C3 lathe, X2 mill, Safety glasses, CNC stepper motors and Part clamping

[yngndrw]

Cheers for your help guys.

Regarding the stepper motor: Would you suggest the same motor for all axis' ?

Regarding the part: Okay that makes sense, only how would you clamp the part in a mill to drill the off-center hole ? (It would only be a small diameter hole, a few mm.)

Jaime128: Thanks for your help, I'll be sure to get a vac of some kind. Just wondering, would a Dyson work without any problems ? If so I might pick up a "cheap" Dyson as they pick up stuff pretty well. I *think* they can handle liquids, would have to check though unless anybody knows ?

I'm tempted to get a full face shield as that would stop me from "eating" swarf aswell. I can't imagen it's very tasty. Might get a shield and glasses, then I can try them both out.

On the subject of safety, are gloves really required for milling and turning ? Would they do more harm than good ? (More to get caught in something spinning ?)

Edit: Just had a look for some more local Face Shields:
http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/pr...ear-protection
http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/pr...ear-protection
http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/pr...ear-protection
http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/pr...ear-protection

They all say that they conform to EN166 standards, except the second one down. Now I don't know the standards, but I'd guess that the second one would specify it if it meet them.

Other than that, I see that there's two basic types - One with just a sheet of plastic and one with a rim around the plastic.

I don't know what is "required" for machining metal so can somebody suggest which one I should go for ?

I would think that the last one would be light yet strong enough for my use, what do you think ?

Also found the glasses that you mentioned: (Well near enough, but with 100% markup.)
http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/pr...ear-protection
As well as something for brazing with:
http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/pr...ear-protection

So I think I'll get them aswell as a shield.

Cheers again.

[Jaime128]

I think you'll be fine with the second face shield. This light one should be fine. Remember you will be moving and the full helmet will just be way too much if you're just working at home on the small lathe. So yeah, get the lighter less expensive one and whatever glasses you like. Try not to get the dark ones if you're going to be working indoors on the lathe or mill though. For brazing like they say or welding of sorts, yes you would need darker specially made for that application. You want to see what you're doing and it will be safer for you. So try both, and once you practice you may not need the full face, but I like that idea too. At least not for the small machines like the mini mill or mini lathe. In a real big machine shop you may need them.

Minute metal chips are nasty, so make sure you clean up right after you finish working every time, and wash your hands. If you touched this stuff, which is okay, and you have to eat, make sure it's food that you don't have to touch or eat with utensils. Better yet, try to eat before you start any work. The energy actually helps. And try not to eat or drink while you work. I know this is hard, but keeping things separate like this keeps you safer anyway. You should be fine after washing your hands. I know I'm anal about the clean parts, but safety for your health is something you can't take lightly. You can handle this stuff fine, but I just take it a bit farther. If you ever take shop classes in any school, you will get drilled about safety all the time before you make anything. It's a pain and sometimes boring, but now I know why they do that, I'm glad I learned that. I just thought I save you the trouble so you can have the good habits by the time you ever do take classes or do this yourself. You will keep all your body parts and be able to make whatever you want. As for the vac, any small vac should do. I use a cheapo shop vac I got from target I think. The vacs come in wet/dry models, so yeah, get the one with both if you can so you can pick up pretty much anything with it.I think most are like that anyway. Just remember if it has a filter to carefully check that too since you get chips stuck there. Just don't shake that or you'll make a mess.

I read another post about safety and why you shouldn't use gloves...they can get caught on the spindle or whatever and actually cause more harm then good. What I do is turn the machine off, then use the vac to clean up before I touch anything just to minimize the swarf or chips on my hands. I keep paper towels handy to clean things before I handle them. Gloves are great if you will be handling the stock a lot and maybe for cutting your stuff manually on a vise for example.

Oh yeah, always keep your mouth closed when eating in general. If you're working on a machine focus on your work. Never try to keep a conversation while eating...you can choke...so keep it safe and if anyone is distracting you while you work, turn the machine off and talk or let them know you can't talk. Just some simple rules to live by...

[yngndrw]

I might go down and have a look at the shields instead of buying on line, then I can see how heavy they are.

I'll contact Dyson and see if they would be suitable. The reason that I like Dysons is because there's no bag or anything to get messed up. Also I'm allergic to dust and Dysons are the only hoovers that I've been able to use without being affected.

