This was something that I did on the spur of the moment and had no idea it was going to work as well as it did. I wasn't even going to film it at first. But I had my camera out to take pictures anyway, so I figured I should in case anything interesting happened. Video showing me using the cutter on wood: ruclips.net/video/7HcJI_agh1g/видео.html Ways you can help support this channel: Patreon: www.patreon.com/user?u=865843&ty=h Plans for sale: www.ibuildit.ca/plans.html More videos on my second woodworking channel: ruclips.net/user/IBuildIt My home reno channel: ruclips.net/user/IBuildItHome My "Scrap bin" channel: ruclips.net/user/IBuildItScrapBin Website: www.ibuildit.ca/ Facebook: facebook.com/I-Build-It-258048014240900/ Instagram: instagram.com/i_build_it.ca/
John Heisz Wow, Very surprised the hacksaw blade did such a good job. May have to try that and perhaps the carbon tooth of a TS blade. Thanks for recording and uploading it John!
John Heisz honestly john, I've been watching and just about everyone else on RUclips and this is one of the few times where I just stopped and thought "holy shit that's really cool"
I'm impressed, John. I don't remotely think it would've ever occurred to me to use a hacksaw anywhere near a spinning lathe! But it worked great, and that's the point : use what you have. Nice work.
You're not afraid to experiment John, where others are terrified at the thought. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. You now have the part you need. Score? John Heisz - 1, Negative Nellies - 0.
an angle grinder with a 60 grit flap or grinding disk works pretty well for thinning rotating stock, you can even throw it in a drill press and use the grinder to protect your wood lathe a bit. ive heard this technique called a "poverty lathe"
viewing your current resources based on their capabilities not on original intent will set you free.....excellent vid John. You expand our minds...Thank you
I spent 21 of my younger years as a boiler technician in the US Navy and one thing that was driven home many times was using the equipment and tools you had on hand to get the job done. There is no repair shop or spare parts warehouse around the corner in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. So I applaud your resourcefulness and ability to think outside of the box. Bravo Zulu (Navy for well done)! Darlington, South Carolina USA
The hacksaw worked better than I would have expected. I tried machining a piece of aluminium on my wood lathe using a carbide turning tool. Like you I had the tool on centre height and had a difficult time. Too much vibration, rough surface creating more vibration and chatter. This attempt was a few years ago before I got a metal lathe. I recently saw this thread on a machining forum I frequent. It is possible to machine steel on a wood lathe, but tools and technique are important. HSS or carbide tool will work. You want a small point and you want the cutting edge down with the tool at the top of the work. This thread explains better. Apparently hand held tools were commonly used to machine cast iron and steel at the end of the 1800's into early 1900's. hobby-machinist.com/threads/gravers-for-turning.56828/
John, just so you know, I am not a nobody but I am a somebody, who has done something, for a certain amount of time, and more eloquently self-identified as an expert, so here are some pointers for you because there is no way that you can continue through life without my wisdom! LOL Good job thinking outside the box as usual - please keep experimenting and keep posting. :)
An old so-called machinist and college-educated engineer once told me that steel could not be turned by hand on a wood lathe, but there are old books that show how to turn steel and other metals on a hand lathe with a hand-held tool. Essentially you have to get the speed of the lathe down to about 150 rpm, which was not difficult given the treadle power lathes that were used at the time. It isn't surprising when you think about it - metal workers used to routinely drill metals with hand-powered breast and egg beater drills, as well as post drills and blacksmith beam drills. And they cut metal both hot and cold by hand with chisels and files. The second requirement is a properly shaped chisel or cutting tool. Something shaped similar to a graver was used; it was a single point tool with three or four sides, with the end ground at an angle to produce a diamond shaped flat or bevel. It was dipped in a lubricant such as kerosene or even water and rolled and tilted in an arc-like motion against the surface of the stock being turned; each cut would produce a shallow but very narrow cove or corrugation. It goes without saying that the tool had to be made of something harder than the metal being worked. High carbon tool steel was used originally, but high speed steel stays sharp longer. I once used the process to turn a new shaft for an old breast drill to which I desired to fit a jacobs chuck. I started with an already threaded bolt and turned the shank concentric with the threaded portion. I had only a jacobs chuck in the headstock to hold the work and I got the speed down by replacing the motor with a big old half inch, single speed drill and some homemade wooden pulleys. It was slow and in-efficient, but I was able to get within a thousandth of inch tolerance along the length, using very cheap vernier calipers to gauge the work.
