I learned machine shop in the late 50's in high school. I did not pursue it for a living, only as work aids. Today, 2025 I learned a lot form you and the 25 Micron setting was great. I will use it on my 7 x 14 lathe. Thank you, Quinn!
I did my apprenticeship in 1968, this morning lying in bed, tea cup beside me, watching and listening to you, I learned several set up’s I haven’t known for decades. You have a great way of teaching. Thank you.
You teach really cool things without pretentiousness and your personality shines through in wonderful ways. Thanks for bringing such fun to the learning process.
Sometimes you'll speak of being able to "intuit" something. As a newbie, my intuition is often wrong, even 180° wrong. Watching you work, hearing the explainations, absorbing your reasoning is developing my intuition. Am beginning to 'see' the next step, or visualize a process, even before ever doing it myself. I know that watching isn't doing, but watching is learning (and often laughing; you've a great sense of humor. Utterly lacking in other videos & much appreciated), and so I wanted to tell you that you are building in us new folk that sense of intuition which appears a valuable tool to have in this lathe quagmire. Thank you so very much.
WOW!! Your 14 degree tip has just just given my reliable 1970,s Clausing Lathe, Micro Adjustment Supper Powers!!!...thanks Quinn....Love your channel!!!
Good info, well presented as usual. Two more: 1. A variation on the scaling setup is to deal with the imperial-to-metric thingy with appropriate compound slide angles, and 2. Mounting your compound slide on your milling table in various orientations (think angle plates) and the part in the spindle can open possibilities.
@@Henning_S. No way to avoid the calculations... Setting your compound to precisely 11degrees and 18minutes only introduces more calculations.. Don't get that right then 0.01mm per thou on the compound dial goes out the window.
@@Henning_S. Setting by eye is far from "precisely hitting a metric diameter for a bearing"... 12 micron... Is 12 micron. Eye, have a feeling eye could creep up on your metric diameter before you set your compound
Bravo, I look forward to hearing you weekly. You explain everything so well with clarity. The tone and Cadence of your voice are perfect. Keep up the good work and as always I'm looking forward to next week's lesson.
Like your explainations a lot, nice and simple, and at the same time detailed to understand how things are done... and you even do it wit a sense of humor... You are for sure a 10 out of 10; well for you it would be a 10.000 😜
Yes my on my crappy lathe the compound is an optional extra. The tool post mounts directly on the cross slide and gets replaced by the compound which has its own fixed tool holder.
Only just started watching the video, and already I know I'm going to find it useful as I often struggle with my top slide(Yes, UK person here). What a great feeling. Cheers Quinn.
where did such a young person pick up this level of skill? one clue is the phrase "dead nuts" the last time i said that(15-18 yrs ago) i saw a blank stare... thank you Sooo much for keeping this skill alive. the compound is such an under-used asset,
Quinn, I was only able to give you 1 thumbs up, but this video deserves a lot more. Many of the items discussed, sure, I knew (been messing with lathes since the 50's), but there were a couple of new ones that I never thought of. Thanks for the excellent presentation.
If you put a point on your drill adapter shaft, you can insert it into the center in the end of the compound leadscrew, and it will keep it centered while you feed.
Thank you for sharing the tip for increasing the resolution of the compound dial. My dad was a tool and die maker and he taught me that about 60 years ago. I use it a lot on my old Southbend lathe
Just came across your videos. You are an excellent instructor! I have been self teaching as a hobbiest for a long time, and you have cleared up several "murky" areas in far shorter time than anyone else. Thank you!
I use a plastic disk with 4 or 6 holes and bolt with nut in the middle of plastic disk + electric screwdriver for fast compound movements. It has much better centering and less vibration than T-shaped adapter. Also it can be used on cross slide. Also it does not damage lathe handles, because the disk was made of plastic.
