Big lathe must haves

Kim Bye

Kim Bye

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
My "big" lathe is ordered, the biggest I could fit now was the Weiss WM290V-F
Link: http://www.weiss.com.cn/products_detail/&productId=269.html

So it`s not a "monster" but a huge step up from the small "cue building" lathes.
I`m wondering what must haves I should get.
I`ve ordered different carbide cutting tools/boring bars from AKKO.
The plan is to start doing live tooling, so I`m looking at the Deco cue router mount, the Kress FME 1050 router, but what thread cutters should I get?
There is also lots of different quick change tool posts, should I get the European style, Italian, piston or wedge style?
What boring bars are recomended?
What other tools/ accesories are recomended?
 
The distance between centers is awfully short. 900 mm should be the minimum with 1000mm even better. At 700mm you can't get a cue between centers. The wedge type QC holders are fine. An adjustable 6 jaw chuck will eventually be something you want as will a 3/4" drill chuck for the tail stock.
 
Get a QCTP , I wrangled with the wedge type and it was always a headache. The quick change is so much easier to use.
 
Paul Dayton said:
The distance between centers is awfully short. 900 mm should be the minimum with 1000mm even better. At 700mm you can't get a cue between centers. The wedge type QC holders are fine. An adjustable 6 jaw chuck will eventually be something you want as will a 3/4" drill chuck for the tail stock.
Click to expand...

Yeah I know, it's a compromise... I have a repair lathe from Bassel, that lets me mount a full lenght shaft or butt for changing wraps, cleaning shafts etc.
The big lathe is more for accurate work, live tooling and for getting the basics of operating a big lathe.
If things go fine I'll get a 13" x 40" with taper bars.
 
700mm between centers

My math does 700mm is 28.5 inches between centers.
Your not going to do tapers with Your new lathe ????????
 
I will not be using the Weiss for tapering.
The focus is mostly on smaller repairs, being able to do live threading and learning to operate a full size lathe.
I have a cue lathe from customcuelathes, I can set that up for tapering, either by using Todd's setup, the Deco cue taperbars or making my own setup.
 
I second the Italian type QCTP. have found them to be more repeatable over the wedge types. It was not what I expected after testing 1 of each before settling with all QCTP tooling. I have all the same small QCTP on all my lathes. I made spacers etc so that any tool from any lathe is the same centre line height. No need to readjust the heights when changing machines. It also means that if I have a job and need a tool changed, I can set it's centre height on another machine then take it to the one I am using.

Another thing I did was modified the steady rest,and made up some plates with 40X52X7 bearings. So I have a Taig chuck to use as a steady rest, either the 3jaw ,4 jaw or the 4 independent. I also made a ER40 collet chuck as well .That has been used the most with delrin collets. Then I went mad and also made some delrin sleeves, but have only used one of the sleeves once. lol.

Making or buying a lever operated tailstock quill is well worth it, especially if you are drilling holes or tapping etc. Also great if you have one of those tail stock turrets as well.

For insert tools, I chose the 16mm triangle format like TNMG160404 =0.4 Radius .
For the 55 deg diamond tools I went for the DCMT11T304 =0.4radius
I chose these because they are very common in industry, a good price point, and most importantly there is a huge range of tip radius, and cutting geometry. So you can by inserts for ali,plastics,wood, right through to CBN and ceramics for turning very hard steels, like HSS.

Anyway, have fun in the learning.
Neil
 
conetip said:
I second the Italian type QCTP. have found them to be more repeatable over the wedge types. It was not what I expected after testing 1 of each before settling with all QCTP tooling. I have all the same small QCTP on all my lathes. I made spacers etc so that any tool from any lathe is the same centre line height. No need to readjust the heights when changing machines. It also means that if I have a job and need a tool changed, I can set it's centre height on another machine then take it to the one I am using.

Another thing I did was modified the steady rest,and made up some plates with 40X52X7 bearings. So I have a Taig chuck to use as a steady rest, either the 3jaw ,4 jaw or the 4 independent. I also made a ER40 collet chuck as well .That has been used the most with delrin collets. Then I went mad and also made some delrin sleeves, but have only used one of the sleeves once. lol.

Making or buying a lever operated tailstock quill is well worth it, especially if you are drilling holes or tapping etc. Also great if you have one of those tail stock turrets as well.

For insert tools, I chose the 16mm triangle format like TNMG160404 =0.4 Radius .
For the 55 deg diamond tools I went for the DCMT11T304 =0.4radius
I chose these because they are very common in industry, a good price point, and most importantly there is a huge range of tip radius, and cutting geometry. So you can by inserts for ali,plastics,wood, right through to CBN and ceramics for turning very hard steels, like HSS.

Anyway, have fun in the learning.
Neil
Click to expand...

Thanks, some good observations :)
I have now ordered both the Ridgid R2401 and the Kress FME1050 routers.
I`ve gotten some 1/4 round router bits, some straight router bits and some winged cutters for turning down wood.
I have also have ordered some indexable tools from AKKO with quality inserts.
I bought the 16mmx16mm ones.
I got the straight one, the 93,5 right angle and a few different boring bars and a cut off tool.
I have bought some decent drill bits, countersinks, reamers, taps etc.
I have bought lots of tips, rods of different materials and diameters etc.
So I`m slowly getting there.
Now I just need to, set every thing up, dial it in, buy some wood, joint pins etc and I`m good to go...

For ferrules I have the following in stock:
G10 green and black
Juma
Elforyn
Sabre-T
Black/brown canvas
Ivorylike
Ivorite III
Ivorine-3/4

For rings, butts etc. I have:
Black/brown phenolic
Elforyn
Juma

For tips, this is what I stock now:

Single layer:
Elkmaster
Le Pro
Triangle
Water Buffalo

Layered:
Zan Premium soft
Zan S,M,H
Zan Grip Max
G2 S,M,H
Kamui original clear SS,S,M,H
Kamui black clear SS,S,M,H
Moori S,M
Super Pro
All Tiger products
Molavia S,M

Jump/break:
Taom
White Diamond
Samsara
Mezz black ingot/sonic

Thats what I`ve got this far, still need lots of stuff, but I`m alrady repairing quite a few cues and the works just seems to pick up. So I`m pretty happy and feel that compared to my modest investment it`s looking pretty good :D
 
Modified steady rest that takes 40mm diameter inserts of what ever you want. I have the Taig chuck adapter for 3 or 4 jaw chucks, 5C collet holder, and the ER40 collet spindle which I use the most.

This shows the m mouse setup to drive the assembly to true up the 8 deg taper for the ER40.
picture.php


This shows the plate with the spaced pair of 40mm id bearings. The spacing takes away the endfloat of the ball bearings.
picture.php


This shows the attachment of the block. As I could not make it right, I made it adjustable. To center the unit, I have a piece of 40mm bar that fits nicely into the bearing, and then I just put it into the chuck and it is aligned. I make a mark on the test piece and a mark on the associated jaw. I use the test piece to dial in the chuck to zero 1st. Using the same key position with t he same torque, this chuck is very repeatable. You do not see it very often, but using the same torque on chucks does make a difference especially to it's life if you do not over torque them.
picture.php


Neil
 
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