¶ Hafco Metalmaster AL-50GA Metal Lathe
Members are responsible for providing tooling and safety equipment for use with the lathe, there is currently a small selection of communal tooling with the lathe but regular users will want to acquire their own tooling.
The lathe is a very dangerous tool and is not to be used until you have had a safety induction and basic training by someone on the lathe trainers list below. This is true even if you have used lathes before and is non-negotiable.
¶ Tool Usage Fee
Refer to Tool Usage Fees.
¶ Approved Users
¶ Trainers
- Ben Connor
¶ Users
An up to date list of operators can be found here
¶ Instructions for Use
Work within your capabilities and knowledge, and the machine’s capabilities. If in doubt, ask.
Reading this list is not a substitute for being trained.
¶ Don’t hurt yourself
- Long hair to be tied back. No loose clothing or jewellery.
- Work to be rigidly mounted in the chuck or on the faceplate.
- Tools / toolpost (and tailstock if in use) to be tight.
- Operating the lathe requires the operator’s full attention. Minimise distractions and stop work if necessary.
- Wear appropriate PPE. This includes eye protection and may include ear protection.
- Do not turn materials that are hazardous when inhaled. If in doubt, consult the relevant MSDS.
- Don’t try to clear swarf with your hands. That stuff is sharp!
- Work with the chuck guard down.
- Don’t leave the chuck key in the chuck.
- Don’t spin the lathe with the chuck jaws un-tensioned.
- Unplug the lathe when changing speeds or any time the headstock guard is open.
- Mind fingers with belts / pulleys when changing speeds.
- Note that the chuck is screwed onto the spindle. Therefore, do not run the lathe in reverse without a good reason, and if you do, be careful.
¶ Don’t hurt the lathe
- Keep the tool clear of the chuck.
- Be very careful with power feeding, especially near the chuck.
- Don’t run the lathe with the clutch disengaged, as this is likely to damage the belt.
- Be conservative initially in your choice of feed rate and depth of cut. Work your way up.
- If you stall the lathe, back the tool out immediately. If it doesn’t start moving again do not spin it by hand. Hit the e-stop and start again.
- Use appropriate tooling for the job you are doing.
- The metal lathe is only for use on metals or plastics. For hard materials (e.g. titanium or hardened steel) users must provide their own tooling.
¶ Be a considerate tool user
- Clean up after yourself. Vacuum or sweep up swarf, including from on the floor.
- Put away lathe tools / tooling you have finished with. Return anything you have borrowed from the general area.
- Don’t remove lathe-specific tools from the machine room.
- If you change chucks, ensure the chuck is done up tight on the spindle and the locking tab is tight.
- Chuck jaws for the 3-jaw chuck are a set. Do not mix them up with other sets.
- When changing jaws in the 3-jaw chuck, insert jaws in the correct order. If you don’t know what this means, ask: don’t try to change the jaws.
- Place damaged / worn out tooling in the receptacle provided.
- Notify #tools_and_fabrication on Slack of any problems.
¶ Get good results
(highly simplified!)
- Make sure your tool is at the correct height, i.e. at the centreline of the lathe.
- Respect the limits of the machine – high speed means low torque and vice versa.
- Lathes work best when making a decent-sized chip. It is possible to get a lousy cut by being too timid.
- Understand the basic lathe operations – turning, facing, drilling, boring, parting off – and develop a strategy for your piece before you start.
- Keep your work rigid. Minimise the amount sticking out of the chuck, and use the tail stock to support the work if possible.
- Remember everything bends under cutting forces. For precise work, take a final ‘finishing cut’. Measure as you go – don’t rely on the markings on the slides.
- Consider doing some research on cutting speeds, tool selection and tool geometry, as this is too large a topic to effectively summarise.
¶ Tools
The lathe takes 12mm tools. It has a quick-change toolpost to facilitate easy changing of tools and setting of tool height.
The Artifactory has a small selection of tooling sufficient for basic turning operations. However, long-term users may want to acquire their own tooling. There are a number of brazed-carbide tools of various kinds, but these are of generally poor quality and perform very badly on anything except soft materials. There is also a selection of tungsten carbide insert tooling, which works better most of the time.
¶ Stock
Bar stock can be obtained in short lengths on the internet (ebay). However this is a relatively expensive way to buy it.
Local suppliers include:
- Voest Alpine sell a wide range of specialty steels at very reasonable prices and will cut to length. Higher-carbon steels such as 1045, and alloy steels like 4140, generally machine much better than lower-carbon steels like 1020 and 1030.
- For basic steel bar stock, Di Candilio Steel City have a wide range of sizes of CS1030 from 10mm dia up. CS1030 is a cold-drawn medium-strength steel that is somewhat machinable and relatively cheap: 20mm bar is $80 + GST for a full 6m length at the time of writing. Di Candilio will cut to any length you want for a small additional cutting charge.
- Robert Cameron and Co have a variety of non-ferrous metals (e.g. brass and aluminium) and will cut to length. They don't really have any meaningful web presence at the time of writing but they respond to e-mails and answer the phone. Pricing as at mid-2020 is shown below.
- Austral Wright seems to be the ultimate wholesale source of brass in WA. Their pricing is ~25/kg, which is not much more than half what you pay from ebay, excluding shipping. That translates as $93 for a 3.6m length of 1/2" brass. The rub though is that up to ~25mm they only sell in full lengths. For larger sizes (say 50mm) they sell in 500mm increments.
¶ Resources
The Blondihacks Lathe Skills series on Youtube is a great place to learn about working on a small lathe.
¶ Specifications
| Tool Height | 12mm |
|---|---|
| Distance Between Centres | 500mm |
| Swing Over Bed | 230mm |
| Swing Over Cross-Slide | 130mm |
| Centre Height | 115mm |
| Spindle Bore | 20mm |
| Spindle Nose Type | Threaded |
| Bed Width | 115mm |
| Headstock Taper | 3MT |
| Tailstock Taper | 2MT |
| Cross-Slide Travel | 115mm |
| Compound Slide Travel | 50mm |
| Longitudinal Feed Range (Z Axis) | 0.1 - 0.2 mm/rev |
| Metric Thread Steps & TPI Range | 11 (0.5 - 3 mm) |
| Imperial Thread Steps & TPI Range | 27 (8 - 56 tpi) |
| 3 Jaw Chuck Diameter | 100mm |
| 4 Jaw Chuck Diameter | 190mm |
| Spindle Speed Steps & RPM Range | 6 (100 - 1800 rpm) |
¶ Notes
Replacement drive belts (the thin one that snaps from time to time) can be had from Machinery House for $31. It's a GATES 5M710 poly V-belt
Lots of useful info at http://bedair.org/9x20camlock/9x20project.html
The lathe appreciates some lubrication, but try to keep the oil off the belts!
¶ Ownership
This tool was purchased and upgraded through two rounds of crowdfunding and is owned by the Artifactory.
¶ Purchase
- Daniel Harmsworth
- William Knox
- Peter Dreisiger
- Mason Larobina
- Simon Kirkby
- Daniel MacNish
- Neil Francis
- Christian Rigby
- Shay Telfer
- Peter Hillier
- SKoT McDonald
- Doug Bateman
- Antony N. Lord
¶ Upgrade
Not listed