Inside Adam Savage’s Cave: Metal Lathe with Digital Readout
Adam Savage shows off one of his favorite tools in his workshop: his metal lathe. Learn what a lathe can be used to make, why its awesome power should be respected, and how Adam tweaked it by adding a DRO (digital readout).
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As was I. Not necessarily a large piece but at least a little something to show off the precision or whatever.
What an great video! I would love to have access to a machine shop like that. I am wondering though, the plate on the side clearly reads “Shenwai Chieftain 15×40”, yet you say it’s a 14×40 lathe. Have you lost an inch due to modifications?
Now I want a lathe.
I used one of these once upon a time way back in junior high school shop class. Don’t think I ever made anything but cylinders with various level changes in them. haha.
Wear short sleeves when using!
Wow, so a lathe is cheaper than having a large TREE removed from your backyard…. who knew? (other than ;p)
Me want one please! Are they stil live streaming the podcast live?
excellent as always.
I’ve actually left the key in the chuck… You only do that once.. Luckily i was serating (is that the right word?) an item, and you go really low speed, but still.. Holy crap.. So powerful.. I also sent a mill the wrong way once… Again.. You only do that once.. Also lit my crotch on fire with a disc grinder.. I guess I’ve just messed up a lot in the shop when I was in school. Powerful tools are scary as all hell.
This takes me back to using Lathes in Secondary School (UK) before all the health and safety certificates kicked in. Such a great instrument to use.
I second this. I’m sure Jamie has some stuff to show/knowledge to impart.
Note that it is just as easy to “turn” a part in a mill as “milling” a part in a lathe. All you have to do is put your part in the spindle of the mill and clamp your turning tool in the vise. The only real drawback is the length of the part you can turn due to the lack of a tail stock. Also the main drawback to milling a part in a lathe is you only have two axis of travel where as a mill has three, in most cases.
Yes, I have to imagine they’re better about shop safety nowadays. 15 years ago it was a short tutorial then thirteen year old me was working unsupervised on both wood and metal lathes. The only machine in the shop that was restricted to use by the instructor only was the table saw. The wisdom of that restriction was proven when my instructor nicked a half centimeter off the end of his index finger whilst cutting a piece of wood for one of my classmates.
Instructor went to the hospital. A TA brought in a tv and vcr and we watched Hoosiers on VHS for the remainder of the period.
SAFE. 😀
RCH. That’s a Dollar in Will’s swear jar. Cool video, going to see if I can take a class that covers this 😀
It took 3 or 4 videos, but Adam has finally got the intros down.
Nice!
Aren’t chuck keys usually spring loaded so that you cant actually leave them in the chuck, they just fall out when you are no longer pressing them in? All the ones i’ve used have been (only 3 different lathes).
If you live anywhere near a Techshop, their Metal Lathe class is $95 with no prerequisite classes, some locations also have advanced lathe technique and tool-grinding classes. They also have wood lathe classes.
Love the shirt, Will, reppin’ hard!
I was worried about tested since it seemed like they moved away from techy consumer electronics into science news (which surprisingly for me a science student in university was a turn off). But videos like this just go to show that even if they do move away from the consumer electronics, they are atleast subbing in a subject that i have no clue on and therefore is incredibly interesting to me. That unnamed Adam podcast thing almost had me running out the door to find a machine shop to sign up for.
man that’s an old ass lathe, don’t remember the last time i’ve used or even seen an non automatic one. Odd seeing one as open as this one is though, “ours” are all very closed and you know safer.
Your tongues can’t repel flavour of that magnitude!
Dam, really envious of Will. Getting schooled by someone with endless resources to do what he loves. Now i really want a lathe too lol.
Anyone notice the lightsaber rack in the background? Great post!
Great job. Keep em coming.
The new tested office needs an Admiral Ackbar!
Wow, “…a few hours per month.”
This almost makes me feel bad for taking up this 9 minutes of potential shop time. Cool video guys, thank you!
If that piece of machine turned into a Transformer, it could kill us all.
The lathe is the only tool that can replicate itself? Better answer: the hammer. Black smithing is a lost art. (So much so that spell checker doesn’t recognize “smithing.”
I want this…
Hey, cool. We have three of that exact kind of lathe in the Machine Tool Lab at the University of Maine (along with a bunch of newer ones and a couple of WWII-vintage ones nobody knows how to operate any more). The Shinwais were the ones I preferred using when I took the introductory machine tool course a couple of years ago.
I have to agree with Adam about most of what he said here, but three points in particular: 1) lathes are terrifying; 2) but they’re also the best toys; and 3) DROs rock the house. Doing a project of any complexity at all with just the micrometer collars would be a long damn day at the office. 🙂