Jerry, I think that it's fantastic that you've found what appears to be a very capable small lathe for a reasonable price and have shared it so anyone watching can also procure one for their workshop too if desired. Your point about the dangers of work light strobing is absolutely true, though my "experience" is dated and is related to overhead fluorescent lighting strobing causing a student to lose a hand in the machine/wood shop at college the year before I got there. Due to the noise of several machines running and the strobing, the student thought the table saw blade was _not_ moving and cut off his hand before he knew what was happening. This was before the later safety devices were invented that could sense contact with human skin and immediately stop the saw blade before more than a stitch or two would be required rather than losing an appendages or one or more digits. I'm glad that you pointed out that the cheaper LED lamps also experience strobing and can cause mains-powered equipment to appear to be stationary just like fluorescent lighting does/used to.
That insert impressed the hell out of me, decent in such a wide variety of materials , i thought the aluminum would have melted and galled on it. Goes to show you never know what you are going to get in the world of internet purchasing.
Thanks very much for the video and your excellent presentation.My first ever lathe is on the horizon and your video is most helpful. I'm just looking at my short list of 2 lathes being either an Emco or Proxxon. Both being a bit smaller than yours.
Z axis is always in line with the spindle. The reason DROs on lathes read x and y is because they are almost all derived from 2 axis milling machine DROs that track table movement Having said that it is really mute unless you are writing a technical manual. As long as everyone is on the same page
Thank you for doing these articles on machine tools as well as the electronics side of things. I feel Desktop lathes are very underrated by some people as to their capability, but that certainly isn't the case! Along with larger lathes I've been an avid Unimat user for 4 decades and as long as light cuts are taken, a lot can be achieved. Just a reaction to your mini lathe, the leadscrew engage/direction banjo handle is on the back side of the headstock which although a little odd is no big deal. Having T-slots in the cross slide is something I would normally insist on (so angle plates, vertical sides, clamps etc can be fitted) which my Unimats and Myford ML7 have, but one of the lathes I owned had a plain flat cross slide like your machine here that we drilled and added some tapped holes to, and that was the next best thing. I've seen someone do a chuck key arrangement where the key has to be rested on hooks on the front of the headstock (might have been the cabinet, I can't recall) and the weight of the key's arms depressed microswitches that enabled the drive motor operation. Keep up the great videos, I marvel at the magic dirt/oil/grease-proof spotless crisp blue long-sleeve business shirt - it wouldn't be a Jerry Walker video without it!
Yes you could arrange a lock out for the chuck key but I would advise against it for the same reason as the key spring. There is no doubt that it would make 'This' lathe safer BUT if you then move onto larger machines which do not have springs on the key or need the key to be on hooks then you may have developed bad habits that could kill you. As I say in the video my advice it to 'think safe' from the start (no not health and safety thinking, I mean real safety). For example if you develop the habit of ALWAYS removing the chuck key then you will not have issues when you move to larger machines. Anyone that does not appreciate that bad habits are by FAR the biggest cause of accidents should stay away from big machine tools (and cars without air bags, whatever that means). I normally wear a top hat and cravat when machining (nothing else). I just put on a shirt for the videos :)
A late comment on quite an older video - I understand your assumption of a "bug" due to the way the axes don't display the same way consistently when lathe mode is selected, but it would be interesting (to me at least) to know what "special features" if any come up when lathe mode is selected. I would expect the milling oriented hole pitching cycles to be replaced with something more turning oriented perhaps ? Just having to do set-up routines as X and Y when the display otherwise works as X and Zo in lathe mode isn't that much of a hardship or very confusing, surely ? Z axis orientation in industry is determined as the axis movement along the spindle axis, so technically a lathe longitudinal axis is Z regardless of the number of channnels. The universal 2 axis counter with X and Y axes shown is just the marking of that particular counter, not an indication of the "correctness" of that marking for all applications. Zo and Z1 would be normal for a lathe saddle & compound but a mill with, say a knee and quill would normally be Z and W (if the 2 axes were not summed & displayed as a single Z axis).
I wonder if you could mod the lathe control circuit such that the chuck key needs to be inserted into a small hole off to the left somewhere........an inhibit circuit. PS. I have a "Hobby" branded lathe very, very similar in size etc as your unit. Acquired as a total wreck and I refurbed it.
