Note that this article refers only to the lathe part of the machine. For information abut the milling head, see Milling Attachment
Class Red Equipment
High risk of injury
See Workshop Safety
Training is required to use this tool
You are responsible for ensuring your own safety; do not operate this machine if you do not feel capable of doing so safely. Trainers will always be happy to assist you if you need it, and would much rather be involved before problems occur, than after.
Spindle speeds can be calculated using our HackMill web app.
- Only those who have been trained by the room lead, and have signed a usage agreement, are permitted to operate the machine.
- When using this machine, loose clothing must be tucked in, jewellery should be removed, and long hair should be tied back.
- Never change gears (spindle speed or auto-feed/threading) when the spindle is spinning.
- Never run the lathe with nothing clamped in the chuck.
- Never leave the chuck key sitting in the chuck.
- Only cut in reverse if the spindle clamps are tight, and the cutting forces are low.
- Never leave it running unattended.
- Always wear safety glasses while the machine is running.
- Never put any body part anywhere which could get trapped or cut while the machine is running.
- Never crash the tool.
- Never cut into the chuck, faceplate or spindle nose.
- Never use abrasives on this machine, either by hand or in the spindle.
Using this machine is charged at £2 per hour to cover the cost of maintenance, tooling and consumables. Those who donated finantially to the purchase of this machine have free use for life.
Chargeable time is measured when the machine is being used, not including setup time. We expect users to have integrity in reporting and paying for time used.
- Spindle:
- Quick-change spindle speed gearbox
- 0.44/0.62kW AC motor
- MT3 (Morse taper #3) spindle nose
- M39 x 4mm spindle thread
- 20mm spindle bore
- Tail Stock:
- MT2 (Morse taper #2)
- 80mm throw
- Auto tool ejection by retracting tail stock
- Motion:
- Metric handwheel graduations
- 122mm max swing over bed
- 244mm max turnable diameter
- 635mm between centres
- Quick-change auto-feed/threading gearbox
- Separate threading and feed rods
- Auto-feed:
- 0.028 - 0.444mm per rev longitudinally in 24 steps
- 0.014 - 0.222mm per rev radially in 24 steps
- Threading:
- 0.25 - 4.0mm pitch in 24 steps
- All common metric thread pitches available
- 3mm pitch leadscrew
- Auto-feed in longitudinal and radial axes (Along bed and across bed)
- The gears in the headstock are make of a fibre/resin composite, and can break very easily.
- When making facing or turning cuts, the leadscrew and half-nuts should not be used. Instead the auto-feed rod should be used instead. This reduces wear on the leadscrew.
- To engage the auto-feed rod, the lever on the right hand side of the carriage apron can be pulled out and up for turning cuts, and down for facing cuts.
- When making threads, the leadscrew should be used by engaging the half-nuts.
- This is done by turning the lever on the front-right of the carriage apron clockwise. You may have to wait a moment for the leadscrew to turn to a suitable position, or move the carriage, before it engages.
- If the half-nuts will not engage, gently lift the auto-feed lever (without pulling it out) to unlock the half-nut lever.
- You will also need to pul the sliding gear into the out position on the quadrant.
- There is a clutch on the auto-feed rod to prevent catastrophic damage in case the machine is crashed, but this should not be used intentionally.
- Before using the lathe, ensure that the mill quill handle has been removed.
- All chucks for this machine have spindle clamps to hold them firmly onto the cpindle nose.
- This allows light turning in reverse, but only if the cutting forces are low.
- This machine has a quick-change toolpost, so tools can be swapped in and out without having to reset their positions.
- All tools must be set at centre height for optimal cutting.
- All tools in quick-change tool holders will have already been set to the correct height.
- Carriage lock
- Bolt on the top-right of the carriage
- 13mm spanner
- Cross slide lock
- Bolt in the centre of the right hand side of the cross slide
- 5mm hex key
- Tailstock lock
- Nut on front of tailstock
- 17mm spanner
- Tailstock quill lock
- Lever on top-left of tailstock
- Spindle lock
- Only for changing chucks
- Tool hung on wal behind headstock
- Clamps to the end of the spindle, under the gear cover on the left of the headstock
This machine is designed to cut metals and plastics. Do not use any other materials without first confirming suitability with the room lead.
- Nylon
- Acetal (Delrin)
- Brass
- Bronze
- Aluminium
- Steel
- Cast iron (be sure to clean up chips thoroughly)
- Stainless steel (be careful with feeds and speeds
This is a non-exhaustive list.
Any workpiece 19mm or smaller in diameter can be passed through the spindle bore, so very long pieces can be turned easily.
- Self-centring, but not perfectly concentric.
- Only for round or hex stock.
- Use any of the 3 pinions to tighten.
- Precision is not critical.
- The entire surface of the workpiece will be turned down.
- This is the first of several operations.
- Independent jaws
- Can be perfectly concentric
- Can turn eccentric features
- Use a DTI to get perfect concentricity
- Only for round, square or rectangular stock
- Use all 4 pinions to grip work
- A feature must be cut eccentrically (not concentric to the rest of the part).
- A feature must be perfectly concentric with an existing feature.
The faceplate is used when neither the 3-jaw or 4-jaw chucks can provide a suitable clamping solution. This is a more advanced way of clamping workpieces, so details will not be given here.
The collet chuck has an MT2 shank, but the headstock has an MT3 socket. Until we source a taper adaptor and an appropriate drawbar, the collect chuck cannot be used in the headstock.
