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Unread 30-07-2016, 11:44
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ratdude747 ratdude747 is offline
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Re: What are some of your shop tips and tricks?

If you need to make a lot of cylindrical spacers and have a free lathe, use it. Granted, in 2010 I was spoiled rotten with 7 lathes to my disposal, so I could afford to do the following:

I'd always have my main spacer stock (whatever anodized aluminum sample was in the KOP that year) in a lathe with a cutoff tool in the tool post and the proper drill bit in the tailstock. I'd first drill it to full drill bit depth in advance, and then use the cutoff tool to cut off sections as needed; when the drilled hole was getting shallow I'd use the old hole to start a new one. Minus the occasional drilling time it was faster than using a band saw since the stock was already in the machine. Produces a better result too (nice square clean cuts).

For PVC spacers I did the same thing, only no drill required. Probably slower than a band saw in this case (PVC cuts quick) but again, the clean even cuts were much higher quality and required far less finishing (if any). That's another thing I learned/discovered that year: with PVC fittings and a lathe you can do a lot more than you'd think... if you're good enough you can even lathe it thin enough to be flexible (not that I'd want to count on that lasting).

My point: Mills are very versatile, but the lathe is a very versatile machine too. Use what tooling you have, in the most creative and efficient way you can.
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Last edited by ratdude747 : 30-07-2016 at 13:57.
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