First Lathe Parts

I will have to do a more in depth look at my new lathe...just not today. I wanted to get the replacement dimple die going first. I believe that some time in the next week or so, I'll go through the whole machine and cover it hear. Let's look at this die..

 

First step was to make the male portion of the die. Here, I am turning the OD down from 1.250 to 1.125. This was not actually necessary in the grand scheme of things. I was doing it to get a feel for the machine. From here, I need to turn one end down to .375" then add a tapered shoulder. I had oily hands...so I missed most of the pictures. Like I said, we'll get more in depth later this week. This was a matter of getting the part made.

Spiral razor blades. These will cut the ever-living-bejeezus out of you! Handle them accordingly.

Pilot and shoulder turned.

Now to make the female part.

Between steps, I added a plexi-glass shield behind my grinder. I had a shelf in the spot where the lathe now resides and noticed a lot of grinding dust on it when I moved it. This shield should keep most of that crap off of the lathe. I think moving the shelf was a good idea...my shop lay out is a little better now.

Skip ahead a few steps and we have a completed die. I didn't turn the OD of the female part.

Hoping that this works! I need to get these into the kiln tonight for hardening.

My first impression of the lathe is very positive. It powered through the tough A2 tool steel. There are spots where it feels a little under powered...but this is a miniature machine after all! It operates smoothly and seems pretty accurate. I was getting good surface finish on my parts as well. Like I said above, we'll go through the whole machine later this week for a more detailed look.