I have just purchased a Boxford Lathe

[Brad93]

You can get a MT2 hand reamer, just to clean up any burrs.

Are you doing much tonight? I'll pop over and grab that Rotator if not and can take a look.

 

[123hotchef]

I do. I've yet to see a centre with a tang. I did manage to drill the back of my live centre and fit a slug but very often fixed centres are hardened right through. That aside, holding them whilst you drill makes for an interesting little problem.

these are all things you use your imagination to overcome I suppose.
I need to get some brass then!

 

[123hotchef]

You can get a MT2 hand reamer, just to clean up any burrs.

Are you doing much tonight? I'll pop over and grab that Rotator if not and can take a look.

Yep I am about tonight @Brad93 just let me know what time and I shall make sure I am home

 

[Brad93]

Yep I am about tonight @Brad93 just let me know what time and I shall make sure I am home

Hows 16:00? I'm figuring i might miss the traffic that way

 

[123hotchef]

Hows 16:00? I'm figuring i might miss the traffic that way

yes thats cool I will be home by 15:00

 

[123hotchef]

Thanks to Brad for getting the tail stock on center and for showing me some things, I now know how to use the power feed and power cross slide,

oh and He told me to set my compound xslide to er I forget already now 30 degrees was it?

 

[123hotchef]

yeh 30deg he said the scale is exactly half I have it set at 45 degrees now not that I can understand the scale on the wheels anyway!

 

[Brad93]

If you set it at 30 degrees, it’s half whatever the feed wheel says.
0.010” x Sine(30°) = 0.005”

If the compound is set at 45° it’s much harder to calculate as 0.010” x Sine(45°) = 0.00707”

 

[123hotchef]

i just dont get inches full stop lol

 

[Seadog]

Inches, mm, it doesn't matter.

 

[Brad93]

0.010” or 10thou is 0.25mm

 

[123hotchef]

Inches, mm, it doesn't matter.

it does when it needs to be accurate

 

[RichardM]

T Interestingly centres do not seem to have tangs. I have never understood why. I usually pop a small brass slug in before inserting the centre, or else it's the Devil's own job to get the damned thing out.

For my running centre I glued an old ball bearing into the end of mine to allow it to eject, big enough to press on the taper side and not be pushed into it.

 

[Brad93]

0.100” or 100 thou is 2.54mm

 

[123hotchef]

For my running centre I glued an old ball bearing into the end of mine to allow it to eject, big enough to press on the taper side and not be pushed into it.

that is a great idea! Brad was saying his gets stuck earlier

 

[123hotchef]

so on my scale on the dial it is 0.1-0.9
0.1-0.2 is 0.25mm?

 

[Brad93]

so on my scale on the dial it is 0.1-0.9
0.1-0.2 is 0.25mm?

Yeah basically.

You’ll come to find imperial measurements are somewhat easier to deal with on the lathe. They make more sense.
Well to me they do.

 

[123hotchef]

well i aint sure about that! not when I measure in metric

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

so on my scale on the dial it is 0.1-0.9
0.1-0.2 is 0.25mm?

https://wiki.nottinghack.org.uk/wiki/Myford_lathe/Operation
Myford but useful.
I have similar laminated above my lathe.
Like you I struggle with imp

 

[Pete.]

it does when it needs to be accurate

If you work in mm but your lathe is inches just use a digital caliper and use the MM/inch button to swap between them. Lets say you want to turn something down to 8mm. Set your caliper to 8mm then zero it and push the mm/inch button. Now measure the part and it'll give you a reading (in inches) of how much you need to take off.