How to start milling/lathing

[Trbo323]

So, this is a bit of a long term dream at the moment but

Let's say I wanted to get into more machining. I have some minimal experience with a lathe from a previous job. But I'm always comfortable working with metal, absolutely loved my jewelry classes in college, fine detail metalwork is really enjoyable to me.

I've made due with a Dremel and a drill press for a while even mid blocked my cocker with those. But I'd like to eventually have more capability.

Where should I start?

Sent from my motorola edge 5G UW (2021) using Tapatalk

[XEMON]

First, get a lathe ... Get the biggest you can fit in the place you have (don't worry, its always gonna be a tad to small). And get some tooling and raw materials.

If you have space and money left, then look at mills ...

A lot of what you can do in mills (specially small parts) you can make due on the lathe ... The other direction is not so true ...

I'm not a machinist by any mean, and we have some great one on here, but always happy to help a garage scrap maker 👍

[DocsMachine]

[cracks knuckles]

-First, it's called "machining", or "machine work".

Second, there's a thousand books out there. The go-to for lathes is SouthBend's How To Run A Lathe- it's a bit long in the tooth, having been written in the fifties, and naturally enough kind of focuses on small SouthBend lathes, but the overall concepts work whether you have a Harbor Freight 7x10 or a freshly-restored Monarch 10EE. Check eBay for reprints.

There's similar ones for milling machines, but you'll have to do a little more leg work on that one. I'm not aware of one as comprehensive as HtRaL, but for mills.

Third, there are, of course, also a ton of YouTube videos- both direct how-to, and indirect, as in you're watching the guy make something, but you can see how they're using the machine, too.

Fourth, and here's the tricky one- you need the machines themselves.

My usual recommendation is to look for a good American or European made machine, used, off Craigslist or Marketplace or the like, but in some areas, that's just not possible. In that case, my recommendation is to buy the biggest machines you can either afford, or fit into your shop/garage/laundry-room, new, from some place like Grizzly, Jet, Little Machine Shop or Precision Matthews.

A 7x10 lathe is tiny and cheap, but it can be coaxed to do reasonable work, within it's capabilities. If you can swing it, I'd recommend at least starting with one of the 9x20s- my first real lathe was a Grizzly 9x20, and I believe Have Blue still has it today.

A similarly-sized mill-drill would be a nice match, and let you do just about everything you might want to do.

That'll get you started.

Doc.

[Hellion360]

It sounds like you already have some experience, but it might be worth you checking your local CTE/VOTECH schools for an adult night class.
They are usually inexpensive and will give you some local contacts to find what you are looking for. I am not a machinist, but have found these sort of classes useful.

[Spider!]

I have a 7x14 mini lathe that had to have the drive board repaired once. I really enjoy working with it. I think the best part of it is the variable speed drive. You can get a feel for speeds and feeds easily because it is so easy to adjust.. it's a little sensitive for cutting hardenable steels, but I find a good rate eventually.