enough to have a machine shop way back when so I never had the opportunity to get into machining at an early age. 20 years later with a family and lifetime as a chartered accountant I've decided life is too short - in length and experiences.

I've always loved working with my hands and have been a hobbyist woodworker and motorcycle mechanic despite my alter ego life as an accountant. So for my 40th birthday my wife bought me a Magnum L-H009 3-in-1 multimachine, bandsaw, plasma cutter and a MIG welder and spool gun.

Ahhh, a mid-life crisis is a good thing. Anyway, I am trying to read up as much as I can about lathes, mills, metallurgy etc. to gain some small understanding of the theory behind cutting, milling, turning, etc. It is awesome and I can't wait to try turning my first piece.

But first, I need to get some ducks in a row and am pretty sure the wealth of knowledge here can help me out. So, if anyone can recommend/suggest/add to/etc. the following, please chime in:

1) Is there a "Machining for Dummies" equivalent for people like me who have never turned on a lathe let alone turned a piece in in a lathe?

2) Precision measuring tools - I have 6" inside and outside calipers, digital caliper (chinese), 6" divider and a couple of 1" dial indicators. I do not have any micrometers nor a machinst level - how critical are these and do you have recommendations?

3) The 3-in-1 L-H009 is Chinese of course but seems to be okay for a rookie like me. I've got most of the thick packing grease off of it and have disassembled most of it. I need to level it from what I've read but I can't seem to comprehend exactly what I am trying to accomplish. This is the machine I have so any tips would be much appreciated:



4) This machine ways about 600 pounds and I want to put it on a semi-permanent base. By semi-permanent I mean a base that has retractable wheels to allow future maneuveribilty should I need to relocate it. I'm thinking of building one out of some square tubing and steel plate with fluid tray to allow a reciculating colling setup. Does anyone have any pics of a similar setup?

5) I have a big chunk of Delrin that I can practice with - but here's a dumb question - it's square but does it need to be round or can I round it in the lathe?

6) Another dumb question is where do I buy round stock and what is a good size and type of metal to practice with when starting out? My lathe specs say the swing is 360mm which is just over 14 inches - does this mean I can turn a piece that is 14 inches in diameter?

Anyway I am really looking forward to diving into this hobby - eventually I'd like to turn some pulleys and build a torque converter - but I need to get started first!

Thanks for your guidance and look forward to many more chats.

Rich

[Falcon67]

Welcome. You can take a look at my G0519 stand here http://www.chaski.org/homemachinist/vie ... ight=g0519 and maybe adapt some of that.

1) review Amazon for machining books. There are also some on line materials - google "mit machine shop video". You can also join the 9x20 Lathe group on Yahoo and find lots of reading material in the files. It's geared at the 9x20 machines, but there are tutorials on using the lathe and grinding bits in there too. You'll want a copy of the Machinery Handbook because it contains all the devil details on most everything.

2) depends - dial calipers, micrometers to 3", depth gauges, etc perform various checks, so it depends on what you want to make. In general, round stuff requires a mic for best accuracy and square stuff works well with calipers. A small surface plate would be good and you'll want setup equipment - clamps, 1-2-3 blocks maybe, angle plate, things like that. A machinist level would help with the leveling.

5) Lathes make square things round, it's their job LOL

6) search metal suppliers online, or buy a copy of the Home Shop Machinist and look in the back for ads. Technically, a 14" piece would clear the bed. Practically, your machine may handle 10~12. Maybe if it's light. Between centers. And just because it clears the bed doesn't mean the machine can actually put a tool on it. Based on the construction and power of my 9x20, I'd say mine has a practical limit around 5~6" in aluminum. A 6" chuck is about the limit for my machine IMHO. If I was chewing on 6"ish material regularly or trying to -say- spin a small crank for polishing, I would buy a 12x36 with more weight and a bigger motor. I would think your machine would have real trouble with a chuck that could even think about spinning a 14" piece of metal.

[rdenis]

Hey Chris thanks for the advice and great link - exactly what I need to do for a stand!!!

Probably the largest diameter I'd turn would be an 8 to 10" pulley so I hope this machine can handle it. What size chuck would I need to accomplish this?

I've been looking for the "Home Machinist Essentials" by Frank Marlow as that seem to have had pretty good reviews in terms of books for beginners. I've got the MIT videos bookmarked (now I just need to find the time to watch them!). I will pick up the Machinery Handbook as you recommend - I've seen a few excerpts from it but was a bit overwhelmed but can appreciate how useful it would be as a reference once I start learning this craft.

LOL about a lathe making square things round! I was just wondering if I should use a hole saw and put the plug in the lathe but no that I think about that I would need a pretty deep hole saw!

As for metal would you recommend aluminum or mild steel (or both) to practice on? I'm going to the local scrap yard to see what I can find.

Rich

[Harold_V]

As for metal would you recommend aluminum or mild steel (or both) to practice on? I'm going to the local scrap yard to see what I can find.

In order to get a grip on the characteristics of each alloy, or different types of materials, it would be important for you to machine samples of all, so it's not a matter of picking one or another. Each will be a new experience.

