# Hello from Steven in Winnipeg- I’m a little slow…



## StevSmar (Mar 26, 2022)

As is customary, here’s a little bit about who I am and why I joined this forum.

I’m about 4-7(?) years away from retirement so am starting to obtain the tools I’ve always dreamed of. I’ve almost exclusively done woodworking in the last 40 years, but I very much enjoyed metalworking in my teenage years.

My main hobbies are:

The Hawker Hurricane (Collecting drawings, photos of construction, books, a little bit of modelling)
Working on our cottage during the warmer months (It’s been under renovation for about 30 years…)
Classical Guitar (I’m not actively playing at the moment unfortunately)(If I do take up playing again, I’m might end up making another guitar or two when I retire?)
Playing in the workshop…
When I was a teenager in Australia, I had access to my step fathers metal fabrication shop (welders, drills and saws, but no machining tools) and I had a great time learning how to use them. I also had a fantastic time building control line model planes and flying them (actually there wasn’t a huge amount of flying, it was more like excavating the local cricket pitch). During high school I loved using the lathes and shaper and so began the dream of one day owning my own lathe. I think these early experiences are why I get such huge satisfaction out of making things.

Then came university, girlfriends, moving to Winnipeg from Australia, getting married, work, cottage etc. etc. etc. 

I’m an Electrical Engineer by trade, though I probably should have been an Aeronautical engineer because of my aircraft interests. I did actually think of doing Aeronautical engineering but decided against it because there were very few jobs in Australia for aeronautical engineers and I didn’t want to move overseas… I get great humour from the irony that I moved to Canada… Although at work I get to design things which others construct, I find it’s nowhere near as satisfying as making something with my own hands.

My wife has a few cheap floor lamps, probably from Walmart, which she really likes. One by one they have broken and when the last one broke I said “This would be really easy to fix if I had a lathe. Which I’m going to get anyway when I retire, so I may as well advance my plans a little bit”…

For a bit of fun, here’s my lathe chronology:

1982: Steven plays with a lathe at high school.
1996: Steven moves to Winnipeg from Australia. Our “starter” home is tiny and my workshop is maybe 10’x12’. I probably could have squeezed a tiny lathe in there, but all my tool budget was spent on tools to work on the cottage.
2013: We FINALLY move out of our starter home and my workshop greatly expands to about 1/4 of the basement.
2018 summer: My wife’s lamp breaks, and I start seriously thinking about getting a lathe, something small and relatively inexpensive like a Taig or Sherline. (No, I didn’t purposely break the lamp, the final breakage was curtesy of the cats…).
2019, July: After a most enjoyable year of investigation, I place an order for a 12”x24” gear-head lathe (a Precision Mathew’s PM-1224T)(a 24” bed version of their PM-1236T) This was quite a change from “relatively small and inexpensive”, and for this I have my fitter-machinist brother-in-law to thank.
2019, Early Winter: I show my wife a picture of what the “lathe I’ve ordered to fix your lamps” looks like. It would take several pages to describe the next part of the story, so I’ll just say that her reaction was what I was expecting, and also not what I was expecting.
2019, December: My lathe arrives in North America, but I still have a few projects in my workshop so the company agrees to store it for two months. Around February/March they shut down as Covid spreads…
2020, April 28: My lathe finally arrives in Winnipeg!!! I am amazed at how heavy 900lbs is and I have absolutely no idea how I’m going to get this into the basement. I’ve got plenty of time to work that out though, since cottage season is starting up, my woodworking tools are heading to the cottage and I’m not going to have much time to play with a lathe anyway.
2020, Thanksgiving: Finally the cottage is shut down, and I can start putting my plans into action.
2020, November: I WAY over prepare for moving the lathe. I probably spent enough money on lumber for the ramps to winch the lathe into the basement that I could have purchased a spare Sherline lathe.
2020, Mid November: Winnipeg moves to pandemic level red and any thought of having friends help me with the move is put on hold.
2021, July: Finally COVID numbers are dropping and I can have friends help me, but it’s cottage season now, and all my tools are at the cottage…
2021, late September: Work is settling down, cottage season is drawing to a close, my tools are back in Winnipeg and finally I move the lathe downstairs. It goes mostly smoothly, except for the last part. The last part where I lifted the lathe off the ramp at the bottom of the stairs and the lifting straps slipped was terrifying. I had designed the ramps so they could be split and lowered to give me more headroom to crane the lathe off the ramp, but it was a long day, I was getting tired and naturally this is when shit happens… All’s well that end’s well though, no one was hurt, my lathe is not damaged and it’s safely in the basement. 
2021, December: I’ve assembled the lathe on the stand. Learn’t how to lift the lathe up with pry-bars and wedges to get wheels underneath it and rolled it into it’s final location.
2022, March 18: The lathe has been run in and I finally use the lathe to turn something.
I’ve still got to level the lathe, and have purchased a couple of clamp kits to try out. Tomorrow I’m going to pick up some offcuts from a fellow Winnipeger and then start playing in earnest!!!! I’m getting excited!
It’s taken a lot longer than I though it would from ordering to getting the lathe into my workshop, but I’ve sure been enjoying the journey since the cats broke my wife’s last lamp.


