Lathing lightsaber parts
Lathing lightsaber parts
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There is a ton of info about mini lathes on the internet..
http://www.mini-lathe.com/
http://www.harborfreight.com/7-inch-...the-93212.html
http://littlemachineshop.com/info/minilathe.php
Tim
The Custom Saber Shop
So I can conclude from this advice that the lathe I found will not work!?
Thanks for the Help
Hate to state this....but always remember you get what you pay for. That mini-lathe you found might work, but ...it most likely will not last very long being made out of Aluminum. Best to save you money and get one from the sites Tim posted.
Last edited by PhoenixHawk; 10-11-2016 at 08:51 PM.
The Harbor Freight one is probably the least expensive one I'd consider getting. It's not a great one by machinist standards, but it'll work for a hobbyist.
A general rule of thumb that I've heard from several good machinists: After you spend money on a lathe, expect to spend just as much on tooling before you get started.
We all have to start somewhere. The journey is all the more impressive by our humble beginnings.
http://led.linear1.org/1led.wiz for the lazy man's resistor calculator!
http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com...e-to-Ohm-s-Law for getting resistor values the right way!
I would say no. 1 like mentioned you get what you pay for with tools. 2 I have a name brand mini of the same size. T6 is too hard to do any real machining on unless you go extremely slow. 3 the jaws an minis like this are too small to safely hold anything except small accent pieces. If wanting to do full from scratch builds, I personally would not go much smaller than a 9"x20" class lathe. Overkill on size but the motor, spindle speed adjustment, and ability to get self centering chucks that can hold upto 2" diameter. Or better yet if using tube you can get mandrel chucks. But all will cost $$. Best bet for lathes are to find craigslist deals or auctions selling old machining tools. Looking to purchase new, I would not touch anything under $1000. First metal lathe I bought for building prototypes and ratrod parts was the 9x10 from Harbor freight for $500 at the time. The head had about 2mm of wobble from the get go, so had to compensate for that. The chucks were crap and had a off standard thread so better chucks would not fit. The direct drive motor wore out within about 15 hours of actual use. So I bought a used Jet 920 and have had no issues in 12 years of using it.
Like SS said expect to spend several hundred on proper chucks, tool blanks and a grinder/sharpening stone for shaping, or carbide tips and holders. For exterior main hilt I would make sure they are 3/4". You will also need boring bars of various lengths, and a drill chuck tail stock for starting axial bores. I f wanting to do threaded connections expect to spend more on quality threading bits, holders, and setup gauges. You'll also want a way to keep everything lubed/cool during cutting. Either manually with an olds hook oil bottle or a coolant pump and ball and socket tubing.
Last edited by FenixFire; 10-11-2016 at 10:13 PM.
Stick with name brand tools that have parts support. Never the cheep no-name alibaba.com stuff off amazon that has a Chinese point of origin. If you want something in the 500-600 range go with the Grizzly 7-10 or there about. Lots of parts and chucks, they are a real manufacture and support their brand as well as others. But once again expect to spend minimum $300 on cutting tools and end stocks to get up and running safely, $1000 if you want it to be efficiently.
http://www.grizzly.com/metal-lathes
Last edited by FenixFire; 10-13-2016 at 08:03 AM.
Some other ideas would be to find a class that gives you access to a machine shop. Some Maker Place/Maker labs will have lathes, or maybe even your local community college metal working class.
No matter what you decide you should probably do this before spending anything. Spinning metal on a lathe isn't the easiest or safest way to spend your time. This is a tool that requires technique and respect. A class will help acclimate you to the machine and you'll learn important safety concerns. You will also find out if you have the knack for it before spending tons thousands of dollars.
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