What you will come to conclude is that all materials share similar characteristics, but the geometry of the cutter often varies. Said another way, a tool that is ground for machining a soft, gummy plastic would not be suited to machining heat treated chrome moly, in spite of having similar features.

You will come to understand that machining 2024 T4 aluminum is very different from machining mild steel, or what is commonly known as low carbon steel. It's one of the most readily available materials, both cold and hot rolled, but is not pleasant to machine, due to tearing.

Be certain to learn to grind HSS. Do not allow yourself to fall victim to insert carbide tooling, especially on your particular machine. In many cases, it will lack the required qualities that permit benefitting from its use. There will be exceptions, such as machining materials that are abrasive, or may be slighly hardened, such as chilled cast iron.

Welcome to the forum.

Harold

[rdenis]

Hi Harald, thanks for the welcome. Pardon my profound ignorance can you explain what you mean by:

"Be certain to learn to grind HSS. Do not allow yourself to fall victim to insert carbide tooling, especially on your particular machine. "

Do you mean I should use HSS inserts rather than carbide? Does "grind HSS" mean to make my own tooling out of HSS or is this terminology used in reference to maintaining HSS cutters?

I need to do some more reading on the terminology before posting more dumb questions, but thanks for the help.

[Jose Rivera]

Welcome to these forums Rick.

Is sad to see machines replaced by computers but nice to see that there is still interest on people to take the challenge and learn machining.

[Harold_V]

Do you mean I should use HSS inserts rather than carbide?

No. I am making reference to grinding tool bits used for turning and other lathe operations, which will serve you nicely for fly cutting as well. The very concept of inserts removes from the operator the need to grind cutting tools, which is a terrible injustice to a guy that has a small shop. There are countless examples of tools that you will have need to either create or buy. Were you involved in CNC operations, I would certainly suggest buying commercial tooling, but it's hard to justify buying a tool holder and an insert to make a given cut when you can quickly grind a very functional tool in just a few minutes.

Does "grind HSS" mean to make my own tooling out of HSS or is this terminology used in reference to maintaining HSS cutters?

You have it right with your suggestion that you grind tools from HSS. No person having gone through a machining training program would have been considered a machinist without having mastered the art of tool grinding. Understand that I am not making reference to multi-toothed cutters, such as shell mills, end mills, nor side or slab cutters, used on horizontal mills. They require a cutter grinder for proper sharpening, very unlike single point tools such as are used on lathes, shapers and planers. You can even include fly cutters in the mix. Once you master the art of grinding, and understand the significance of the required angles, you can hand grind a myriad of tool forms, including simple gear forming cutters for spur gears.

Harold

[Falcon67]

Your size limit is likely to be swing over the cross slide. Which I can't seem to find for that machine - not listed in the specs. It's a 3/4HP motor, so trying to hang an 8" chuck is really going to stress the capabilities I think. I'm thinking it's have about the same limits as a 9x20 lathe in that respect.

[rdenis]

Thanks Falcon67.

Hhhm, the Chinglish manual is confusing to say the least and the specs listed are maybe not enough for what I want to eventually do. Here is what it reads in the preamble to the "Main Technical Data":

"According to the design requirements, the processing diameters of steel and cast-iron workpieces are not more than 40mm for turning, 63mm for milling, and 16mm for drilling"

Under Technical Data it lists:

Max swing dia. of workpiece in gap-bed--------------- 360 mm
Max diameter of turning (middle carbon steels)------- 40 mm
Max distance between centers------------------------- 300 mm
Motor----------------------------------------------------- 550 watts

Okay, 40 mm is only 1.57" - what do they mean by max diameter of turning?

I have no idea if this unit is comparable to a 9 x 20 lathe (as the metric sizing converts to 14 x 12 and 3/4hp turning 200 to 1800 RPM) but assuming it is, what would you recommend as the maximum size chuck for the lathe?

On the milling side, the machine came with a 63mm facer which is equal to the milling max in the preamble and specs (milling motor is only 370 watts or 1/2hp).

Thanks for your helping me try and sort this out.

Rich

[rdenis]

Harold thanks for explaining that - I definitely want to learn old school and grind my own tooling.

I know I won't be able to substitute anyhting for experience but can you point me in the right direction as to starting out - any good books or videos you can recommend?

Thanks.

Rich

[Harold_V]

Harold thanks for explaining that - I definitely want to learn old school and grind my own tooling.

I know I won't be able to substitute anyhting for experience but can you point me in the right direction as to starting out - any good books or videos you can recommend?

Thanks.

Rich

I was trained on the job, more than 50 years ago, without the aid of books, so I'm a poor candidate to make any recommendations. However, there's a lot of guys on this forum that have learned the art of grinding tools. I'm in hopes one of them will step forward with a recommendation.

Harold

[rdenis]

Okay, the radius from the center of the lathe head to the top of the table is a tad more than 4.5" so I guess this would make this a 9 x 12 lathe?

Will a 6" chuck be too much for this machine?

Also here is another dumb question - my machine came with a 3 jaw chuck - I see 4 jaw and 6 jaw chucks - are these to better secure material that is square shape (4 jaw) and hex shaped (6 jaw)? Or am I way off base on my uneducated guess LOL?