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## YYCHM (Mar 26, 2022)

Welcome from Calgary.


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## whydontu (Mar 26, 2022)

Welcome from Vancouver


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## LenVW (Mar 26, 2022)

You spin quite an introduction Steve.
Welcome to the CHMW from SW Ontario.

I apprenticed as a general machinist right out of high school for 4 years, spent most of it it working on an Ex-Cell-O #604 knee mill. 
The recession of the mid 1980s led me back to school for Engineered & Process Design and my pilot licence for small single engine planes.
I spent work-terms at Kellogg’s Engineering on Dundas Street in London, followed by 7 years at
Big O Tile where I designed their corrugators for up to 44” plastic pipe. The executives had a habit of sending their managers to the Ivey Business School at UWO in London. 
20 years of process equipment projects and we are settled nicely in the South Kitchener area.

Where are you from in Australia ?
I ask because I have many relatives there and one of our recent clients is refurbishing a ‘Mihandra‘ Flying Bus that is used all over the Aussie Outback.


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## Chicken lights (Mar 26, 2022)

You chose Winnipeg??!? Out of aaaalllll the cities in Canada, Winnipeg won out?


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## PaulL (Mar 26, 2022)

Welcome from another newly-lathed guy who rationalized his way into more lathe than is needed to fix the odd bit around the house ;-)  I made no mistake.


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## trlvn (Mar 27, 2022)

Welcome from Ontario!

I can really sympathize with delays you faced getting your new lathe into its intended position.  My round column mill languished for an awfully long time in the garage before finally making it into the basement.  Glad to hear you got past the holdbacks and are set to join the rest of us in turning good metal into 'learning experiences'!  

Craig


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## Chip Maker (Mar 27, 2022)

Welcome from Peterborough Ont.! Great intro!


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## David_R8 (Mar 27, 2022)

Welcome from Vancouver Island.
We love to see pics here!


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## Susquatch (Mar 27, 2022)

Welcome from corn country south of Chatham Ontario. 

Great story! Covid has changed all our lives in so many ways. A few are even for the better. Can't wait to see a few pictures of your bride's new lamps.....


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## Dan Dubeau (Mar 27, 2022)

Hey, someone else that completes projects on the same sort of timeline that I do lol.  Welcome from the east GTA Ontario


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## Snocrusher (Mar 27, 2022)

Welcome from just north of Wpg. in St Andrews.
My first introduction to a lathe was also in the school's metal shop where I made cannon.


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## StevSmar (Mar 27, 2022)

Thankyou @YYCHM , @whydontu , @LenVW , @Chicken lights , @plalonde , @trlvn , @Chip Maker , @David_R8 , @Susquatch , @Dan Dubeau & @Snocrusher for your welcome!!!


LenVW said:


> You spin quite an introduction...





Susquatch said:


> ...Great story!..


Glad you got a chuckle out of my introduction. If I'd been told it was going to take me about 2.5 years from ordering to installation in the basement, I wouldn't have believed it. But here I am....



