Re: Newbie - Buying first metal lathe
Posted: Fri Jun 14, 2019 2:52 am
I realise I'm late to the party, but I'll have at it anyway!
I'll second the "get a lathe first" - Doubters, you just try making a lathe with your mill...
Angle plates, compound vices. The travel/work planes are different, but it's infinitely doable.
...(The answer is yes, if you use it like a lathe)
I'll second the "get a lathe first" - Doubters, you just try making a lathe with your mill...
The only thing I've ever used a threading dial for is a four-start thread. Absolutely not required to do plain threads.SteveHGraham wrote: ↑Tue Jun 11, 2019 10:27 am You will have to have a threading dial if you want to thread.
You bloody wot?!I prefer a mill to a lathe for a number of reasons. You can't make straight cuts on a lathe without a milling attachment, and these attachments are pretty feeble. If you want to drill things on a lathe, you have to mount them to the spindle somehow, and because you can't move the drill bit, you have to remount the work every time you drill in a new location. With a mill, you just move the table and drill.
Angle plates, compound vices. The travel/work planes are different, but it's infinitely doable.
Can you make a rotary table on a mill, without a rotary table?You can make a lot of round cuts on a mill, using a rotary table.
...(The answer is yes, if you use it like a lathe)
And to you sir, I would say you never learned how to use a lathe properly!I don't understand why people recommend lathes over mills. Much less versatile. I think it's one of those machining myths that appear for no reason and never get shot down, like, "A lathe is the only machine that can reproduce itself." You can't make a lathe with a lathe! No way.