Well done! Very innovative thinking. I never would've thought to use the hacksaw blade but obviously it was made to cut steel so it was a great choice. Look forward to the next video.
Hey John.. nice life hack with the saw blade... Can i suggest, maybe give a 4 inch grinder a go, use a 40 grit metal sanding disc in a rubber back pad... have the grinder disc rotating the opposite way to the turning part...and you could have turned that spigot down in under two minutes.. then just go to a flap disc for smoothing, and finally a scotch pad for final polish.... Also the best part is you dont even need to use your wood lathe, you can do it all in your pillar drill for smaller shafts under the 13mm that fit the chuck..... i do this all the time to champher large alun screws for a smart look.. !! Hope it helps buddy.. take care.. Del.
With super creative (get it done) attempts like this, the RUclips comments are not always very supportive. However, here, the comments are amazingly positive and that really says something wonderful about the crowd that John Heisz draws with his videos.
My favorite thing about you is the number of videos that seem to start with the thought "lets see if this works?". Always interesting content and ideas. Thanks for sharing!
Nice. It must have been techniques like this that were used at the start. You need a lathe to make some of the parts of a modern lathe - so you need hacks like this to make the first one.
It's actually not much different than the concept behind the first metal lathes, they used hand held gravers to cut incredibly precise metal parts, even now most small scale watchmakers lathes use a tool rest reminiscent of a wood lathe rather than a tool post like most metal lathes.
"...don't think this thing needs NASA type precision..." LOL john this is so far from NASA it's laughably enjoyable.. I can't mock you though, cause I've done this myself!! it works surprisingly well. I way to get a more "precision grind" is to use a angle grinder with flap sander disks.
Awesome! I need a few parts made on the lathe but I was leery trying it out on mine after using a wood saw as a metal chop saw. Figured someone would have done it on RUclips. I'll put a filter on the intake for the motor fan though. That is how I destroyed the chop saw. Metal fragments wore a bridge into the coils and had to rewind ALL of it.
I'm impressed with the hack saw performance. A metal lathe would have done that 50x faster though lol. I would suggest anyone wanting to try this to not do it ever
Wow that worked better than i would have imagined. Think i would have mounted a grinder to the base of the drill press upside down. Its an uncreative mind that can't think of another way of doing things.
I will file away that idea on using a hacksaw blade, never thought of that, my mini-lathe works like sheet on steel, I use a grinder but that doesn't work so well either, files are too slow. Thanks!
Even if it hadn't have worked ( but it obviously did ) 10 out of 10 for thinking outside of the box! Success or failure, we won't know until we try! Thanks
John well done first of all But you were approaching it correctly when metal was first being turned they did it free hand just as you did basically but you have your tool contact slightly below center and the tools had a small notch or pin on the bottom side of the chisel that hooked over the tool rest they could get decent tolerances of like +/- .002 " which for the 1600's wasnt bad they just couldnt bore that precisely yet well done tho mate cheers from New Zealand
A safer way to do this is to first store up a bunch of solar energy, then shoot lasers out of your eyes to melt the steel into the shape you want. Lasers shot from your eyes are much safer than a hacksaw blade and a file. Please be responsible!
John, would this thing fit in your drill press? 2 In. MT1 Shank Mini Lathe Drill Chuck www.harborfreight.com/2-inch-mini-lathe-chuck-with-mt-1-shank-65132.html
And he opens himself up to a conveyor belt of criticisms, and complaints...with great fortitude...and then on to the next task. Unabashedly driven to build...it.
your cutter on your chisel is about 800 times too big! on a piece of tool steel that you would cut with, or whatever single point cutter - it needs to be just that, a single point, in all 4 directions. so, you need a relief angle on every side that's in contact with the work, all with varying angles that are tuned to what you are cutting. mrpete222 or tubalcain has some good videos on this, from years back, going over cutting geometry as it relates to machining steel, brass, aluminum, cast iron, etc. there's probably about a million other resources also online to reference, but trying to make a 1/2" wide cut on a piece of steel with zero other relief angles is not something that most small (12-14" or less) metal lathes could even do anyway. something diamond shaped like a thread cutting tool, or perhaps some brazed carbide bits would work ok without much grinding.
so, since the combination lathe and hacksaw works, do you reckon the reverse would too? I mean, pushing the piece, held in the chuck of a cordless drill, against a running band saw... provided some king of jig...gery to hold the drill stable.