LenVW said:


> ...I apprenticed...my pilot licence for small single engine planes.
> ...Where are you from in Australia ?...


That's quite an interesting career. I used to have my pilots license too, great fun.

I was born in Melbourne, but spent the majority of my time in a town called Sawtell (sort of like a suburb of Coffs Harbour), on the east coast of Australian that's roughly half way between Sydney and Brisbane. It's a sub-tropical area where summer is about 25-30C (80%+ humidity...ugh) and winter is about 15C...



Chicken lights said:


> You chose Winnipeg??!? Out of aaaalllll the cities in Canada, Winnipeg won out?


Funny story (to me...), when I met this cute Canadian girl and was thinking of visiting her in Winnipeg I went to a library where they had an atlas donated by the Canadian Wheat Board. I found what looked like a glaring error in a graph that showed the average temperature in Winnipeg of -20 in winter and +20 in summer... I laugh at my naivety...



trlvn said:


> ... Glad to hear you got past the holdbacks and are set to join the rest of us in turning good metal into 'learning experiences'!...


I like that expression!!!



David_R8 said:


> ...We love to see pics here!...





Susquatch said:


> Can't wait to see a few pictures of your bride's new lamps.....


No problem, however based on my current track record it will be a while... My hope is that by next winter I'll have enough experience to fix my wife's lamps: single point thread the new couplers and put the beading on them with a graver or form tool.



Dan Dubeau said:


> Hey, someone else that completes projects on the same sort of timeline that I do lol...


That's great to know that I'm not alone here!



Snocrusher said:


> Welcome from just north of Wpg. in St Andrews....


Wonderful that there are others from Manitoba here on the forum!


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## LenVW (Mar 27, 2022)

In 1994 . . . I visited a client’s operations that was 30 miles North of Melbourne off the Hume Highway. After we spent a few days in Sydney and a week in Cairns. I had a chance to fly a Cessna 172 over the Barrier Reef and Green Island. That was one of the best thrills I had with my pilot licence Because it was prior to the expansion of the airport and Karanda was still a small farmers market.


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## Free2fish (Mar 28, 2022)

Welcome Steven from a fellow Manitoban. I went the Sherline route for a retirement hobby but have hit a slight detour with the recent purchase of a 3D printer. Toys for boys!
Harry


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## 6.5 Fan (Mar 28, 2022)

Welcome from SK.


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## Hruul (Mar 28, 2022)

Another Welcome from SK.


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## StevSmar (Mar 28, 2022)

LenVW said:


> …I had a chance to fly a Cessna 172 over the Barrier Reef and Green Island. That was one of the best thrills I had with my pilot licence…


That sounds like a great adventure!!! I learn’t to fly at the Royal Newcastle Aero Club which is in a town called Rutherford about 40 minutes train ride and 20 minutes bike ride from Newcastle (If I recall correctly). It was an uncontrolled airfield where you looked left, looked right and then took off. A lovely place to learn at a relaxed pace.


Free2fish said:


> …have hit a slight detour with the recent purchase of a 3D printer...


I’m sorely tempted to get a 3D printer. I’ve been playing with Fusion 360 for my interest in the Hawker Hurricane so it’s almost irresistible to be able to model something up and have a machine print it!

Thanks @6.5 Fan and @Hruul for the welcome!


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## Dan Dubeau (Mar 28, 2022)

Buy one.  They are so cheap, fun and useful every house should have 3 .


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## jcdammeyer (Mar 28, 2022)

Another welcome from Vancouver Island


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## StevSmar (Mar 28, 2022)

When I had my lathe show up, the first challenge was to learn how to move something that was so heavy! That was a whole other learning experience in itself.

First I had to get it off the two pallets it was delivered on:





I had a long discussion with my fitter-machinist brother-in-law about whether to pull it apart or keep it in one piece to move it down into the basement. Since I didn’t know what I was doing I followed his advise and started working on how I’d get it down there.

