Experienced lathe operators please help me.

[boltfluter]

My friend that is a machinist lets me use his lathe every now and then. He sets the work up and tells me what to do to get close and helps me finish. I know nothing about lathes but I really like his lathe, it's a Monarch. I don't know it its a good lathe or not but I love it. I have a 14x40 Millport lathe that I am learning on.

A Monarch is one of the very best of the best!! Very nice and very spendy! Cool!

Paul

 

[butchlambert]

You could have gotten back on the internet after the first quarter.

Yeah, OU woke up too late. I'll be for Bama, but I think it is Clemson's turn.
I really hate that I sold my 10EE Monarch, but I didn't need it. 20" between centers and a very long headstock was a challenge to chamber barrels. It is by far the Rolls Royce of manual lathes. I think the Hardinge would be second. IMO?

 

[butchlambert]

A spindle with better than .0002 runout and an operator that can dial a barrel in within that .0002 without stress?
Then you still have to chamber it true to that 2 tenths?

How much effect will bed wear next to the headstock and cross slide?

 

[Cloudrepair]

How much effect will bed wear next to the headstock and cross slide?

I depends on what you are doing, there are ways to get around. you just need to know where there is a section of the bed strait enough to do the work that may be why some people use a steady for chambering .
You could hang the work out a little get a thicker back plate for a set true chuck hold a fixture in you four jaw use a carbide boring bar for the turning or a good stiff one and a threading bar upside down and backwards. Many ways to skin the cat.

 

[butchlambert]

Ok, lets take this a little further. If you are chambering in the headstock with good bearings, how much taper or runout would you have in a BR or Remington tenon after turning it? If you predrill and taper bore the chamber, then use a pusher with your reamer, will it have runout?
We are assuming the gun plumber has it set up and indicated properly.

 

[Cloudrepair]

If you are just turning the tenon and chambering a barrel i dont think a slight taper in the tenon will hurt anything it may even help.
As long as you can dial the barrel in.
the tailstock can be out a bit also with a good floating reamer holder.
chambering wont be affected by some wear.
I always bore the chamber out about .010-.015 under finish dimensions
Then run the reamer in and it will follow the bored hole that is true to the lathe axis. Even if the hole bored is tapered as long as it dosnt get to big to get cut out by the reamer.

 

[Cloudrepair]

Ok, lets take this a little further. If you are chambering in the headstock with good bearings, how much taper or runout would you have in a BR or Remington tenon after turning it? If you predrill and taper bore the chamber, then use a pusher with your reamer, will it have runout?
We are assuming the gun plumber has it set up and indicated properly.

It should'nt unless the pilot tries to guied it out of the lathe axis following the bore of the barrel or has some other interfearance.
The only runout should be what is already in the lathe and the chamber should be to size runing true to the lathe axis

 

[butchlambert]

If you are just turning the tenon and chambering a barrel i dont think a slight taper in the tenon will hurt anything it may even help.
As long as you can dial the barrel in.
the tailstock can be out a bit also with a good floating reamer holder.
chambering wont be affected by some wear.
I always bore the chamber out about .010-.015 under finish dimensions
Then run the reamer in and it will follow the bored hole that is true to the lathe axis. Even if the hole bored is tapered as long as it dosnt get to big to get cut out by the reamer.

If you trig it out the bed would have to have a tremendous wear to affect the tenon turning. Tailstock can be out a bunch if you use a pusher, not a floating reamer holder. A floater is better than holding it in the tailstock. I taper bore mine before reaming.
Many ways to skin the dog.

 

[Cloudrepair]

If you trig it out the bed would have to have a tremendous wear to affect the tenon turning. Tailstock can be out a bunch if you use a pusher, not a floating reamer holder. A floater is better than holding it in the tailstock. I taper bore mine before reaming.
Many ways to skin the dog.

True
My tailstock can be dialed in within a .001 so i use my floating holder and get what i have the barrel dialed in to.
usually .00015-.0003 my heastock runs just about .00015 on my Taiwan 12-36 lathe

 

[carlsbad]

If you trig it out the bed would have to have a tremendous wear to affect the tenon turning. Tailstock can be out a bunch if you use a pusher, not a floating reamer holder. A floater is better than holding it in the tailstock. I taper bore mine before reaming.
Many ways to skin the dog.

I really like trig as a verb.

 

[338 Mollett]

More P.C. than my favorite verb.

 

[DaveTooley]

Let's see what I can add. Nah I have other things to do.

 

[ebb]

I would love to hear what you can add.

 

[ebb]

We used the big Monarch to narrow my tractor wheels. They were 17 inches wide and had giant turf tires on them and I wanted to put much smaller R1 type tires on the tractor. We (read he) took out the gap and we found the diameter would work with 1/4 inch to spare. But the wheel was too wide to part in the lathe so I cut the wheels in two with a jig saw and a metal cutting blade. He trued and faced off the small side and then we trued and parted off 2.5 inches of the width off the other. Then held them together with all thread through the head stock and indicated the loose side till true and tacked the halves together. We wire feed welded the halves and mounted new tires that are to this day running tubeless and have never had air added. Saved almost $1000. on tires and got a more appropriate size for my use. I love that lathe!

 

[338 Mollett]

Improvise ,adapt,and overcome !Good story.

 

[hogpatrol]

Newer operators need to use the spring loaded chuck keys for their own protection. People that have been around and got trained in machine shops know to never take their hand off of the chuck key unless its laying on a table

I got a chuckle out of this. I wish I had a dollar for every one I saw one go flying.

 

[ebb]

Ive been lucky so far with my chuck key.

 

[Cloudrepair]

There was one time the key came out of the chuck (it slipped out of my hand on a 24" chuck) on me
I was inserting some soft Jaws that were attached to the inside jaws it hit the lever that turns on the spindle and the jaw I was inserting in the chuck caught my hand right between my four fingers and the back way and split my hand wide open it was close to taking the two smaller fingers but I yanked my hand free in time it was just a bunch of stitches to fix me up.
So the moral of the story is it only takes once.
And I didnt leave it in the chuck either.

 

[sdean]

Learn on an old south bend. With a VFD set for the motor to spool up slow and stop fast. The chuck key won't even come out. Just roll around against the bed and stop. I know this for sure!! Safest and best lathe to learn on. Will also do barrel work as good as any.

 

[BR7.62]

Please make sure you remember to take that chuck key out! How many times have you thrown it across your shop?

hehe i knew i was gonna get hell as soon as i posted that picture for that.... youll notice the red stop button is in by the lack of the light being on to the left of it.
but youre right its bad practice. on the logan i have flung it a couple times.
thankfully not on this one.
im gonna cry the first ding i get on the ways...