Yay! Heres another tool I can only wish for and now I don't have to buy. Maybe I could come up with some plywood concoction for a machining toolpost but I couldn't film it and shar it with you guys. Thanks John!
Your solution was quite unexpected. I was cringing several times before you started using the hacksaw blade, and it surprised me that it worked, but takes a long time.
I thought you were going to use another portion of that carbide tip saw blade you used previously. Now that I think about it, THAT might be just a bit dangerous.
John, Thanks so much for this video! Freaking Awesome. A few months back, I learned that back in the day, metal was routinely turned by hand similar to wood, but not so much anymore. I've been thinking about this for a while, and you've demonstrated that not only is it totally reasonable to do, but the results are good.
My only concern is the hacksaw catching and pushing onto your hand - but it seemed like a controlled setup, good job! I'll have to try something like this on my wood lathe
the carbide saw teeth will work well in a pinch I use them for parting tools on on my metal lathe and as well as if i need a thin cut (the demo saw blades seem to be the best they are a bit thicker and have less flex to them )
It seems to me that your lathe wasn't running true enough, and that is what caused the chatter. If you watch machinists like Abom79, he spends a lot of time on a three or four jaw chuck getting it running true to within a thousandth of an inch or so before he starts. It looked to me like there was run out on your chuck.
I saw one video where a guy did turn metal like wood. What you need to do is find some of those HSS tool steel blanks. Then grind it on a bench grinder to the shape you want. I think in that video they said to turn it so that it's cutting on the top part of the work, not like a traditional lathe work.
Nice! I made similar with aluminium rod and a file, indead much easier than steel. The preliminar search did not give your video, I am glad to hear it now, thanks.
halfway through this video I was convinced that you were yanking our collective chains. It is seriously hard to believe that you could cut that much steel, that quickly, with the hacksaw going sideways....
A Bridgeport mill will mill steel with only a one hosepower motor. A lathe can be anything that turns. Lol ive turned steel shaft on a tractors pto before. Just weld your shaft to a pto spline and attach the other end to a roller type centering jig and have at it.
John you are very brave. and I like that about you. do whatever you think you can do. and dang if you don't make it work. good video I would like to see more.
Those carbide tips on circular saw blades can be removed with a piece of the saw blade and put into a tool holder which you can custom make. Then you can push into the stock and cut it easier
If you could add a stopper you could actually preset the length of the tool bit and make sure you are hand turining it parellel and get to demension with filing and sanding
I bought the cheapest lathe in 97 or 98 that I could buy. Some one stole it and got hurt I think lol on top all that I used metal in it too it was meant for wood.
For faster material removal you could stack multiple blades together and make a "dado hacksaw". And naturally here in Europe this could not be done because it's illegal to install dado stack to any saw. :)
No, it is NOT illegal to buy, sell, own or use a dado stack in Europe. The Health and Safety at Work regulations apply to the workplace. If you employ somebody to work your machines, the HSE regulations apply. The HSE regulations do NOT say that you cannot use a dado stack. They DO say that before using a dado stack you should conduct a safety assessment to see if there is a safer way to perform the same operation and if there is NOT, and you HAVE to use a dado stack, then you must provide adequate guards to protect your workers from danger. In your own workshop, you can do whatever you like, because the HSE regulations do NOT apply (however, you would be well advised to read the regulations to see what you can learn, especially if you are attached to your fingers, and you would prefer them to remain attached to you). Visit www.hse.gov.uk/woodworking/index.htm Under the heading "Safety Topics", select "Working with machinery" Start with "Circular saw benches - safe working practices WIS16" and perhaps "Safe use of manually operated cross-cut saws WIS36" A couple of years ago, I spent 2 days ploughing through the HSE site looking for something which said that you could NOT buy, sell, own or use a dado stack, but I was not able to find anything. So I wrote to them to seek clarification and their written reply is summarised above. In the UK, at the time of writing (June 2017) Woodford are selling table saws with dado sets as an option for £49.99 - see woodfordwm.co.uk/ then select New SemiProfessional, then Table Saws. Scott & Sargeant sell the CMT dado sets - see scosarg.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=Dado+set OK. I have provided links to back up my claims. If you have visited those links and you still think that dado stacks are illegal in Europe, please provide a link to a .gov.uk website, or an official EU website, which proves me wrong, or a link to an official news medium which has reported a reputable firm (like the above) being prosecuted for selling dado stacks. I am open minded and willing to learn, but "my friend's cousin's brother once said that ...." doesn't cut any mustard with me.
