# Please recommend some places to get stock.



## ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond (Apr 10, 2016)

Now that I got a lathe I need to got some stock to work on and practice.

I was looking at onlinemetals.com but I don't know how their prices, quality and shipping speed compare with others out their.

Any recommendations?

I'd like to get some Al (would you recommend 6061 or 7075 for a beginner to practice with?)
Some CuTe CU145 for some heatsink work.
Some delrin (is acetyl the same thing?) or would nylon be better?

Sorry for the noob questions. I'm sure I'll have many more to come in the next few months as I spend time reading through this sub-forum.


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## archimedes (Apr 10, 2016)

Congratulations !

Can't wait to see what projects result from you having adding this capability ....


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## DrafterDan (Apr 10, 2016)

I'm pretty lucky to have "Industrial metal supply" here in Phoenix. Most of my builds start there. I've also sourced from scrap yards. The cut-off bins are treasure troves!


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## TexasLumens (Apr 10, 2016)

Online Metals is ok. They have nice stock. You will notice little to no difference in cutting the 6061 or 7075. The 7075 is usually a little more expensive than the 6061. 

Nylon has a few bad habits but you can cut it ok. As far as the plastics, it really depends on what you want to make. Delrin (yes Acetal) is always a safe bet. 

Good luck with the lathe. They are addictive!  TL


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## ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond (Apr 10, 2016)

Thanks guys.

Right now my biggest problem is that my visions are grander than my skills.


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## TexasLumens (Apr 10, 2016)

ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond said:


> Thanks guys.
> 
> Right now my biggest problem is that my visions are grander than my skills.



Nah! Once you get started it will come clear pretty quickly. Just start simple and your skill level will develop before you know it. Lathe work is fairly easy to learn as it is basically the same moves over and over. Invest in some good tooling and a few hours at the cranks and you will be on the way. TL


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## Thetasigma (Apr 11, 2016)

Lathe tip, brace the poop out of anything you turn, it'll save you a lot of heartache.

OnlineMetals is a decent bet for a good selection of materials and alloys, though not always the cheapest. The benefit for me is that I am within driving distance if I were to place a larger order and wanted to pick it up.
As far as Aluminum goes, 6061 and 7075 both cut nicely. 7075 is nice for lights due to the extra strength and hardness,
For plastics Delrin is a solid bet, super easy to turn and dirt cheap to practice on. It can be threaded reasonably and some light knurling can be applied sometimes.

As far as actually turning goes, once you learn the basic operations you're pretty much limited by your imagination and capacity of your lathe. So long as everything is well secured, most of the operations are pretty repetitive.


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## NoNotAgain (Apr 11, 2016)

I use to deal with Access Metals in Maryland. Yolanda Dreener is chief cook and bottle washer. 
Great service and very good prices. 

accessmetalsinc.com


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## ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond (Apr 11, 2016)

Hmmm..... just noticed that onlinemetals has a will call location less than an hour from me....


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## ven (Apr 11, 2016)

ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond said:


> Hmmm..... just noticed that onlinemetals has a will call location less than an hour from me....




:wave: guess we will see you back here in a couple of hours


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## ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond (Apr 11, 2016)

HAHA - not this time, but UPS ground is only 1 day away.


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## easilyled (Apr 12, 2016)

Congratulations on the new lathe Sean. I'm excited to see how things develop.


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## CMAG (Apr 12, 2016)

search for 10% off codes with online suppliers. Speedy metals seams more reasonable with shipping charges but my last few orders not so speedy.
Invest in good cutters I find HSS cuts better unless cutting med and high carbon steels and Ti 
little machine shop sells index cutter set in HSS for threading not cheep but worth every penny 
WD40 works good cutting al and keeps the rust on your machine at bay. 
make sure to clean all the waxey crud they coat new machines and tools with again WD40 works good disolving 
get some way oil and keep a eye on spindle oil levels 
first thing to learn is getting a feel for the back lash in the screws 
don't assume your tail stock is centered order brass shim stock get a okay dial indicator mounted in your toolpost run a trued shaft between centers buy a center drill ( anyway utube this to much to post) 
long story short you need to set machine true to get good results


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## ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond (Apr 12, 2016)

Thanks CMAG!