You must be psychic...! I am in the process of building a sort of compound on my home made lathe, not really understanding the functional requirements... Now I know better and will rethink everything. Thanks for saving me (again)
"Relativity for compounds..." - Blondie Hacks That wins the internet today! Love your videos, very educational and fun at the same time. Keep up the good work, I've made some of your tutorial tools already, keep 'em coming 🙂
When I was younger I worked for John Martz Luger carbine maker from Lincoln, California and I would make sling ring reproduction parts. The one that went into the buttstock had wood threads cut into them. If one looks at wood threads they start on the end at a point then, quickly follow a radius to the tapered shank. I created a jig which worked with the compound of my lathe so the threads would begin cutting at the tip of the sling ring shank and would follow the curve to the main taper of the shank and lastly pull the threading tool out of the work at the finish end of the thread. The threading tool was a standard 60° tool with an angular flat ground into the end of the tool. When all was working properly and I had to sharpen the tool often; it produced a beautiful wood thread that was part of the sling ring mount. After creating the thread, I would take the part out of the lathe and put it into a 5C Square collet block and machine the rest of the part in my Lagun milling machine with a form tool I made. I also had my own tool sharpening / grinding capabilities on a pedestal tool grinder and would put a microscope on the post and grind tools under the microscope. I made alot of form tools both lathe and milling cutters in HSS, M2 and carbide.
You are obviously more comfortable with the math (trig) than a lot of the machinists out there BUT you covered the uses and NEED for understanding the math behind what needs to be done. Super job, Quinn.
As many lathe videos I've seen I never saw some of these tricks. Out of necessity I figured out about machining large diameter parts when I turned down my brake rotor. Good show.
Wow, I was a machinist in the army for five years and had to "eyeball" some depths of cuts numerous times, that compound trig set up just blew my mind!
The compound on the lathe is a good layout tool too. The face relief angle on most right hand lathe tools is pretty shallow, so setting the compound on a 90 or 45 can give you a good sharp scribe line. Good for crappy castings too to see if the material will clean up.
Hi Quinn, Very informative video. Another trick for making very small movements is setting the compound to 6° and now you are moving the tool 1/10 of the compound dial. I have used that trick several times on my mini-lathe. When I set the compound over the first time to 6° using angle blocks, I scribed a line along the compound on the cross slide so I can easily return to 6°. Stay safe.
Thank you so much for all your videos on lathe and mill tricks, I have a cnc machining certification and an engineering degree. I was able to land a dream job as a model/tool maker and felt super underprepared for manual lathes/mills. These videos have made me feel much much better
All excellent compound tips which compound the versatility of a lathe. Love your poor woman's power feed. You would make a VERY good machine shop teacher. Setting the compound at 30º will divide the movement in half which I also find handy.
My old machinist teacher Ken Mayhak (50+ years of Machining), loved the compound, he'd talk about it everyday haha! even told us the 14 degree trick, which i had forgotten until now! we used a similar trick when boring out a nut for our rings! something to do with the threads and material hardness? Can't quite remember everything he told us, but I wish i took notes! Awesome Video and Thanks again for the memories of Machinist class, i need to find an apprenticeship! Excellent and informative video Quinn! Thank You!
While not as experieced on lathes as on other machines, I did learn the compound was my friend. Rigidity was an issue on a South Bend that was older than me, but I did figure out the gib adjustment, and sometimes made a cut while pushing a finger on the tool holder. (Certainly not the best precision, but when criticality was low enough, and time was short, it worked).
on the last part with the compound: using it in this fashion also greatly expands the reach of the tooling when doing over length parts in the steadyrest. you can get really creative with the setups there too...
Dear Quinn, watching this again 2 years later, it is still wonderful, and very informative.... I hope your move to Canada has worked out for you, best wishes from Florida, Paul
This was a great video, enjoyable, informative, and a welcome distraction from what I *should* have been doing instead. I don't think it will stick until after I get a usable lathe, and start trying to solve problems with it. On the plus side, I'll get to watch it again!
About using the compound device. Worked in a Airspace company. It was was used alot, for all kind of angles. Moving in to 14 degrees, that is a very nice feature 👍. This is handy to dial in .0005" to hit your target.
Thanks for the great video! By the way, I watched the video with closed captions on. Your intro said "Hello internet, my name is Quinn and this is bloody axe". Don't worry, I won't call the cops.
Well done! Another tip that can be handy to keep markings and compound handles in a convenient front right orientation is to setup your taper cut on the back side of the part and then, of course, run your spindle in reverse to make the cut.