been there done that, never had a metal lathe in my life. but manage to machine basically any material. using a pool cue repair lathe and a basic wood lathe. when doing metal work mostly use files but like the results of using saw blade to remove the bulk of material as seen in video. cool!
I used to think yo were a pretty clever guy until - I saw you using a chisel / plane blade to "machine" a steel rod. What next ? Home made table saw blades made from pine?
I used to think you were a pretty clever guy until I saw that both of your youtube videos are about turn signals on scooters. And john made a video about using paper as a saw blade. Maybe you missed that one while you were busy congratulating yourself for being... whatever it is that you are.
That's very cool! I would have gone straight to the angle grinder
Matthias Wandel. grinder and paint! something something dooblidoo!
Barry Manilowa you think Mathias will ever use his lathe 😉
Creative but the machinist in me was cringing the entire time.
The god has spoken.... xD
Angle grinder is maybe faster, but creates a lot more mess.
This was something that I did on the spur of the moment and had no idea it was going to work as well as it did.
I wasn't even going to film it at first. But I had my camera out to take pictures anyway, so I figured I should in case anything interesting happened.
Video showing me using the cutter on wood: ruclips.net/video/7HcJI_agh1g/видео.html
Ways you can help support this channel:
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www.patreon.com/user?u=865843&ty=h
Plans for sale: www.ibuildit.ca/plans.html
More videos on my second woodworking channel:
ruclips.net/user/IBuildIt
My home reno channel:
ruclips.net/user/IBuildItHome
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ruclips.net/user/IBuildItScrapBin
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John Heisz Wow, Very surprised the hacksaw blade did such a good job. May have to try that and perhaps the carbon tooth of a TS blade. Thanks for recording and uploading it John!
Not sure where the following quote originated, but it seems to fit here.
"If it sounds stupid and works, it's not stupid."
Awesome! Awesome! Awesome! 'Use the tools that you have' - love it ;)
"Use what you got" is my favorite motto.
It's a favorite of AvE's too, but he words it a little more obscenely. :-)
Sharp Works run what you brung
Very cool!
Thank you!
John Heisz honestly john, I've been watching and just about everyone else on RUclips and this is one of the few times where I just stopped and thought "holy shit that's really cool"
John Heisz What a great idea man keep it up
I'm impressed, John. I don't remotely think it would've ever occurred to me to use a hacksaw anywhere near a spinning lathe! But it worked great, and that's the point : use what you have. Nice work.
are you TRYING to bring out the trolls? (this was awesome btw)
You're not afraid to experiment John, where others are terrified at the thought. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. You now have the part you need. Score? John Heisz - 1, Negative Nellies - 0.
chuck norris would have used his teeth
no! his fingernails!
His chin!
Are you kidding? His beard, of course!
He couldn't possibly have used his beard; all that's under there is another fist ;)
an angle grinder with a 60 grit flap or grinding disk works pretty well for thinning rotating stock, you can even throw it in a drill press and use the grinder to protect your wood lathe a bit. ive heard this technique called a "poverty lathe"
Using a grinder would be extra messy and creates a big stink in the shop, and I wanted to avoid that.
fair enough
With a drill press it might be worth trying to put a saw blade in a drill press chuck (those metal type ones).