And of course as is normal for me I way over designed everything. Here’s the pieces of the ramp ready to be assembled onto the stairs:







And assembled:





And on the way down, one person at the bottom winching it down, one at the top restraining/letting it down:





And almost safely at the bottom of the stairs:





I don’t have any pictures from when I almost tipped the shop crane over 15 minutes after the above photo was taken, I was kinda busy. Hindsight being 20/20 I should have called it a day and did the final part the next day not when I was dead tired and starting to not think straight…


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## StevSmar (Mar 28, 2022)

Dan Dubeau said:


> Buy one.  They are so cheap, fun and useful every house should have 3 .


Don’t encourage me, my addiction to tool buying has already gotten out of hand.

Thanks for the welcome @jcdammeyer


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## jcdammeyer (Mar 28, 2022)

StevSmar said:


> Don’t encourage me, my addiction to tool buying has already gotten out of hand.
> 
> Thanks for the welcome @jcdammeyer


I'm impressed with the approach you used to slide the lathe down the stairs.


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## Dan Dubeau (Mar 28, 2022)

I hope you didn't dismantle that system.  It'll be handy to bring the mill down, and the shaper, and the 2nd lathe, etc  That slope looks pretty slippery....


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## 140mower (Mar 28, 2022)

Dan Dubeau said:


> I hope you didn't dismantle that system.  It'll be handy to bring the mill down, and the shaper, and the 2nd lathe, etc  That slope looks pretty slippery....


.....and since he is going to be using it a lot, he might want to think about one of those little 2000 lbs winches to replace the come along. After all, a guy wants to look forward to new tool purchases....


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## Susquatch (Mar 28, 2022)

Dan Dubeau said:


> Buy one. They are so cheap, fun and useful every house should have 3 .



Ive been looking..... 

The main hurdle isn't the printer. Its the computer and 3D Cad software......


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## Dan Dubeau (Mar 28, 2022)

Susquatch said:


> Ive been looking.....
> 
> The main hurdle isn't the printer. Its the computer and 3D Cad software......


IMO that's where they really start to become usefull is the ability to model, and print your own idea.  There are a lot of neat and usefull things you can print online, but I can count on both hands (maybe need a toe or two) the amount of downloaded models I've printed from someone else in the years since I bought my first one.  I'm going to break that streak shortly as Jr and I want to build an arduino controlled robotic arm together, and HE wants to print it himself.  And I don't want to design it lol.


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## Susquatch (Mar 28, 2022)

Dan Dubeau said:


> IMO that's where they really start to become usefull is the ability to model, and print your own idea.  There are a lot of neat and usefull things you can print online, but I can count on both hands (maybe need a toe or two) the amount of downloaded models I've printed from someone else in the years since I bought my first one.  I'm going to break that streak shortly as Jr and I want to build an arduino controlled robotic arm together, and HE wants to print it himself.  And I don't want to design it lol.



I think you missed my point Dan.

You said:   



Dan Dubeau said:


> Buy one. They are so cheap, fun and useful every house should have 3



I have to buy a computer to use it.

I have to buy an annual
License for Compatible 3D Cad software to use it. 

In other words, the 3D printer is NOT CHEAP at all!

But ya, I'm watching, and thinking, and hoping!


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## Snocrusher (Mar 28, 2022)

Susquatch said:


> I have to buy a computer to use it.
> 
> I have to buy an annual
> License for Compatible 3D Cad software to use it.


Not so, some free CAD software for 3D modeling:
Blender​DesignSpark Mechanical ​FreeCAD​Fusion 360​Meshmixer​Onshape Free​SketchUp Free​Tinkercad​Can't help you with the Free Computer though.


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## jcdammeyer (Mar 28, 2022)

Susquatch said:


> I think you missed my point Dan.
> 
> You said:
> 
> ...


It's not quite that bad.  
For free on Linux or Windows PCs is FreeCAD 0.19.
Fusion 360 is free with certain conditions.
For not a lot there's Alibre ATOM which is buy once and it's yours.  If you want updates then you pay but it's not a repeating license.
https://www.alibre.com/buy-now/


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## Dan Dubeau (Mar 28, 2022)

Susquatch said:


> I think you missed my point Dan.
> 
> You said:
> 
> ...