Both chucks, and the face plate are held onto the spindle by a thread, and a locking collar
- First disconnect the power to the machine
- Place a piece of wood on the bed ways, under the chuck
- Loosen the collar using a 5mm hex key
- Open the gear cover on the left side of the headstock
- Attach the spindle locking tool to the exposed end of the spindle
- Pull the chuck until it loosens
- This can be done using the chuck key in one of the pinions
- Unscrew the chuck, being careful to take the weight before it drops onto wood, trapping your fingers
- Replace the chuck into the cabinet
- First disconnect the power to the machine
- Place a piece of wood on the bed ways, under the spindle nose
- Lift the chuck onto the spindle nose, and screw it on until it seats firmly
- Do not spin the chuck freely so that it hits the back flange hard
- The chuck does not need to be tightened hard onto the threads
- Tighten the collar using a 5mm hex key
This toolpost allows for accurately repeatable positioning of tools, and the ability to swap between tools quickly. The cutting edge of every tool must be at the exact centre height of the headstock spindle in order to achieve proper cutting action. Tools can be setup in a quick change tool holder once, then they will be perfectly aligned every time they are used.
Changing tools on the cross slide is very simple.
- Loosen the current tool holder by turning the T handle clockwise by around 90 degrees.
- Lift the tool holder off the toolpost.
- Place the new tool holder down onto the toolpost.
- Make sure that the alignment disc is sat on the correct part of the locking cam.
- Tighten the tool holder by turning the T handle anticlockwise until tight.
- Morse taper tooling must be firmly pressed into the tailstock in order to get a solid grip.
- To release a tool, retract the tailstock until the ejection pin pushes the tool out.
Most operations benefit from using cutting oil, especially when using HSS tooling. This can be found in a pump bottle. Cutting oil helps keep the tool cool, and therefore sharper for longer. It will produce smoke, so fume extraction is soon to be installed.
Once you are finished, be sure to clean up any cutting oil that is splashed where it was not intended to go.
For all of these operations, do not force the tool into the work. Persevering can result in damage to the tool or the machine. If it is taking too much effort or the motor is struggling, something is wrong. Often it is too large depth of cut or a blunt tool.
- Move tool along the spindle axis using saddle hand wheel
- Depth of cut set by cross-slide hand wheel
- Tick marks are radial, not diametric
- This means that turning the hand wheel by 0.5mm will take 1mm of the diameter
- Cross-slide lock usually not needed, but available
- Move tool across spindle axis using cross-slide hand wheel
- Depth of cut set by saddle hand wheel
- Saddle lock usually not needed, but available
- Start with drilled hole, bigger than the boring bar
- Move tool along the spindle axis using saddle hand wheel
- Depth of cut set by cross-slide hand wheel
- Tick marks are radial, not diametric
- Turn hand wheel opposite direction compared to turning
- Cross-slide lock usually not needed, but available
- Often useful to set a saddle stop to prevent crashing tool
- Ensure that tool post is perpendicular to spindle axis
- Slow spindle speed
- Lots of cutting oil
- Slow feed rate of tool into workpiece
- Looking for curly chips
- Do not catch part with your hand, use a rod in the drill chuck, or bowl under spindle
Power feed is available for all of the above operations.
- Gearbox is engaged by moving the tumble-reverse lever on the headstock.
- Up is feed towards the headstock, and away from the operator
- Down is away from the headstock, and towards the operator
- Feed rates are per revolution of the chuck
- Feed rate is set using the levers on the gearbox
- Available feeds are shown on the top of the gearbox
- Facing feed is half that of turning
- Sliding gear must be in the in position
- Feed is engaged using the lever on the right side of the apron
- Up is turning
- Down is facing
- There is a clutch in case the tool is crashed, but don't rely on it
Similar to the turning power feeds, but more accurate, using the leadscrew
- Thread pitches are set the same as for power feed
- Sliding gear must be in the out position
- Return to in position once finished
- No clutch on the leadscrew, so be careful
- Threading feed is engaged by lifting lever on the bottom left of the apron
- Thread dial on the right side of the apron
Tutorials can be found on youtube for how to make threads.
- Use bit ground at 45 degrees and touch corner
- A file can be used to break sharp corners
- Very dangerous, be exceedingly intentional with hand position and movement
- Only use files with handles
- Set angle using compound-slide
- Hand feed using compound-slide hand wheel
- Depth of cut set using cross-slide hand wheel
- Insert drill chuck into tailstock
- Clamp tool in drill chuck
- Feed using hand wheel on the back of the tailstock
- 1mm tick marks on quill
- 50 micron tick marks on hand wheel
- Make sure to clear chips regularly on deep holes
No knurling tool available yet
These are the tools and accessories which we already have. See the wishlist for things that we would like to acquire.
Workholdng and Toolholding
- 3-jaw self-centring chuck
- 4-jaw independent chuck
- Face plate
- MT2 ER20 collet chuck
- Spare chuck mounting plate
- MT2 annular cutter holder
- MT2 drill chuck
- T37 (T0-M) quick-change toolpost
- T37 (T0-M) quick-change tool holders
- x6 Normal holders
- x1 Parting tool holder (12mm blade)
Cutting Tools
- Centre drill set
- HSS boring bar
- Brazed carbide tools
- Left and right turning tools
- Boring bar
Measuring Tools
- 10mm dial test indicator (DTI) (0.01mm precision)
- 0-25mm micrometer
- 0-150mm Digital callipers
Accessories
- Carriage stop
- MT2 live centre
- MT3 dead centre