Or a die grinder... Aka hand lathe lol
That worked incredibly well! That's a good trick to know if I'm ever in a pinch.
viewing your current resources based on their capabilities not on original intent will set you free.....excellent vid John. You expand our minds...Thank you
I spent 21 of my younger years as a boiler technician in the US Navy and one thing that was driven home many times was using the equipment and tools you had on hand to get the job done. There is no repair shop or spare parts warehouse around the corner in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. So I applaud your resourcefulness and ability to think outside of the box. Bravo Zulu (Navy for well done)! Darlington, South Carolina USA
The hacksaw worked better than I would have expected.
I tried machining a piece of aluminium on my wood lathe using a carbide turning tool. Like you I had the tool on centre height and had a difficult time. Too much vibration, rough surface creating more vibration and chatter. This attempt was a few years ago before I got a metal lathe.
I recently saw this thread on a machining forum I frequent. It is possible to machine steel on a wood lathe, but tools and technique are important. HSS or carbide tool will work. You want a small point and you want the cutting edge down with the tool at the top of the work. This thread explains better.
Apparently hand held tools were commonly used to machine cast iron and steel at the end of the 1800's into early 1900's.
hobby-machinist.com/threads/gravers-for-turning.56828/
John, just so you know, I am not a nobody but I am a somebody, who has done something, for a certain amount of time, and more eloquently self-identified as an expert, so here are some pointers for you because there is no way that you can continue through life without my wisdom! LOL Good job thinking outside the box as usual - please keep experimenting and keep posting. :)
This is what makes your videos great. You say FU conventional ways! I am JOHN HEISZ!!!!!!
An old so-called machinist and college-educated engineer once told me that steel could not be turned by hand on a wood lathe, but there are old books that show how to turn steel and other metals on a hand lathe with a hand-held tool. Essentially you have to get the speed of the lathe down to about 150 rpm, which was not difficult given the treadle power lathes that were used at the time. It isn't surprising when you think about it - metal workers used to routinely drill metals with hand-powered breast and egg beater drills, as well as post drills and blacksmith beam drills. And they cut metal both hot and cold by hand with chisels and files.
The second requirement is a properly shaped chisel or cutting tool. Something shaped similar to a graver was used; it was a single point tool with three or four sides, with the end ground at an angle to produce a diamond shaped flat or bevel. It was dipped in a lubricant such as kerosene or even water and rolled and tilted in an arc-like motion against the surface of the stock being turned; each cut would produce a shallow but very narrow cove or corrugation. It goes without saying that the tool had to be made of something harder than the metal being worked. High carbon tool steel was used originally, but high speed steel stays sharp longer.
I once used the process to turn a new shaft for an old breast drill to which I desired to fit a jacobs chuck. I started with an already threaded bolt and turned the shank concentric with the threaded portion. I had only a jacobs chuck in the headstock to hold the work and I got the speed down by replacing the motor with a big old half inch, single speed drill and some homemade wooden pulleys. It was slow and in-efficient, but I was able to get within a thousandth of inch tolerance along the length, using very cheap vernier calipers to gauge the work.
Well done! Very innovative thinking. I never would've thought to use the hacksaw blade but obviously it was made to cut steel so it was a great choice. Look forward to the next video.
Hey John.. nice life hack with the saw blade... Can i suggest, maybe give a 4 inch grinder a go, use a 40 grit metal sanding disc in a rubber back pad... have the grinder disc rotating the opposite way to the turning part...and you could have turned that spigot down in under two minutes.. then just go to a flap disc for smoothing, and finally a scotch pad for final polish....
Also the best part is you dont even need to use your wood lathe, you can do it all in your pillar drill for smaller shafts under the 13mm that fit the chuck..... i do this all the time to champher large alun screws for a smart look.. !! Hope it helps buddy.. take care.. Del.
With super creative (get it done) attempts like this, the RUclips comments are not always very supportive. However, here, the comments are amazingly positive and that really says something wonderful about the crowd that John Heisz draws with his videos.
Oh, it's still early :)
My favorite thing about you is the number of videos that seem to start with the thought "lets see if this works?". Always interesting content and ideas. Thanks for sharing!