Unfortunatly when I was in school I did Electronics instead of "shop". (I think it was called Design & Technology for us, can't remember.) Having said that, our shop was just wookwork anyway, although it seemed to just be designing stuff. I'm currently in University and although I'd love to do more than one course, I cannot. (And even if I could, I wouldn't pay an extra £9,000 for the tuition fees.) I do however know someone who works a lot with Stainless Steel. He owns the company and has a large lathe, mill and tig welding gear. He always said that he would teach me how to weld but we never got around to it. Will have to see if he's willing to teach me some turning stuff.

I'll skip on the gloves then, good thing I double checked - I thought they would be more harm than good but wasn't sure.

Thanks for your time, it's been a great help.

[Jaime128]

I wanted to take auto shop in high school, but the counselor never let me. When I was in college it took me longer to graduate because I was just taking a bunch of classes that I was interested in, some electronics, cad, wood shop, auto, drafting. You name it, I think I may have been in the class just because I also didn't want to take the courses that we "have" to take. In short, everything you take may come in handy some day, whether it is to fix a broken piece of electronics or just for fun. Even if you never use it, I have rather taken a class about something and know a bit about it, then not know anything at all.

The most important thing to keep in mind is to do something because you enjoy it, not because you have to. We all have things to do. And yes, I forgot to tell you to go to the store and try the shields on, your friend probably has some too so just give him a visit. People are always busy, but as long as you don't bug them or really annoy anyone, they're pretty good about helping, showing or teaching you something. At least this is what I have experienced from the more mature machinists, welders, mechanics, etc. I'm more new school, I learned everything with cad and cnc at my university and well I'm trying to do the stuff manually because you should always know the basics. Plus I can use all the exercise I can get. I'm not fat, but I just don't work out at all, so this isn't healthy either. I just broke up on a sweat cutting these aluminum pieces for the vise clamps I want to make. So it's not all fun and games when you don't have all the tools even if you do have all the knowledge in the world too, which I know I don't.

I think Dysons are great too. Just make sure you have the extensions in order to get into the tight corners of your machines or table. This is really the best way to clean up these messes. You will clean most of your chips just as fast as you make them so I do recommend this. Most people like to blow the chips with air, but I'm with you there, I hate the dust too, as I'm sure many of us do.

[yngndrw]

Sent off an email to Dyson, hope to get a reply soon to see if one will be suitable or not.

Could get a hand-held Dyson if they are suitable, but at £99 is it worth it ?

[Jaime128]

I bought one of these little shop vacs some years back...take a look they might also work for you if you don't want to pay too much. You can find them at most local general stores too. I say get what works for you. I was looking at the vac box and I have the receipt in here. I actually bought mine in 2003 and used it to clean my room in my car before. Not too much use, but now I use it a bit more with the new mill. So it's lasted a very long time. So get a good one if you go for one of these. It will last you a long time as long as you take care of it. I just don't have the room like you, so I had to get a small one I could put under my desk and well, it's been good. Good luck and have fun.
http://www.shopvac.com/

Mine looks like this one but now they got newer more powerful models from looking at the site above.

Amazon.com: Shop-Vac 301-01-00 5-Gallon 1.5 HP Wet/Dry Vacuum: Home Improvement

Amazon.com: Shop-Vac 301-01-00 5-Gallon 1.5 HP Wet/Dry Vacuum: Home Improvement

The only bad thing I forgot to mention about the shop vacs is that they blow hot air right from the back. So basically one ends takes the dirt in, but the motor blows air right back out. It's not like an upright vac or I guess the dyson. You can put a bag in there if your picking up finer particles like saw dust, but that defeats the purpose of having a bagless vac. Also, the bad side is that if you are close enough to it and turn it on while it's sort of facing you, you may end up getting dirt in your eyes. It happened to me while cleaning my car, but now I have to be very careful if I'm picking up chips so I may end up getting the bags just because of that. Don't want to pick up chips and blow them out the back. The filter is in the middle so that helps prevent that, but not 100%. It seems all their shop vacs do this. I'm sure you can set something up or others may have already to prevent this.

[yngndrw]

Cheers I'll have a look into them and others like them.

[yngndrw]

Well I got a reply from Dyson, they said that they do not recommend using their machines for damp materials let alone wet. I'll have a look at what wet / dry vacuumes I can get locally when I get a chance.

[yngndrw]

Just another quick question regarding the RealBull lathe from Amadeal.

Originally Posted by chalky The downside to the RB machines is that its not so easy to mount alternative chucks.

How is the chuck attachment different ? If I wanted to get a collet chuck such as the one from Arc Euro Trade ER collet chuck for the C3 (Sorry but there's no link, it's in the catalog but I can't find it on the site. It's just a plate with three holes to bolt onto the spindle and an ER collet holder.), what are my options ?

Cheers.