Didn't miss your point, But I think you missed mine (and the overall joking tone of my post)  There are free cad systems out there, the slicer software is free.  Just an investment in time to learn it all.  I didn't know you didn't have a computer.  Don't think I could be faulted for that.  I honestly assumed you were typing from one, but perhaps you're relaying your messages to someone that has one using a horse messenger, tin cans on a string or carrier pigeons? 

I'm not saying they're free, I'm not saying they will cure world hunger.  Just saying they're pretty cool tech for the amount of money you need to lay out.  

Sorry Steven, I'll stop wrecking your into thread trying to get you to spend your money on stuff .


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## PeterT (Mar 28, 2022)

Impressive carpentry!

Free advice FWIW. I cant quite tell by the picture but whenever I see straps anywhere near feed/lead screws I feel it my obligation to say take precaution. Some lathes have a bed / rod geometry whereby straps wont make contact with the rods. Consider those a gift that protects us from ourselves. But many other machines allow the straps to squeeze them once the lathe weight cinches the the straps straight. No good becomes of this. Even slightly bent rods will show up as machining problems, irregular surface finish, unequal carriage feed (power feed and or threading), stressed bearings/bushings, potentially shifting or stressing the worm gear & carrier bracket inside the carriage housing.... These parts all cost money to replace or remedy.

Its better if you can attach some kind of extended blocking to underside of lathe bed where the straps have no chance to do this. Smarter guys than me might have some good safe ideas as to how to accomplish.
Hope the move went well.


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## Susquatch (Mar 28, 2022)

Dan Dubeau said:


> Didn't miss your point, But I think you missed mine (and the overall joking tone of my post)  There are free cad systems out there, the slicer software is free.  Just an investment in time to learn it all.  I didn't know you didn't have a computer.  Don't think I could be faulted for that.  I honestly assumed you were typing from one, but perhaps you're relaying your messages to someone that has one using a horse messenger, tin cans on a string or carrier pigeons?
> 
> I'm not saying they're free, I'm not saying they will cure world hunger.  Just saying they're pretty cool tech for the amount of money you need to lay out.
> 
> Sorry Steven, I'll stop wrecking your into thread trying to get you to spend your money on stuff .



So, my humour sucks. Too dry to get the humour without being there I guess. Certainly not meant to be argumentative. 

I really didn't miss your point Dan. Nor did I miss your joking tone. In fact I laughed out loud. Especially at getting three! 

My choice of humour was dry because it did have a serious side to it. I realize that most of my problems are self imposed. So I like to laugh at myself. 

Believe it or not, I've been using rapid prototyping systems (that's what they used to call 3D printing back when it was prohibitively expensive for hobbiests) for something like 30 years. Starting with paper layered glue systems, then stereo lithography (laser activated resin layers) to ABS wire/thread systems (sort of the fore-runner to modern 3D printers). I even worked on the development of a sintered metal system that we hoped could make production parts. 

It's hard to get my head around how the prices have tumbled. Back when we were pioneering them, nobody could have ever guessed they would become so cheap or so ubiquitous. You are absolutely right about how cheap 3D printers are today.

When industry started doing real-time global collaborative design, rapid prototyping really took off. It provided a way for team members on the other side of the world to build prototypes and develop solutions to their part of the big picture without flying back and forth for meetings and lab visits.

I'm glad I don't have to do that kind of stuff any more. And I am REALLY glad prices have crashed to the point where you can actually call a 3D printer cheap! 

For the most part I was using dry humour to complain about the current situation for me personally. You are allowed to laugh at me. 

Yes I have a computer. I used to have 5 of them. The only one I have right now is dedicated to MS Flight Simulator. That's the only game I play (if you can call it a game). Loading other software onto it screws up flight Simulator so I keep it clean and don't run any other software on it. As phones have become more powerful, I've more or less stopped using computers. Thus from a fellow who designed, built, and programmed his own computer before there were any! 

Instead, I do ALL my forum and other on-line stuff like banking, wordprocessing, shopping, etc on my smartphone. I run my home automation, my security system, my farm gps guidance system, diagnose my car, listen to music, calculate machining parameters, do stress analysis, and a million other things on my smart phone. Believe it or not, we also have two network file servers here and two networked laser printers that my wife and I print to from our phones as needed. 