Nice. It must have been techniques like this that were used at the start. You need a lathe to make some of the parts of a modern lathe - so you need hacks like this to make the first one.
I like how you are pushing traditional processes John! Keep on exploring.
It's actually not much different than the concept behind the first metal lathes, they used hand held gravers to cut incredibly precise metal parts, even now most small scale watchmakers lathes use a tool rest reminiscent of a wood lathe rather than a tool post like most metal lathes.
Very cool Bud!! I like people who think outta the box!!☺
That's what I like about you John, you aren't afraid to try new things.
Thanks for filming it.
You are one of my favorite You Tubers.
Thanks Eric!
This is really cool. Do you think one could make a metal lathe type tool rest with the appropriate cutter to use in the ways of a wood lathe?
John, John, John...
"...don't think this thing needs NASA type precision..." LOL john this is so far from NASA it's laughably enjoyable.. I can't mock you though, cause I've done this myself!! it works surprisingly well. I way to get a more "precision grind" is to use a angle grinder with flap sander disks.
Awesome! I need a few parts made on the lathe but I was leery trying it out on mine after using a wood saw as a metal chop saw. Figured someone would have done it on RUclips. I'll put a filter on the intake for the motor fan though. That is how I destroyed the chop saw. Metal fragments wore a bridge into the coils and had to rewind ALL of it.
I even would have tried to build an tool post by myself :D But somebody here mentioned that the bearing would go bad. But a great way! :)
I'm impressed with the hack saw performance. A metal lathe would have done that 50x faster though lol. I would suggest anyone wanting to try this to not do it ever
Wow that worked better than i would have imagined. Think i would have mounted a grinder to the base of the drill press upside down. Its an uncreative mind that can't think of another way of doing things.
I will file away that idea on using a hacksaw blade, never thought of that, my mini-lathe works like sheet on steel, I use a grinder but that doesn't work so well either, files are too slow. Thanks!
Even if it hadn't have worked ( but it obviously did ) 10 out of 10 for thinking outside of the box! Success or failure, we won't know until we try! Thanks
John well done first of all But you were approaching it correctly when metal was first being turned they did it free hand just as you did basically but you have your tool contact slightly below center and the tools had a small notch or pin on the bottom side of the chisel that hooked over the tool rest they could get decent tolerances of like +/- .002 " which for the 1600's wasnt bad they just couldnt bore that precisely yet well done tho mate cheers from New Zealand
A safer way to do this is to first store up a bunch of solar energy, then shoot lasers out of your eyes to melt the steel into the shape you want. Lasers shot from your eyes are much safer than a hacksaw blade and a file. Please be responsible!
Nice technique! Surprisingly controllable!
John, would this thing fit in your drill press?
2 In. MT1 Shank Mini Lathe Drill Chuck
www.harborfreight.com/2-inch-mini-lathe-chuck-with-mt-1-shank-65132.html
This would have taken ages. Might have been a lot easier to go to an engineering firm and get it machined on a proper metal lathe.
Looks to easy to be real... :)
Wow!!! Cool!!! I was a machinist with 13 years experience. I would have used a file and it would have taken a lot longer. Great job!!!
now try plasma torch on it 😀.i like to see if that would work 😎
And he opens himself up to a conveyor belt of criticisms, and complaints...with great fortitude...and then on to the next task. Unabashedly driven to build...it.
your cutter on your chisel is about 800 times too big!
on a piece of tool steel that you would cut with, or whatever single point cutter - it needs to be just that, a single point, in all 4 directions. so, you need a relief angle on every side that's in contact with the work, all with varying angles that are tuned to what you are cutting. mrpete222 or tubalcain has some good videos on this, from years back, going over cutting geometry as it relates to machining steel, brass, aluminum, cast iron, etc.
there's probably about a million other resources also online to reference, but trying to make a 1/2" wide cut on a piece of steel with zero other relief angles is not something that most small (12-14" or less) metal lathes could even do anyway.
something diamond shaped like a thread cutting tool, or perhaps some brazed carbide bits would work ok without much grinding.