Hi Jerry, having watched your video I am seriously thinking of buying one of the lathes you show, to that end I have looked on their websites and the 714B pictured does not show DRO. Also there are two models of a 714B slight differences in price and appearance. I have spoken to them via phone, and it seems, that model does not have DRO, which was the thing that attracted me to the lathe, plus your very positive comments. The model that does have what I want is a 7-14 AMA-CJ18A price £760. A fair bit cheaper than yours. So now I am not sure now what I would be getting as it can’t be exactly the some as yours. The person I spoke to wasn’t aware of your videos, but he is now.
Very good Video. Any chance to can explain how you reversed the tail stock lock handle. I have an idea how to do it as it's just a cam lock but would be nice to know how somebody else has done it.
It has forward and reverse and comes with a number of gears but they are more for threading ratio. The chuck speed is continuously variable from 0-2500rpm so it does not really need a headstock gearbox. Higher gearing would provide more torque of course but I doubt that the machine is stiff enough for that to be an advantage.
Many years ago, when I worked in engineering, there was a guy working the lathe who had very long hair and one day it got caught in the work. He didn't lose his life but he is now bald and has a broken back :/
Wrong Z axis is always inline with the rotation of the spindle. Has absolutely nothing to do with being an Expert. It is basic machine terminology.The reason Lathe DRO’s read X and Y is because they are modified 2 axis milling machine DROs that measure table movement It IS the industry standard that Z is inline with the rotation of spindle. Basic machine terminology.
I disagree about the spring. It's an additional safety feature. Saying it is detrimental to safety feels to me like saying airbags make people drive faster.
I did not say it makes 'this' lathe more dangerous, That is a strawman argument as it is NOT what I said. It does however, in my opinion, risk bad habits creeping in by not creating a 'safe' working mentality. If it becomes second nature to be responsible for removing the key then moving to another lathe that does NOT have this feature will be much safer and that is exactly what I said in the video and not what you are implying. I would also say that air bags DO make people drive faster because they make cars safer. You are no doubt aware of the old adage that putting a big metal spike in the middle of the steering wheel would make people drive more carefully.
@@JerryWalker001 I think you misread what I said. I never stated that you said that the spring makes this lathe more dangerous. I said that you argued that the spring was "detrimental to safety" (my quote), in general. You can see that i said that if you read the 3rd sentence of my original comment. I said that because you were saying that the spring made usage of other lathes unsafe, and so my observation of what you said stands. The airbag analogy stands: it is not true that driving a car with an airbag and then a car without an airbag makes you safer than driving exclusively a car without an airbag, all other things being equal. The statement "airbags make people drive faster" is not true. It has been disproven by studies, but I won't go digging for them. The argument was originally created by car manufacturers upon being faced with mandatory airbag installation: they wanted to keep manufacturing costs low, and so decided to make airbags seem unsafe by saying they lead to faster driving and more accidents. The exact same argument was used for seatbelts, as well. Tomas, who is probably still teething, probably doesn't remember cars without either. No one in their right mind would nowadays advocate for removal of airbags or seatbelts from cars by arguing that would make cars safer. In total I do not believe that additional safety features reduce safety as I do not believe the safety vigilance argument.
@@cheater00 I have literally no idea what the purpose of your comment is. The installation of air bags in cars and the spring on the chuck key have absolutely no connection on any level as I am not suggesting that anyone purposely operates a lathe dangerously. In the video I stated that the spring could cause the formation of bad habits and so, in my opinion, could make operating lathes without that feature (ie ALL large lathes) more dangerous. The only conclusion is that while the spring may increase safety in THIS lathe it does not force a 'safe mentality'. The advice I offered is to get into the habit of removing the chuck key or better still (and as I stated) do not let go of it while it is in the chuck (aka taking responsibility for its removal). You have every right to your opinion but I have operated these machines for many years and seen the results of bad habits so I think you are missing the point.
@@JerryWalker001 I understand what you mean, my comment was to say that I believe that safety features are more important than good habits, even if those safety features don't apply everywhere. Just like not every car has an air bag or a seat belt.