But Sadly, ...... Unless I'm mistaken, my smartphone isn't gunna run a 3D printer. At least not yet anyway. Next month maybe. At least I hope so. There is no good reason that it couldn't. Just that nobody is doing it yet (that I know of). 

I always assumed 3D Cad was huge bucks. I'm surprised to hear there is anything free out there that is actually worth using. I had a 2D Cad program on my old computer but I really hated using it. I used Catia on a super-workstation before I retired so I was spoiled rotten. Everything else I have tried seems like riding a kids tricycle compared to flying a fighter jet. I can accept that for hobby use but again, everything seems to cost way too much for too little.  I also know that there are 3D Cad programs that will let you design things free as long as you don't save them. Seems like a really stupid way to con people into buying/leasing the full version. 

So ya, I want a 3D printer, but I really don't want to have to buy another computer let alone be tied down to one spot and have to use a keyboard on a desk again. I love the freedom and portability my phone gives me.

I'm also annoyed at the annual licensing system the Cad companies have started adopting. I want to buy it and own it. I don't want to rent it.

Lastly, I worry about getting stranded by a CAD company that baits me into using their software and then suddenly changes horses and wants big bucks to keep using it! 

So that's my story Dan. I'd love to know what free Cad software you use and why you like it. And I'd like to hear your thoughts about its future viability too. 

I'd also like to know what printer you would recommend and why.


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## Dan Dubeau (Mar 29, 2022)

At the risk of derailing Steven's thread any further (my apologies Steven) I took this discussion to a new thread here.

https://canadianhobbymetalworkers.com/threads/susquatch-continued-discussion.5020/


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## Susquatch (Mar 29, 2022)

My apologies too! Wish I was older and more mature. I wouldn't get side tracked so easily.....


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## StevSmar (Mar 30, 2022)

jcdammeyer said:


> …the approach you used to slide the lathe down the stairs.





Dan Dubeau said:


> …I hope you didn't dismantle that syste…





140mower said:


> ....think about one of those little 2000 lbs winches to replace the come along…


I had to think long and hard about whether to post pictures of how I got the lathe downstairs. I way over prepared and didn’t want to come across as a total nut job… Partial is ok though, I’m used to that…
Towards the end of the ramp build I was cursing that I didn’t pull the lathe apart, I must have spent enough money on wood that I could have purchased half of the next expensive tool I’m coveting.
But I was already pregnant with the scheme, so I continued and I now have some pictures to shake my head at.

The come along’s actually worked really well, plus one of them has already gone to the cottage to help pull trees in the direction where I want them to land. I think they were rated for 2000lbs, after the lathe was about 1/2 way down I winched it a couple of feet back up again without very much effort.

It all went as planned, except for the budge overruns and except for when I was tired and stupid and nearly dropped the lathe. But apart from those, it went smoothly.



PeterT said:


> …FWIW. I cant quite tell by the picture but whenever I see straps anywhere near feed/lead screws I feel it my obligation to say take precaution.


Thanks for the concerned advice. Here’s a picture from another angle that shows how I had another support under the lathe to keep the slings off the lead screws etc.:







Dan Dubeau said:


> At the risk of derailing Steven's thread any further…





Susquatch said:


> My apologies too! Wish I was older and more mature. I wouldn't get side tracked so easily.....


LOL, I’m happy for any thread I’ve started to be derailed especially since I really want a 3D printer too. Now your politeness means I’m going to have to look in another thread for advice on how to spend money on one.
(My sense of humour is a tad dry too…)


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## StevSmar (Mar 30, 2022)

Duplicate response due to timing out when posting… Perhaps there’s a character limit on posts…?


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## Susquatch (Mar 30, 2022)

StevSmar said:


> Duplicate response due to timing out when posting… Perhaps there’s a character limit on posts…?



Ive posted way bigger posts than that. Prolly more likely to be your browser refreshing when the forum server wasn't expecting it. 

I hate long posts...... So please write lots of them! 

I gotta confess that your sled making is amazing! Do you get a volume discount?