I can't believe that worked, very cool.
so, since the combination lathe and hacksaw works, do you reckon the reverse would too? I mean, pushing the piece, held in the chuck of a cordless drill, against a running band saw... provided some king of jig...gery to hold the drill stable.
Yay! Heres another tool I can only wish for and now I don't have to buy. Maybe I could come up with some plywood concoction for a machining toolpost but I couldn't film it and shar it with you guys. Thanks John!
John, I wonder how a turning tool that uses carbide cutters, like a Sandvik, would have worked? Pretty awesome experiment, but I was cringing too!
Cool !
Did not think it would work, I was pleasantly surprised!! You must have deleted many troll comments ... hehe!!
Your solution was quite unexpected. I was cringing several times before you started using the hacksaw blade, and it surprised me that it worked, but takes a long time.
I thought you were going to use another portion of that carbide tip saw blade you used previously. Now that I think about it, THAT might be just a bit dangerous.
John, Thanks so much for this video! Freaking Awesome. A few months back, I learned that back in the day, metal was routinely turned by hand similar to wood, but not so much anymore. I've been thinking about this for a while, and you've demonstrated that not only is it totally reasonable to do, but the results are good.
My only concern is the hacksaw catching and pushing onto your hand - but it seemed like a controlled setup, good job! I'll have to try something like this on my wood lathe
the carbide saw teeth will work well in a pinch I use them for parting tools on on my metal lathe and as well as if i need a thin cut (the demo saw blades seem to be the best they are a bit thicker and have less flex to them )
How much chatter do you think was removed by using the chuck from the drill press and how much by bringing up the tail stock?
That's awesome. I have been looking at ways to machine brass. If you can do steel, surely I can do brass! Wood lathe for the win.
dude, I appreciate the crazy ass crap you do on this channel so that I dont have to do it...
It seems to me that your lathe wasn't running true enough, and that is what caused the chatter. If you watch machinists like Abom79, he spends a lot of time on a three or four jaw chuck getting it running true to within a thousandth of an inch or so before he starts. It looked to me like there was run out on your chuck.
I saw one video where a guy did turn metal like wood. What you need to do is find some of those HSS tool steel blanks. Then grind it on a bench grinder to the shape you want. I think in that video they said to turn it so that it's cutting on the top part of the work, not like a traditional lathe work.
I'd probably mount the work in the tailstock using a block of wood to spare the bearings as much as possible
Nice! I made similar with aluminium rod and a file, indead much easier than steel. The preliminar search did not give your video, I am glad to hear it now, thanks.
halfway through this video I was convinced that you were yanking our collective chains. It is seriously hard to believe that you could cut that much steel, that quickly, with the hacksaw going sideways....
A Bridgeport mill will mill steel with only a one hosepower motor. A lathe can be anything that turns. Lol ive turned steel shaft on a tractors pto before. Just weld your shaft to a pto spline and attach the other end to a roller type centering jig and have at it.
I've always wondered how this would work.
Hacksaw hack. Nothing ventured nothing lost. I would never of thought of using a hacksaw.
Starrett hack saw blades have always been my favorite, and this reinforces why!
Love it. I'd have never thought to use a hacksaw blade! It would be interesting to make some cutting tools from carbide saw blades 🤔
John you are very brave. and I like that about you. do whatever you think you can do. and dang if you don't make it work. good video I would like to see more.
Those carbide tips on circular saw blades can be removed with a piece of the saw blade and put into a tool holder which you can custom make. Then you can push into the stock and cut it easier
If you could add a stopper you could actually preset the length of the tool bit and make sure you are hand turining it parellel and get to demension with filing and sanding
I never would've thought for that to be possible. Thank you for your brave frontiersmanship.
this is amazing, John! I wouldve never thought to cut it from the face like that. perfect solution for getting a beefier shaft to fit in the chuck.
Did you try to just hold a abrasive grinding wheel to cut away the metal?
Also, is there a way to get the end of the metal truly flat?
I like this idea of trying what is usually "forbidden". Whether we know why or it is a nice surprise.
I bought the cheapest lathe in 97 or 98 that I could buy. Some one stole it and got hurt I think lol on top all that I used metal in it too it was meant for wood.
