newbie to a lathe

First one to get is "How To Run A Lathe" by the South Bend Lathe Corp.

Lindsay reprints it. I have several old (vintage!!) copies, $5 plus shipping will get you one. Or get one on ebay or go look at powells.com or search abebooks.com or something.

After that I recommend you skip to Moltrecht's "Machine Shop Practice" which is a decent 2-volume set.

Thing is, there's a lot to running a lathe. You need to understand the geometry of a lathe bit, how to sharpen one, how to lubricate, cutting speeds and feeds, some metallurgy, how to take care of a machine, how to not wind up with a chuck key stuck into your forehead, stuff like that.

GWE

"Machining Fundamentals" by John R Walker 1973.

I got a used copy of the 1973 512 page version on the internet for ~$25.

There are different versions of the book available:

1) 1973 512 page edition 2) 2000 140 page edition 3) 2003 640 page edition 4) Teacher's editions and other crap.

Machinery's Handbook will get you a reference for virtually any aspect of metal working. Old editions show up in second-hand bookstores. Keep an eye out for one. Bugs

Quick and cheap: Go to the local used bookstore and pick up some machine shop textbooks. I have several versions, all cost around $5.00 each, and are specifically aimed at the novice, with lots of illustrations.

- - Rex Burkheimer WM Automotive Fort Worth TX

R> just bought a lathe,now i need to learn. any recomendations on books etc for

An alternative is the Atlas book of similar name. If you have either a South Bend or an Atlas, you should select the one which matches the brand, as it will have some detail stuff which the other will not (such as change gear trains for threading on a machine without a quick-change gearbox. But most of what is there will be quite similar in either book.

An excellent one.

That last one -- in case you don't see it in print anywhere, the basic rule is *never* leave the chuck key stuck in the hole on the chuck. It is so easy to forget about it and switch the machine on, at which point it either goes flying (possibly doing damage to you), or it does damage to the bed of the lathe, and perhaps other parts.

Many modern chuck keys have a spring around the square end so they pop out if you are not *holding* them in. I like to keep this feature, even though it can be a bit awkward at times -- it is *far* safer.

You can also pick up quite useful books in pdf form from the Army web site -- or it is archived on other sites as well. But the two which you have already had suggested to you I consider to be the best starting place. I still dig into the Moultrecht books from time to time when I get something unusual in the way of tooling, or when I have something to do which I don't know how to handle.

Good Luck, DoN

what is this 'army web site'

I can't find a website where they are posted. There are PDF versions of most of the military training manuals for machine work. They include basic machining, lathe operation, mill operation, and a few specific to certain brands, such as Rockwell lathe. Probably 5 - 7 titles. They do show up on alt.binaries.e-books.technical routinely. I have them all downloaded at home, could email them if you wish.

- - Rex Burkheimer WM Automotive Fort Worth TX

st>

versions of

Right here...

Corollary to below is make sure hands and (especially) fingers are free of the chuck before powering on.

Good luck!

If you can figure out how to operate a lathe with a copy of "Machinery's Handbook", you are better than me.