What is a lath good for

I missed the staff meeting but the minutes show snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com wrote back on 22 Apr 2005 05:34:32 -0700 in rec.crafts.metalworking :

If you mean it can hold something 36" in diameter, you got a huge lathe (I used one a bit larger to turn 31 foot long drill collars. I've seen some rather hefty prop shafts being turned on others that size.)

If you have one which is 36" between chuck face and tail stock, you have a "more normal" sized one. Which means you can turn anything up to 36" long. Or longer if the machine has a bar feed option (where longer stock is stuck in through the chuck.)

That size pretty much covers most uses. It is it round, you can pretty much do it. Thread it, bore it, face it, smooth it, you can make plugs, bells, whistles, washers, breaches, propeller shafts, new wheels for the four poster, yea even sex toys. You can even make julienne fries with it, but you'll need to hold the potatoe just right.

And yeah, you can also injure yourself in methods most unpleasant, even unto death, faster than you'd ever thought possible, if you don't follow safe machining practices.

tschus pyotr

Reply to
pyotr filipivich
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That's what air compressors are for. I use mine more for cleaning my shoes than anything else.

Bob

Reply to
Bob

Well if you have a bunch more lath's you can naial em on the studs and plaster over them like they used to do in old days before sheetrock and gypsum board was invented.......Or you can nail em on your roof rafters and then install slate or cedar shingles on them......

============================================== Put some color in your cheeks...garden naked!

Reply to
~Roy~

I've seen pictures of accessories I think are called "tailstock drill pads" which look like round disks a bit smaller than the swing of the lathe with a tapered spindle on them to fit in the tailstock ram.

You'd put a drill bit in the headstock chuck or a collet and hand hold or clamp the part to be drilled against that tailstock pad, then use the tailstock crank to feed it into the drill. I think the idea was that it could be more convenient than trying to secure an odd shaped part to a headstock faceplate and you could also drill holes in long narrow pieces which couldn't be rotated on the faceplate.

Seemed like it might be a little risky to hand hold a part, but then who here hasn't hand held parts on a drill press table plenty of times when drilling small holes?

Jeff

Reply to
Jeff Wisnia

I did the same thing to the front wheels of my 38 year old Snapper riding mower which also had worn out sintered iron bushings. But I got lucky and found some flanged Oilite bearings at the local Ace Hardware store which fit the axles and only needed slight boring of the wheel hubs to let me press them in

I goofed on one bore and it ended up a slight bit oversized for a press fit, but I fixed that quickly by slathering a little soft solder onto the bearing OD with a big old Weller gun. (Pretty is as pretty does I always sez.)

Jeff

-- Jeffry Wisnia

(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)

"As long as there are final exams, there will be prayer in public schools"

Reply to
Jeff Wisnia

You can also put the chuck (with a Morse taper adaptor sleeve) into the headstock, and put the workpiece between the drill bit and a drilling pad in the tailstock. There are even drilling pads with a V groove to help you to drill straight through the side of a cylindrical workpiece. IIRC, they are called a "drill crotch". This works when what you are drilling is too long in a radial distance from the center of the hole to be to mount it in a 4-jaw chuck or on a faceplate.

Indeed so.

Enjoy, DoN.

Reply to
DoN. Nichols

Speaking of which...I finally ordered (and received) an Albrecht MT2 integral shank tailstock chuck for my SB 10L. Oh...it's nice. I already have an R8 shank Albrecht for my mill. Now I'm wondering why I bought the integral shank models? $400 invested, could have been $200 +change. I guess I'll justify it by emphasizing the shorter setup times when I'm using both machines.

Reply to
NokNokMan

Lath is used for holding on plaster.

Reply to
SteveB

So. Cal? Need shop time? Come on over to Taft most any weekend and Ill let you have free run of my shop

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Gunner

"At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child - miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied, demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless. Liberalism is a philosphy of sniveling brats." -- P.J. O'Rourke

Reply to
Gunner

Nice updated shop photos. Especially the Gorton 016. What happened to your toe, the cats chew on it?

Jim

Reply to
jim rozen

Sigh...it still hurts to think about it. When they say you cannot remember pain..take it with a grain of salt.

My son and I were moving my hydraulic press. It was dark in that area at night, we were in a hurry, and he missed removing one of the 1" thick, 6x8" press plates which was sitting on the press. It slipped off. Nailed me on the diagonal across the end of the foot. Busted 3 of the 5 toes. Fortunately, it didn't land on the right foot, else it would have busted 3 of the 6 toes.

Gunner

"At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child - miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied, demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless. Liberalism is a philosphy of sniveling brats." -- P.J. O'Rourke

Reply to
Gunner

I guess it could have been worse, if it had landed on the instep it could have done much worse damage. Ever considered steel-toed flip-flops?

Just out of curiosity, what's kind of tooling does that smaller Gorton mill take in the spindle - B&S or MT?

Jim

Reply to
jim rozen

Scary stuff.

i
Reply to
Ignoramus31514

I was wearing my normal Redwing boots.

Neither...it takes Gorton collets. A rather interesting holder with a triangular ass end. Similar to a 4C in size, but only going up to

1/2" in diameter.

Gunner

"At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child - miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied, demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless. Liberalism is a philosphy of sniveling brats." -- P.J. O'Rourke

Reply to
Gunner

Ever feel pain so bad that when you open your mouth..no sound comes out, and all you can do is inhale?

Gunner

"At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child - miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied, demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless. Liberalism is a philosphy of sniveling brats." -- P.J. O'Rourke

Reply to
Gunner

Hmm. They do make steeltoe ones - possibly the only steeltoe boots I care to wear.

Ah - no drawbar, they're held in with a clamping nut on the end of the spindle?

Jim

Reply to
jim rozen

Yes, in fact, I had even worse occasions. It was so painful and at the same time I could not breathe for a little while.

i
Reply to
Ignoramus31514

Nope..actually there is a draw bar. Its an odd system. But one that will never spin in the spindle. Not that its likely you could get it to happen anyways...

Its a hell of a heavy machine. Id have to say nearly as heavy as a BP..big chunk of cast iron. Rigid as hell.

Gunner

"At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child - miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied, demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless. Liberalism is a philosphy of sniveling brats." -- P.J. O'Rourke

Reply to
Gunner

Heh, I was in the hospital last week for such a pain. I pinched something right next to my spine--probably a piece of ligament--and it swelled up. For about the first four hours it was terrible, but I could move if I had to. Then it swelled enough (I saw x-rays of this feat later) that it kinked my spine and dislocated two ribs. That hurt so much I couldn't make any sounds other than incoherent yelling. Then the spasms started. That kink pushing nerves plus all the pain robbed me of muscle control and I wound up folding backwards and locking up for several minutes at a time. Like that girl did in the exorcist. Anyway, when that happened I couldn't make any sounds because of the pain. Funny thing about all that was that some Ibuprofen early-on would have prevented 99% of that pain. Back injury: serious business.

Reply to
B.B.

Indeed.

Gunner, two back surgeries and hoping there will be no third.

"At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child - miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied, demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless. Liberalism is a philosphy of sniveling brats." -- P.J. O'Rourke

Reply to
Gunner

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