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## Janger (Mar 30, 2022)

Susquatch said:


> I think you missed my point Dan.
> 
> You said:
> 
> ...


Fusion 360 is free for hobbyists. There are a few restrictions but nothing to worry about. You do need a decent computer. 16gb of ram but that is not expensive these days.


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## Susquatch (Mar 30, 2022)

Janger said:


> Fusion 360 is free for hobbyists. There are a few restrictions but nothing to worry about. You do need a decent computer. 16gb of ram but that is not expensive these days.



@Dan Dubeau moved this part of the thread to:

Thread '@Susquatch continued discussion' https://canadianhobbymetalworkers.com/threads/susquatch-continued-discussion.5020/

I'll answer there if it's ok with you John.


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## StevSmar (Mar 30, 2022)

PeterT said:


> …Free advice FWIW. I cant quite tell by the picture …
> …Hope the move went well.


Sorry, I didn’t thank you appropriately for your advice. I was lucky that I benefited from my brother-in-law selling a lathe and the buyer didn’t protect the lead screws and bent them. So I was super careful… except for when I was a bonehead lifting the lathe off the ramps…

I’d actually designed the ramps so they could be split and lowered in the middle to get more headroom for lifting the lathe off. But I was really tired and thought I’d try to lift the lathe off without splitting the ramps. That was sure interesting in the worst way when the straps slipped. Luckily there was sufficient length of bottom support that the straps stayed away from the lead screws.


Susquatch said:


> …I gotta confess that your sled making is amazing! Do you get a volume discount?


After all that work my ramps are in danger of being disassembled… My wife did ask me the other day when I was going to do that and I told her I‘m still deciding if to get another tool that needs them. Luckily for me it’s getting warmer so sleeping in the garage isn’t too much of a hardship.


Janger said:


> Fusion 360 is free for hobbyists. There are a few restrictions but nothing to worry about. You do need a decent computer. 16gb of ram but that is not expensive these days.


Don’t forget a 3D mouse!!! I’d consider that essential for 3D drafting quality of life. Not essential but it makes zooming in and rotating the model feel so natural you forget how you’re doing it.


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## jcdammeyer (Mar 30, 2022)

StevSmar said:


> Don’t forget a 3D mouse!!! I’d consider that essential for 3D drafting quality of life. Not essential but it makes zooming in and rotating the model feel so natural you forget how you’re doing it.


3D Mouse?


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## Susquatch (Mar 30, 2022)

jcdammeyer said:


> 3D Mouse?


They are all 3D.  I tried a 2D one once and got a paper cut. 

Sorry, Devil made me say it!


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## Dan Dubeau (Mar 31, 2022)

I used to have a 3d spaceball way back in the day, but have got along fine without it.  I'm a hotkey guy, so my left hand is dancing around the keyboard, my right is pushing the mouse around.  With most software able to be configured and changed however you want them, I try and set them up all the same way for rotating and zoom.  Hold middle mouse button for pan, hold right for rotate, and the scroll wheel for zoom.  Whoever invented the scroll wheel is a genius.  Actually thinking back about it, I think I ditched the spaceball when I got my first scroll mouse.  

A nice luxery, but I'd spend that money on 100 other things before I bought one.  Maybe one day I'll be out of things to buy for the shop, and have a few hundred burning a hole in my pocket....


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## StevSmar (Mar 31, 2022)

jcdammeyer said:


> 3D Mouse?


A 3D mouse is a second mouse that enables you to zoom in/out and rotate around your model, I use mine with my left hand.

You can use the menu functions to switch between navigating your model and editing it, but I found the 3D mouse much more natural. For the type of modelling I was doing I found it extremely helpful. But it is a quality of life improvement.
(I use the cheapest version of the 3Dconnexion 3D mouse).


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## Susquatch (Mar 31, 2022)

StevSmar said:


> A 3D mouse is a second mouse that enables you to zoom in/out and rotate around your model, I use mine with my left hand.
> 
> You can use the menu functions to switch between navigating your model and editing it, but I found the 3D mouse much more natural. For the type of modelling I was doing I found it extremely helpful. But it is a quality of life improvement.
> (I use the cheapest version of the 3Dconnexion 3D mouse).