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## ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond (Apr 12, 2016)

Oh - and first lesson learned. When turning a side you are cutting to the radius and not the diameter - duh!


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## CMAG (Apr 12, 2016)

I find mistakes are the best schooling just be safe 
do not rush into threading until your brain is in tune with the dials and back lash you will need the brain for controlling the 1/2 nut's without crashing your tooling you can back gear to turn slow until you get the hang of it (again utube there are some good videos and a lot of bad) 
bookmark this the best thread calculator i found so far and scroll down good examples ect.
http://theoreticalmachinist.com/Threads_UnifiedImperial.aspx


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## ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond (Apr 12, 2016)

Threading will be a long time out - the whole concept still escapes me. You just smoked my brain for the rest of the night with that link!


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## Thetasigma (Apr 12, 2016)

That's a rather handy link CMAG, beats calculating it by hand.

SOYCD, threading isn't terribly hard, actually with your lathe the hardest part is probably getting the gears on and off. I also found on mine that the banjo required some grinding to allow the gears to mesh properly.
Gear setup aside, threading is a mix of careful measurement and reflexes with the half nut.


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## CMAG (Apr 12, 2016)

ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond said:


> Threading will be a long time out - the whole concept still escapes me. You just smoked my brain for the rest of the night with that link!



Sorry you don't need that to cut threads, you only need that to sound like you know what your talking about 
It's not rocket science, you will pick it up in no time the hardest thing is to remember what direction to turn the dial


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## calipsoii (Apr 13, 2016)

Only heads-up I can give is be careful with copper alloys. Brass/copper/bronze are 'grabby' metals and will pull a cutting tool into them, unlike steel. I had a chunk of brass thread itself up onto a drill-bit and tear the drill chuck right out of my tailstock. Happened before I could even react. Same with copper - it grabbed my cutting tool and tore the toolpost off the cross-slide in a split-second.

A lot of sites seem to recommend maintaining two sets of drills: one for ferrous and one for non-ferrous. On the non-ferrous set you just need to blunt the edges of the drill bit using a sharpening stone. Just file a little flat edge. Here's a post with a couple pictures.

For your cutting tools, brass and copper are best worked with 0-degree top relief tools. All this means is that the top of the cutting tool is flat and sits perpendicular to the workpiece, like this. Using a cutting tool with a higher rake (like this) once again presents a sharp edge to the copper that it can grab onto and drag into the workpiece.

Steel and aluminum are the opposite - sharper the better.


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## ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond (Apr 13, 2016)

yeppers - thanks for the warning. I think I just experienced that twice. I've been doing okay turning the C145 but just tried to part it with HSS parting tool. It grabbed the rod and nearly ripped it out of the jaws. 

I can't tell if it grabbed on the side or dug in.

Now to go and buy some new fuses........ 

Any tips for the copper parting? Best l liquid/oil to use and how much and often to add while parting?


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## calipsoii (Apr 13, 2016)

ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond said:


> Any tips for the copper parting? Best l liquid/oil to use and how much and often to add while parting?



Afraid not, perhaps Barry can chime in or something. I was working C101 (no CuTe available) and after that terrifying experience I refuse to work with it anymore. Parting off is terrifying enough without worrying that I'm going to get bar stock or a chuck tossed through my head.

I just use a liberal application of RapidTap cutting fluid, a slow but steady infeed, and I vary the spindle RPM until it "sounds" right (usually 200-300 RPM). On my machine I can tell from the chatter when things are about to get hairy. Make sure your parting tool is perpendicular to the piece too. The few times I've had it very slightly angled it's started chattering inside the cut and eventually snagged and broke.


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## CMAG (Apr 13, 2016)

Also make sure your cutter is on center or a hair below center, never above center.
easy way to do that is pinch a 6 inch steel ruler (or 030/ .035 feeler gauge) between tool and chucked round bar if the ruler stands strait up and down you are center if the top or ruler leans over bar you are high


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## ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond (Apr 13, 2016)

Great tips - thanks.

I was searching for help and found this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RZRq0olsxM. 

I also worked to check that I was on center and flat with the work. Thing that happened at one point is the vibration caused the compound rest to jiggle and move a few thousandths. Do you think I need to check the gibs for tightness?


