I've had a HF mini-lathe for decades, but never used it much. Picked up most of a Unimat DB-200. Got the bug to make the DB-200 mill work. Prices for Unimat parts are insane. Not gonna spend much fixing up a $15 DB-200.
I'm at that awkward stage where it would be nice to have a mill to make parts for a mill. Couple that with the fact that I have no idea what I'm doing... I'm an electrical engineer...all this mekanikl stuff is not my forte. I expect to be working with aluminum and plastic, but steel seems to be what I need to build the tools to do it.
With the lathe, I'm not so much cutting metal as I'm rubbing it off. ;-) Been experimenting with sharpening bits by hand, but I no longer have the manual dexterity to get it straight.
I bought the $4 HF set of carbide tools. Work pretty well on straight cuts, but the first thing I want to do is turn a square into a round. Interrupted cut is not recommended, so I'd rather not break 'em.
I went googling for sharpening methods and found a bewildering array of tutorials, all suggesting different angles.
I found this site particularly interesting.
In particular, they downplay the importance of back rake. That simplifies the sharpening process.
And the jig is something I can make with the tools I already have.
Recommendations for a newbie without a lot of machine tools or experience?
This is a hobby. Guiding principles are: Cheap Simple Barely good enough is OK. Build it from stuff you find on the floor in the garage. Have fun learning stuff. Did I mention CHEAP? It's not logical, but I've spent $10 and a week to save a dollar... and enjoyed every minute of it.
Thanks, mike