Don't they sell a mode switching mouse? I used to use a ball mouse. It had a ball on it as well as a traditional wheel that allowed you to rotate and zoom without switching mice. You could also assign key combos on the keyboard to strap in certain functions to the mouse (slice, zoom, select, stretch, snip, etc)


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## StevSmar (Mar 31, 2022)

Susquatch said:


> Don't they sell a mode switching mouse? I used to use a ball mouse. It had a ball on it as well as a traditional wheel that allowed you to rotate and zoom without switching mice. You could also assign key combos on the keyboard to strap in certain functions to the mouse (slice, zoom, select, stretch, snip, etc)


I’m not sure about a mode switching mouse. When I was learning Fusion 360 it was so easy to navigate around my model using the 3D mouse in my left hand, it allowed my my right hand to concentrate on editing the model.

Here’s a video:





You can get a fancy one that has lots of buttons on it, mine is just the basic one with two buttons (that I rarely use, though I probably should re-map them and start using them)


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## Marc Moreau (Mar 31, 2022)

Welcome from Gatineau Quebec


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## StevSmar (Apr 1, 2022)

Thanks for the welcome @Marc Moreau !

As a final bit of silliness, I got great humour (inspiration?) out of this cartoon:





It was almost like a dare… So here’s the first time my lathe turned something:




(Hopefully this is the first and last time I ever turn wood on my lathe…)
(I also used oil to lubricate the chuck… I’m thinking I should have used grease because of the mess it made…)


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## YYCHM (Apr 1, 2022)

StevSmar said:


> I also used oil to lubricate the chuck… I’m thinking I should have used grease because of the mess it made…



LOL.... The first time I spun up a freshly oiled chuck it proceeded to lay a rooster tail of oil up my shirt, across my glasses, up the back wall and across the ceiling.  The wall and ceiling still still show the evidence.  Now I drape some news paper over a freshly oiled chuck and run it warp speed until it quits spitting.  There is a great debate as to whether a chuck should be oiled, greased or run dry.  Grease traps swarf.


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## trlvn (Apr 1, 2022)

YYCHM said:


> Grease traps swarf.


^^^ What he said


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## Dan Dubeau (Apr 1, 2022)

Nice job on the sharpening.  I usually do mine on the disc sander. 

Don't get so hung up on not turning wood on the lathe.  I turn wood on mine every once in a while, just take extra care to clean it before/after, and be sure to lubricate it well.  I know internet folklore says it's verboten, but I bought my tools to use them for the projects I do in my shop.  Those projects occasionally call for wood turning that's better accomplished on my Myford, than on my delta midi wood lathe.  If it pisses off "Jim in Iowa", or "Bill up in the Bruce", then so be it


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## Susquatch (Apr 1, 2022)

StevSmar said:


> Thanks for the welcome @Marc Moreau !
> 
> As a final bit of silliness, I got great humour (inspiration?) out of this cartoon:
> View attachment 22647
> ...



I'm with others, no grease. So oil spatters a bit. Get over it. Your lathe will only look pretty for a very short time. Cutting oil is way worse than a little oil on your chuck. You need to use cutting oil for most jobs so it's gunna get dirty and so are you and so is the wall.

I'm also with @Dan Dubeau on the wood. I don't have a wood lathe. But I do turn a lot of wood for all kinds of things on my metal lathe. I usually clean up the metal swarf first, then put a cloth over the ways, do the work, and then vacuum it all up. I really don't give a rat's a** about any purists opinion of whether or not that's ok.

FWIW, good solid grain wood makes a very good prototype for many metal parts. And some machine parts look and feel great made out of wood. Eg handles.

So ya, don't stop turning wood. Your lathe doesn't care.

And FWIW, go ahead and turn plastic too!


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## StevSmar (Apr 2, 2022)

I’ve been convinced! No grease in the chuck, just oil slicks up the wall.

I’ll probably end up turning wood every once in a while… just between us.

I do have some ABS, it looks like it will be perfect for turning practise!


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