Mazdeuce Machines Stuff

Over the holidays I was chatting with my brother in law about tools. He makes things out of wood and I turn wrenches on cars. He wants to work more with hand tools and I mentioned that I want to start making things. I have a welder, and I know how to weld, but I don't really know how to make parts properly. I want to get a mill, but it's likely that a lathe would serve me better. And he says "I have an old lathe the I bought at a garage sale that I've never used, you want it?"
So now I have a lathe!
It's a Craftsman 109.21270 probably from the early 50's and the internet tells me that it's just barely one step above junk for actually machining things. Oh well, it was free and up until 10 minutes ago I'd never even turned a lathe on much less machined anything so to me it's amazing and wonderful. This thread is going to document my adventures learning how to make stuff. First with this lathe, and hopefully later with a mill. Maybe I'll put 3D printer stuff in here? Hard to say. I'm going to to attempt to transform myself from a guy who makes things with a Dremel and drill to someone who makes proper parts on purpose.
I know some of you here are proper machinists, and I'll ask you for help. Some are complete newbs like me and I hope we can all learn something together. Follow along, should be fun.

I have a stiffy because of that lathe.....

Someday I WILL find one to compliment all my 50s craftsman woodworking and combination tools.

Excited to see you use the old tool for its purpose.

That lathe looks very small in the pics. Can you get tooling for it still? I expect that most of what you want to make will require you to buy something else.

Either way... subscribed.

Duster, I've got a cool old Craftsman bench top horizontal mill that you can have cheap. I don't have any tooling for it, though. Getting it from me to you will be the challenge.

Subscribed to this for sure! I don't have a lathe, but I hear it's like a lot of awesome tools in that you'll never realize how much you need one until you have one.

Looking forward to your adventures. Excited about getting some sort of machining capabilities (and TIG), but having trouble spending enough time in the shop to get to that part of any project. Whether getting started practicing before getting to needing that stuff can be rationalized... Anyhow, this should be fun!

It's funny, a lathe is one of those tools (like a welder...) you can live without, until you get one and learn how to use it. Then, you'll wonder how you ever lived without it.

I got an old Craftsman 12x36 My Lathe (can't figure out hotlinking.. :( ) a couple years ago, and while I'm a hack machinist, I have no regrets - it's been invaluable in my locost build. Browse CL for some cutter blanks, YouTube will teach you how to grind various cutters, then start making chips! A HF dial indicator and magnetic base helps to ensure the part is centered prior to cutting, and a live(or dead) center will probably help reduce some of the bed flex.

Good Luck!

Lovely. Looking forward to this one.

First things first, the lathe is kind of gross. Sawdust and dust in general stuck to lubricants that have long stopped being slippery. Looks like a toothbrush and my good friend WD-40 makes all of the goo mobile. What's the proper lubricant for this?

mazdeuce wrote: First things first, the lathe is kind of gross. Sawdust and dust in general stuck to lubricants that have long stopped being slippery. Looks like a toothbrush and my good friend WD-40 makes all of the goo mobile. What's the proper lubricant for this?

This is one of those religious debates on the machinist forums, but I'd go with any SAE 20w straight-weight non-detergent oil. A rust & oxidation inhibitor (R&O on the label) wouldn't hurt either.

In reply to mazdeuce:

There are typically multiple lubricants needed for a lathe, but this one seems to only call for 20 weight machine oil everywhere. I think that would be Mobil DTE 26 if you want to do it right, anything will do though, just stay away from off brand "non detergent" oils.

Owner's manual: http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/222/6603.pdf

mazdeuce wrote: First things first, the lathe is kind of gross. Sawdust and dust in general stuck to lubricants that have long stopped being slippery. Looks like a toothbrush and my good friend WD-40 makes all of the goo mobile. What's the proper lubricant for this?

I use Lubriplate No. 3-V. I got it here.. It's designed specifically as a way oil. A quart will last forever.

Little Machine Shop is a good place to link as well. I've a good luck dealing with them.

I use gun oil on the ways. Mostly because I have more shotguns than lathes and it comes in a nice spray bottle.

bump. did this ever end up going anywhere?

Angrys mill came to me.

Still want the lathe.....

Looks like a great hobby to get into mazdeuce!!  Hope you and the family are well!!