Workshop

The latest DIY ideas, techniques and tools for the industrial arts from metal and woodworking to CNC machining and 3D printing.

Now That’s a Lathe

Now That’s a Lathe

At the extreme opposite end of the spectrum from “hobby” machine tools are those used to build ships and power plants. I have no technical details about the lathe shown above, but the photograph was taken in 1957 or 1958 at the Doxford Engine Works in Pallion, England. If you like it, don’t miss the gallery over at Ships Nostalgia about English shipwrights William Doxford and Sons. It’s chockablock with absolutely gorgeous, amazing photographs of giant men building giant machines with giant tools.

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Grinding Lathe Tools on a Belt Sander – Why and How

Grinding Lathe Tools on a Belt Sander – Why and How

A three-part series from Mikey over at MachinistBlog.com. Mikey has been a machinist for 15 years, and has come ’round to the belief that high-speed steel (HSS) cutters, rather than the pricier, lower-maintenance, carbide-tipped bits, are the way to go on a hobby-sized metalworking lathe. He also makes a compelling argument for using a belt sander, instead of the traditional bench grinder, for making, shaping, and sharpening HSS lathe tools.

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“Nautilus” Art Car Pressure Door with Huge Mechanical Iris

“Nautilus” Art Car Pressure Door with Huge Mechanical Iris

Sculptor, kinetic artist, and longtime MAKE pal Alan Rorie is back with this beautiful “pressure door” built for a “Nautilus” art car project commissioned from San Francisco art collective Five Ton Crane. The door locks and unlocks via RFID, and the huge, four-foot diameter mechanical iris in its center is motorized. Rorie, who is a specialist in iris apertures, also built four smaller irising windows for the car’s body.

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The South Bend Lathe Library

The South Bend Lathe Library

Founded in 1906 in South Bend, Indiana, South Bend Lathe, at one time, controlled almost half of the U.S. domestic metalworking lathe market. South Bend did a lot of things right, to earn their market share and reputation, and one of the smartest was to produce clear, well-illustrated, low-cost instructional materials describing not just how to set up and run their tools, but how to use them to perform all kinds of basic and advanced machining operations.

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