[RRLedford]

As a rookie mentor and skilled machinist, I have been frustrated by the lack of a lathe and the sad excuse for a mill (no auto-feed on any axis) in our school's shop. Fortunately, we were just offered a 14" swing lathe as a donation. A few suggestions for setting up lathes, mills, and other rotating metal cutting machinery (if budget can handle them):
1) Get variable speed drives - most unskilled students will not deal with pulley swapping speed adjustments.
2) Lathes must have quick change tooling - preset tools are almost essential for unskilled H.S students to be minimally productive.
3) Don't skimp on tooling - our basic mill is rarely used because the vice is always being removed to use on a nearby drill press, and students consider that it's too much work to swap back. A full compliment of dedicated tooling, readily accessible, is essential for for making good use of any advanced machine tool.
4) Teach the science of metal cutting - understanding the basic principles of metal cutting should be a prerequisite for students to use the more advanced machines. Things like determining proper cutting speed for different materials should be understood before equipment access is granted.

-Dick Ledford