Buying a lathe

[Anakin Starkiller]

Yeah, anything that involves spinning and blades makes me healthily afraid!

I'm not even plugging the thing in until I've had my first lesson!

Biggest thing to remember is never leave the chuck key in the chuck. That will kill you. You will forget it is there and it will fly at your head. This was the most important thing to my high school shop teacher. If anyone ever left the chuck key in the chuck for any amount of time, we had to sit out for the rest of class and do cutting speed calculations for the rest of the period. Best thing I ever learned.:lol

Dan

 

[robn1]

I found these how-to vids on Youtube http://www.youtube.com/user/saunixcomp#g/u
Most of these feature the MicroMark machine, but the basics apply to any model.

I'm planning to get a lathe soon, and I've been looking at the MM. But I also like the idea of a lathe/mill combo, does anyone have any experience with this one from Grizzly? http://www.grizzly.com/products/Combo-Lathe-w-Milling-Attachment/G0516

 

[exoray]

And that's AFTER you spend three hours talking about safety. I hate to sound cliche, but it is absolutely safety first with these things. It would take a bit of work and a bunch of dumb luck to kill yourself with one, but you can easily REALLY screw yourself up.

Please be careful!

I'll second this... You can get yourself in trouble real fast if you have a brain fart, don't pay attention or simply don't know any better...