Ive been wondering how well a wood lathe would turn steel and now i know. Interesting video. Thanks John.
Great idea I wanted to know at what speed RPM did you have the lathe while turning the metal rod. I will try this thank you
With setup it probably would have taken me somewhere around 30 min on my small metal lathe too.
Love the idea of using the hacksaw. I was blown away that I'd never have thought of it!
An idea for a project that I had watching this video is you do a latte machine with a drilling machine and wood
Im thinkin you should use a lathe tool bit but grind it at a sharper rake and reduce the contact area in turn less resistance
Hey John, enjoyed the video what Is the name of the song at the end of the video ? Thanks.
hi, would it be possible to drill 20 cm deep hole into square solid steel bar without a lathe?
I ground the handle of a file to a sharp edge and used it on my wood lathe that works better than the chisel
lol, a hacksaw, but it works fine #haltmalmeinbierichhabneidee we say in germany
Just goes to show it pays to do crazy shit. Nice one John
Always amazed with what you come up. VERRY COOL
Very interesting. Did it mess up the edge of the tool rest at all?
I never noticed. But the blade wasn't touching the tool rest while I was cutting, unless by accident.
I love this. This video will come in handy and thanks for sharing.
The beautiful thing about this is, you do it so we don't have to :) Thanks for the video.
For faster material removal you could stack multiple blades together and make a "dado hacksaw". And naturally here in Europe this could not be done because it's illegal to install dado stack to any saw. :)
No, it is NOT illegal to buy, sell, own or use a dado stack in Europe.
The Health and Safety at Work regulations apply to the workplace. If you employ somebody to work your machines, the HSE regulations apply. The HSE regulations do NOT say that you cannot use a dado stack. They DO say that before using a dado stack you should conduct a safety assessment to see if there is a safer way to perform the same operation and if there is NOT, and you HAVE to use a dado stack, then you must provide adequate guards to protect your workers from danger.
In your own workshop, you can do whatever you like, because the HSE regulations do NOT apply (however, you would be well advised to read the regulations to see what you can learn, especially if you are attached to your fingers, and you would prefer them to remain attached to you).
Visit www.hse.gov.uk/woodworking/index.htm
Under the heading "Safety Topics", select "Working with machinery"
Start with "Circular saw benches - safe working practices WIS16"
and perhaps "Safe use of manually operated cross-cut saws WIS36"
A couple of years ago, I spent 2 days ploughing through the HSE site looking for something which said that you could NOT buy, sell, own or use a dado stack, but I was not able to find anything. So I wrote to them to seek clarification and their written reply is summarised above.
In the UK, at the time of writing (June 2017) Woodford are selling table saws with dado sets as an option for £49.99 - see woodfordwm.co.uk/ then select New SemiProfessional, then Table Saws.
Scott & Sargeant sell the CMT dado sets - see scosarg.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=Dado+set
OK. I have provided links to back up my claims. If you have visited those links and you still think that dado stacks are illegal in Europe, please provide a link to a .gov.uk website, or an official EU website, which proves me wrong, or a link to an official news medium which has reported a reputable firm (like the above) being prosecuted for selling dado stacks. I am open minded and willing to learn, but "my friend's cousin's brother once said that ...." doesn't cut any mustard with me.
well this is interesting! who knew!
That was awesome, Nodding respectfully
been there done that, never had a metal lathe in my life. but manage to machine basically any material. using a pool cue repair lathe and a basic wood lathe. when doing metal work mostly use files but like the results of using saw blade to remove the bulk of material as seen in video. cool!
I used to think yo were a pretty clever guy until - I saw you using a chisel / plane blade to "machine" a steel rod. What next ? Home made table saw blades made from pine?
I used to think you were a pretty clever guy until I saw that both of your youtube videos are about turn signals on scooters.
And john made a video about using paper as a saw blade. Maybe you missed that one while you were busy congratulating yourself for being... whatever it is that you are.
I wonder if this would work on Matthias Wandel's homemade lathe XD
A pole lathe would've done it!
Awesome example of out-of-the-box thinking.
I do like the outro music, was a nice surprise
Very clever!...well done at being so resourceful
I would not have thought that would work so well, good to know.