[balsaman]

I have my lathe but no milling machine yet. I am looking for some cool projects that can be done on a lathe and drill press only. Not too complex as I am still learning. What do you think?

Eric

[TyRex]

pens, lamps, flashlights, telescope parts(if you're into that).......what sort of interests do you have? how big of a lathe do you have? Right now i'm actually making modifcations to my lathe using my lathe.....my lathe will be used for telescope parts, cnc parts, bow/arrow mods, etc.

Pick a hobby or something that interests you and try to think of ways a lathe can be used to expand or improve that hobby.

[marvinstov]

Balsaman,
Same as TyRex, I spent a lot of time making mods to the lathe. Some necessary and some just because I wanted to. I think for me one of the most satisfying was to make a custom fit (to MY hand) file handle. The directions for measuring your hand can be found in one of Guy Lautard's "Machinist's Bedside Reader" which you probably already have. I don't remember what he made them out of but I made mine from aluminum with a brass ferrell and it fits my had great. Now it's almost a pleasure to use a file, at least my hand doesn't get so tired when I have to do it. I only have two of the "Bedside Readers" but will get the third soon. They have a lot of info on making things like you are talking about.

Marv

P.S. Congratulations on your lathe and nice review.

[TyRex]

Ah, i see you have an 8x12.......

Here's a nice site with a little info on what Dan Kautz does with his.... http://www.tedatum.com/thms/index.html

[HuFlungDung]

Pssst, there aren't any cool lathe projects. The lathe is just to prepare the blanks for the mill to use for the cool projects

[DDM]

Every lathe at one time or another needs to build a cannon. But other than that there are tons of things you can build. If I get time and find them, I'll post some pictures of some of the stuff I've built at work, a little larger than your HF can handle though.

Carl

[CrazyRonny]

Balsaman,

Don't forget it's possible to do some small milling job on your lathe if your project need it. By putting the tool post away and adding another axis, for up and dow movement, with a small vise on it or a way to fix your part. Then you put the endmill in the lathe chuck and you have an horizontal small mill.

CrazyRonny

[balsaman]

Ronny,

Yep, I am aware that can be done as well.

Thanks for all the input so far fellows. Keep it coming. An aluminum pen sounds kinda fun.

Eric

[marvinstov]

Eric,
Here's my last mod (Lead Screw Handwheel). Only did it because I ran out of things to do waiting on parts and materials. I'm sure it will come in useful sometime. I still have to stamp or engrave the numbers on the scale.

Marv

[IJ.]

Originally posted by HuFlungDung
Pssst, there aren't any cool lathe projects. The lathe is just to prepare the blanks for the mill to use for the cool projects

ROFLMAO! I almost spat coffee all over my monitor when I read this!

[Ken_Shea]

Balsaman,
How about some custom radio knobs, Door lock plungers, shifter handles, you can turn cam bolts by offsetting the work piece in the chuck with a spacer, larger cranks for the lathe or the CNC mill you are going to make sooner or later, if your lathe is like my small lathe it could stand some bushings in the cranks to take up the slop (that has always bugged me ), practice threading both internal and external, a yo-yo, OK, that is it for me tonight

Ken

[Klox]

How about a Tap Handle with a ratchet? I have some drawings somewhere.....
(sorry i forgot: the drawings are all metric)

Klox

[kong]

Erm, what about a nice set of alloy wheels for your planes?
Seriously though - get some reamers from ebay and make a set of fixed length toolholders for the router.

[TyRex]

Originally posted by Klox
How about a Tap Handle with a ratchet? I have some drawings somewhere.....
(sorry i forgot: the drawings are all metric)

Klox

that sounds like a really good idea.....would help speed things up and you could always have a constant downforce on the tap when starting. I think I might give that a shot some day.

[ynneb]

What about making a plumb bob, you know, the thing that hangs on the end of a string to make a vertical line.

If I had a lathe I would try and make a V bearing. You know, the ones I payed too much for. The only difference would be I would use a traditional bearing and make shoe that has a V cut in it and slips over the bearing and is fastened into place with a grub screw.

What about making some nylon bushes to be used as bush linear bearings for your next router.

[balsaman]

Originally posted by kong
Erm, what about a nice set of alloy wheels for your planes?
Seriously though - get some reamers from ebay and make a set of fixed length toolholders for the router.

I think fixed length tool holders would be a great idea. Right after the aluminum pen.

Eric

[NEATman]

Here's a solid Stainless Steel pencil that I made. I was tired of the plastic threaded together housing snapping in half. Only thing is, I need to add a clip so it won't roll off the table and impale my foot! If anyone is interested I have a solidworks model, and the pencil manufacturer's info. I have also made about 30 wooden pens and pencils on my wood lathe, with kits from www.woodcraft.com Very easy, and they look great. No reason that they couldn't be made on a metal lathe, except for the wood chips everywhere.

Keith

[balsaman]

Is the pencil heavy?

[NEATman]

This is one heavy pencil. I originally made one for a friend, and decided to make myself one too. The joke about the foot impalement is due to the fact that it is quite heavy, and it likes to roll off the edge of the table. I estimate that it is about 1/10th to 1/8 of a pound.

Keith

[cncadmin]

How about making some of these for me - http://helibuffproducts.com/cyclic_rings.html ?