Indeed. There are four orientations of the compound available to cut steep tapers, rather than just the two shown in this clip. I guess it's worth reminding people with screw-on chucks that they cannot safely use two of them (the ones which require reverse spindle rotation), unless they fit a lock of some sort.
@@TandaMadison I forgot to add: for those who can't run in reverse to take advantage of the other quadrants, think about turning the tool upside down and running in fwd. (Tool will need to be "opposite hand", though)
Another brilliant video. Chock full of practical advice. My takeaway from this one has to be at 15:55 though "It's like relativity for compounds"! 😂😂👏👏👏
It's not just monarchs. I have a very humble little 10-in Sheldon that has four-way power feed as well as reversible lead screw and automatic kick out for threading. It was just a little $750 lathe, but it has a surprising amount of well thought out bells and whistles. I believe Logan also offered one model with a powered compound, however that one was only powered in one direction
Great video presented in a manner a noob like me can understand, which is much appreciated. My dad was a Master Machinist (and a Master Chief Petty Officer) in the Navy during WW ll, unfortunately he died when I was 11 y/o and never had the opportunity to impart any of his extensive knowledge to me. I took up machining when I was in my late 50's when my brother-in-law gave me a cheap Chinese mill/drill machine (but hey, it was FREE...lol's) and I struggle with trying to get the machine to hold any resemblance to tolerances, a battle which I lose every time. Maybe some day I'll be able to get a better machine.
I have exactly the same wimpy compound. I replaced the gib screws to a dimension higher and that made it more rigid. Also some extra hand scraping improved it.
This gave me flashbacks to SB's How To Run A Lathe, had to go dig it out and if you set your compound to 84 degrees, each .001 of compound travel translates to .0001 of cut. (Pg 42 in 55th ed.). Love your stuff!!!
Joe Pie has disproved the myth that setting the compound at 29.5 degrees allows the single point tool to cut on the leading side only, his point is that it has to cut on both sides or you will not get a good finish on one side of the thread. Thoughts? He did a video on this subject which is quite convincing. This video of yours is VERY good........ thanks
That was a great and highly informative tour of the compound. Happily added to to my "likes". And particularly with the hints on the reach aspects. It's not just the small lathes that can run into such issues. And consider that even if one does make a solid riser it's not like the compound cannot be swapped in and out as the situation requires. I ran into the same issue with the degree scale not being the full 360. My 12x36 size lathe angle markings only goes around to plus/minus 45 and originally came with only a single "0" hack mark. I added additional hack marks at plus and minus 45 and 90 to the cross slide top. And later on to allow swinging right around as you demonstrated I added more marks at 135 and 180 on the tail stock side. An initial light scratch mark followed by a light tappy-tap-tap with a small purpose ground cheap cold chisel and light hammer finished the very helpful job. At times the work can also be in the way of the proper zero mark too. So having the additional hack marks comes in handy in additional ways.
Hi and thanks for the "inch" version of feeding tousands. As living i Sweden most lathes are in metric here. Long time ago I was notified that feeding tousands of a millimeter was done by setting the top slide to 5.5 degrees. I bought my lathe (Blomqvist) for my hobby workshop in the mid seventies. Cheers! // Ingvar
One important thing you may have missed - When you are indicating on that dead center that is chucked in the lathe, you need to make sure it is running true, and especially be careful that the indicator tip is on center vertically (ie. at the lathe's spindle axis vertically). Otherwise your angle will be off. You can find that point by leaving the quick change dovetail (the one that is holding the indicator) a bit loose and sliding it up and down to find the highest point, keeping pressure back on the toolholder so there's no slop in the reading. Then, lock it in place there.
Instead of setting your compound at a crazy backwards orientation, spin your lathe backwards and feed on the opposite side you normally would, this is usually only useful for facing and easy to get to work, but it is much easier to feed. I'm somewhat surprised that I've never seen anyone use this method, bit I'm sure people do. Great videos, your steam engine looks like soo much fun.
You do have to be very mindful of how your chuck is mounted before making the decision to run the Lathe backwards to do machining operations. Mine simply screws onto the spindle so if I'm not careful and take too big of a cut running backwards it can unscrew the chuck.