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## CMAG (Apr 13, 2016)

most likely the handle on your compound moved in the direction of the backlash and the slide never moved
take up the backlash set dial to zero and watch to see direction dial moves.
also when you take up backlash if possible keep the handle at the bottom the weight of the handle may help keep the wheel from turning, and check to see if you can adjust friction on the hand wheel. 
check gibs if you suspect a issue there but be sure you know what your doing.
Intresting vid the animation also shows if running forward why I was told to keep cutters a hair below center


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## gadget_lover (Apr 14, 2016)

I knew that we had discussed this before. It took a bit of searching...

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?353516-Lathe-Parting-Tool-Woes

On a small lathe it is critical to lock down everything that should not move before you part off a piece. The tool post, compound and even the cross-slide can move under the pressures created as the parting tool bites into the work IF the gibs are not tight. I used an indicator on the carriage to measure the VERTICAL movement of the topslide and crossslide and found that it moved a lot more than I expected until the gibs were properly adjusted.


Daniel


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## ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond (Apr 14, 2016)

After I watched some more videos and read through more threads on parting I also realized that I was parting off very far from the chuck (relatively speaking). Just a side affect of not having the ability to push work through the head stock. I guess I'll just have to accept a little more wasted stock and work on slightly smaller pieces at a time.


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## CMAG (Apr 15, 2016)

Sometimes I cut stock long enough for 2 part's, machine one end flip it machine other end then saw in half instead of parting then face cut the saw cut ends to size and finish turning/milling


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## ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond (Apr 16, 2016)

Not a bad idea.

I ordered a 4" chuck so that I can get about 0.875" through the chuck, if not through the head. That'll give me a little more room to move some pieces back and not be working so far out. 

Quick question for you guys in terms of order of operations. If I am going to be working on something that I need to face, then turn the sides and also bore a center hole what would be the preferred order of operations? Would it be face, then bore, then turn - or - face, then turn, then bore?


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## ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond (Apr 16, 2016)

I'm also wondering..... How the heck do you guys keep your depth and width measurements straight without a DRO? The mini lathe is 0.04" per turn and it's confusing as hell especially since the control moving the saddle along the ways is not marked at all. You have to rely on the slide and compound for measurements and as soon as you move the saddle a little everything which is zero'd out gets lost.


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## m4a1usr (Apr 16, 2016)

Some really good tips in the above posts. I adhere to almost all the afore mentioned. Learned them the hard way unfortunately but I guess that's how a lot of us learn. The one thing I didn't see mentioned (or I missed it?) is material temperature when working with it. Especially when parting. I have always gotten much better results if I just allow the piece to cool down if I'm doing critical cuts. Like a last finish pass or similar. Since we have no built in cutting lubrication system like the bigger lathes a decent understanding of material elasticity will save a bunch of headaches just when you need to be very careful. 

Copper has always been my biggest problem child. I have aluminum and brass down pretty good. And learning to just slow down once the product takes shape cannot be overstated. You've probably already experienced just letting something drop down 20 or 30 degrees cuts a whole lot easier.


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## gadget_lover (Apr 16, 2016)

I don't have a set pattern for turn/face/bore. 

In general, I'll face it before starting so I have a reference point for all of my work. My drawings are all referenced as X inches from that end. 

The order of turn, then bore is dictated by how close you need the bore to be concentric to the outside of the light. When possible, you want to leave the work in the chuck after turning so that the drilling or boring or threading HAS to be concentric with the outside. A typical 3 jaw scroll chuck will be off by several thousandths when you remount your work for additional operations. If you have a high end chuck or use collets you can remount the light and still be centered the same. 

When it comes to depth and width measurements, a pad and pen will be helpful. I upgraded my micro mill and mini lathe to using 20 tpi lead screws (as part of another upgrade) , so each turn is .050. I find that easier to calculate.

A carriage stop is a handy thing to have. That keeps the saddle from moving past a certain point when you are working. I made mine out of a small block of aluminum that clamps to the bed. I use it with the half-nuts so that the saddle can't move left or right when I'm parting.

