Setting up a basement workshop (ideas wanted)

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Kay_B
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Re: Setting up a basement workshop (ideas wanted)

Post by Kay_B »

Harold_V wrote: Wed Mar 24, 2021 3:42 pm
curtis cutter wrote: Wed Mar 24, 2021 11:10 am I am having a little trouble wrapping my head around the chuck being on the right side in the article picture.
You are not alone.
The only thing that makes sense is that the photo originated from a negative, which was reversed.
Or, perhaps, it was mirrored (electronically) inadvertently.

In any case, to see the headstock where the tailstock belongs defies everything I know about lathes.

H
Is this a design defect or was the photo taken just like that? If there is a design defect, then there is nothing to talk about, such a machine is not needed by anyone.
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Harold_V
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Re: Setting up a basement workshop (ideas wanted)

Post by Harold_V »

I'm not sure I'd agree that such a machine isn't needed by anyone. Those who are left handed might benefit nicely, but being right handed I don't know that that's a valid thought. However, it's not that simple, as the problems associated with such a change border on insurmountable.

One of the considerations of headstock placement is in generating a helix (screw thread). As the vast majority of threads used are right hand, it makes sense that the headstock would be on the left end of a lathe. That doesn't mean that a right handed thread can't be generated with the headstock on the opposite end. It's just not nearly as convenient. That would not be the case if the common thread was left handed.

Another consideration, and it's extremely important----cutting tools are handed. If the headstock was on the opposite end, normal turning direction would render tools such as drills and reamers worthless. Hand tightening chucks (as we know them now), too, would be worthless.

In a sense, your comment is correct. Such a machine is not needed by anyone.

H
Wise people talk because they have something to say. Fools talk because they have to say something.
Kay_B
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Re: Setting up a basement workshop (ideas wanted)

Post by Kay_B »

Harold_V wrote: Wed Mar 31, 2021 2:51 pm I'm not sure I'd agree that such a machine isn't needed by anyone. Those who are left handed might benefit nicely, but being right handed I don't know that that's a valid thought. However, it's not that simple, as the problems associated with such a change border on insurmountable.

One of the considerations of headstock placement is in generating a helix (screw thread). As the vast majority of threads used are right hand, it makes sense that the headstock would be on the left end of a lathe. That doesn't mean that a right handed thread can't be generated with the headstock on the opposite end. It's just not nearly as convenient. That would not be the case if the common thread was left handed.

Another consideration, and it's extremely important----cutting tools are handed. If the headstock was on the opposite end, normal turning direction would render tools such as drills and reamers worthless. Hand tightening chucks (as we know them now), too, would be worthless.

In a sense, your comment is correct. Such a machine is not needed by anyone.

H
I'm just left-handed. It turns out that I need to study the principle of operation of such a machine before drawing conclusions about its suitability.
c7z06
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Re: Setting up a basement workshop (ideas wanted)

Post by c7z06 »

Most of my shop equipment is in the basement except for a couple of big pieces in the garage. I set up a small CNC plasma table just outside my basement door, with the compressor, plasma cutter, computer, and a MIG welder just inside the door.

If I want to cut or weld, I run the cables out the door. The problem of sparks, plasma dust, and debris goes away.
basement door.JPG
2x2 CNC Plasma.jpg
curtis cutter
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Re: Setting up a basement workshop (ideas wanted)

Post by curtis cutter »

I see a concrete pour in your future.
Gregg
Just let go of it, it will eventually unplug itself.
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liveaboard
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Re: Setting up a basement workshop (ideas wanted)

Post by liveaboard »

I like it; how thick can that gizmo cut?
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Bill Shields
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Re: Setting up a basement workshop (ideas wanted)

Post by Bill Shields »

Left hand and right hand are interesting concepts in the modern machine world. I am left handed but for ed to live in a RH world...however in my work environment..

In the world of Swiss type sliding headstock lathes..where the tools move radially and the stock moves along the rotating axis... we are rather ambidextrous.

Many manufacturers put the main spindle on the right with the sub spindle on the left which is directly opposite to 'conventional lathe' practice.

Add to that the concept that on some machines moving the stock out of the collet (toward the tool) is Z+ and on others it is Z-. Generally machines built in Europe use one system > those built elsewhere use the other.

The same tools apply to either design of machine.

they are just mounted inverted as compared to other designs since nobody wants to stop and reverse the direction of rotation to cut a thread.

In reality...it is all just numbers. If you are looking at a DRO...does it really matter?
Too many things going on to bother listing them.
c7z06
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Re: Setting up a basement workshop (ideas wanted)

Post by c7z06 »

liveaboard wrote: Sat May 08, 2021 12:12 pm I like it; how thick can that gizmo cut?
Mine can cut 3/8" mild steel with no problem.
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Harold_V
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Re: Setting up a basement workshop (ideas wanted)

Post by Harold_V »

Dickens characters. Nice!

H
Wise people talk because they have something to say. Fools talk because they have to say something.
leocs
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Re: Setting up a basement workshop (ideas wanted)

Post by leocs »

:D One thing that has not been addressed,is the current color(blue)of the space.In taking advice from my late Father who was a house painter for 50 some years before retiring,I would paint the walls and ceiling semi gloss white.Why?
Brighten up the space,easy cleaning just use a sponge mop to wash the walls and ceiling.With semi gloss reduced reflection.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo
:shock: People never lie so much as after a hunt,during a war or before an election.
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