Daniel


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## CMAG (Apr 18, 2016)

You can use a dial indicator and magnetic base like a dro


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## CMAG (Apr 18, 2016)

you can use a dial indicator with magnetic base as DRO 
As Gadget said face first so you can gauge off that surface and your center drill does not walk


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## DrafterDan (Apr 19, 2016)

I use a dial indicator on a mag base as a stop marker. Much nicer on the equipment if I don't happen to disengage the half-nut in time....

But using a dial sure make the calculations easier, at least for me


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## m4a1usr (Apr 20, 2016)

Well another thumbs up for 6061dude! Ordered some 1-1/8th brass stock this past Sunday for long time on hold project and it came in today. You gotta love his priority mail service. He always processes orders in less than 24 hrs too. Now to get busy with making that Surefire 9AN clicky adapter.


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## CMAG (Apr 22, 2016)

DrafterDan said:


> I use a dial indicator on a mag base as a stop marker. Much nicer on the equipment if I don't happen to disengage the half-nut in time....
> 
> But using a dial sure make the calculations easier, at least for me



+1 stop's are for manual feed only.
drafter what model lathe you have ?, looks like my old MSC branded 12x24 trying to find parts with no luck


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## DrafterDan (Apr 22, 2016)

CMAG, this is actually my fathers' lathe. It is a Chinese unit, Shenwai model SW-350b. It's pretty old and cranky, but accurate enough for flashlight bits. Thankfully we have not had to replace any major components, long may that last.

He and I built a complete metalworking shop so he could work on his British sports cars. It's funny that I'm almost 50, but still rely on dear old dad  My only grip is that he uses my nice finishing inserts to hog out brass all the time.....

This was his last major project. Built from scratch - except for the fiberglass body panels. A Lotus 7


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## Tre_Asay (Apr 24, 2016)

I am probably a little late but check any metal supplier, they usually have scrap pieces of aluminum (round and square stock) for cheap.
Price wise will beat using premium alloys until you get the hang of it.
Then again I have not done any real machining so take it with a grain o' salt.


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## CMAG (Apr 26, 2016)

DrafterDan said:


> CMAG, this is actually my fathers' lathe. It is a Chinese unit, Shenwai model SW-350b. It's pretty old and cranky, but accurate enough for flashlight bits. Thankfully we have not had to replace any major components, long may that last.
> 
> He and I built a complete metalworking shop so he could work on his British sports cars. It's funny that I'm almost 50, but still rely on dear old dad  My only grip is that he uses my nice finishing inserts to hog out brass all the time.....
> 
> This was his last major project. Built from scratch - except for the fiberglass body panels. A Lotus 7




Nice:thumbsup: ride


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## NoNotAgain (Apr 26, 2016)

DrafterDan said:


> CMAG, this is actually my fathers' lathe. It is a Chinese unit, Shenwai model SW-350b. It's pretty old and cranky, but accurate enough for flashlight bits. Thankfully we have not had to replace any major components, long may that last.
> 
> He and I built a complete metalworking shop so he could work on his British sports cars. It's funny that I'm almost 50, but still rely on dear old dad  My only grip is that he uses my nice finishing inserts to hog out brass all the time.....



It looks like you have an Aloris tool post. If so, purchase another set of holders and remove the good stuff when you finish up.

I never leave quick change drill chucks or tool holders in or on the machine unless I'm the only one using it.

I know, dear old Dad and all that, but throwing $8 quality inserts away verse $3 junk doesn't take long to rune ones day.


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## bartko09 (Jun 20, 2016)

ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond said:


> Now that I got a lathe I need to got some stock to work on and practice.
> 
> .



This is an older thread now and I haven't gone through each post but check out Saturn's eBay page. I e been buying from them did about a month now. They seem to be the cheapest, will custom cut stock based on what u need and ship quickly 

http://m.ebay.com/sch/i.html?sid=saturnind&_pgn=1&isRefine=true


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## precisionworks (Jun 21, 2016)

Brass speeds are fairly high, around 1000 sfpm. Some alloys produce dust-like chips, similar to cast iron, & the chips spray quite a distance. Run it dry even when threading & tapping as any oil makes a terrible mess.

Ebay sellers often have the best prices but McMaster is always worth a look. Low cost shipping & next day delivery is sometimes important.





I have some larger aluminum solids & will sell any pieces at 50% of McMaster cost + shipping.


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