I will be sure to recommend this video to lathe newbies. I learned lathe operations at my technical HS but the 14º offset trick is new to me. Thanks! My tip: I use a Sharpie to mark the positions of my compound and cross slide at "0" so I don't have to count my handle turns when backing out. Also keep a small bottle of alcohol and a rag handy to erase the marks.
Excellent presentation! I am no professional machinist but in my mind, the only need for the 'compound' is for taper turning? Agreed about the rigidity issue and up this time, my home-built mini-lathe started in 1978 has survived well without though able only to do parallel turning. I am currently considering building a compound for taper turning but mainly as an academic exercise as the actual need is only hypothetical at the present time. Keep up the good work!
Compound is very useful! : D Cones, chamfers, threads, precise movement on both axes, also you can use compound when your cross slide, or Z-slide is not working (for example to fix it or to add thrust bearings there, etc.) etc. : D
Excellent tips, Quinn! Another reason to set your compound at 180: your precision bench lathe has no lead screw, and your carriage/cross slide is bolted down to the bed. 😉
Great video, Quinn! For most of my life, I haven't owned (or had access) to a metal lathe. i make props for theater, TV and movies and what I usually make are small, handheld props that can handle a close-up if needed. So a few months ago I bit the bullet (and broke a couple teeth in the process :) ) and bought a small Proxon metal lathe. It has been a wonderful, frustrating, irritating, beautiful learning curve. While most of the things you've done really wouldn't apply to my lathe, I still watch the videos and see if it would help. Often, it does. My lathe tailstock has a MK 0/short moris taper, whatever the hell that means. They don't make a few things for it that I wish they did, such as a dead center, a tap follower, a die follower a steady rest, etc. However, from watching your videos (and some others) and taking my time, I made all the tools I just listed. I really wish they made an independent jaw 4 jaw chuck but I guess you can't have everything. Every day that I use it, I'm learning more, failing more and learning from that, and being successful. The Lathe Compound Tricks video gave me several new ideas and ways to do things. Thanks so much for making and sharing your videos, and yes, I am already a Patron. ;)
Well, that's probably what would happen, if Quinn would ever spend a significant amount of time with her woodworker friends. On Android in the app, RUclips gives categories for the recommended videos. Which were "wood turning" and "wood turning lathe". The bloody axe might explain that.
For steep angles you can always set the compound to the desired angle but cut on the backside of the part with the lathe in reverse. Works well to keep the hands away from the chuck when dealing with extremely sharp angles.
Thank you for your incredibly informative video. You always explain concepts clearly and you never take for granted that your viewers will already have an important piece of background knowledge.
Just got my 1st lathe and your vid are helping me very much! I did not realize how stupid I was until I started messing with with this lol thanks for your vids
The compound on my Chinese bench lathe was held down with two hex head bolts used as T nuts. Machining up some proper T nuts improved rigidity especially for parting.
The 14 degree compound is ancient lore. Some of the old Cincinnati tray top lathes had a detent at 14, 29.5, and 84 degrees (at 84 degrees .001 compound =.0001 cross)
@@DonThomasjrMy retired toolmaker friend made a 1” x 1” block with a sine bar that was 84.29 degrees. Then you hold the square end on the chuck, line up the face of the compound and you nail the 10 thou =1 thou dead on. Fast easy set up and more accurate than a detent.
Very nice video as usual. The angle block demo is sweet, and using the cross slide zeroing with the compound for feed is a really neat idea. Not that this is recommended but you can also loosen the compound and swivel it during the cut to form shallow concave/convex hemispherical cuts, like a very limited ball turning tool. Stressful on the machine and somewhat risky for the user, much like a ball turning tool.
I enjoyed the video and learnt something new as usual, thank you. Incidentally I use the trick of locking the carriage with the leadscrew nut as I don't have a lock on the carriage so the compound gets used for a lot of cuts. I also made a angle plate for 14.5 degrees so I could set the compound against the face of the chuck easily, squeezing up on the end of the compound that with the compound angle unlocked sets it up perfectly. It is just a case then of tightening the lock nuts.
I prefer the taper attachment when I can use it, and the compound is as likely to be off the lathe as on, with my most used machine. The place I find it indispensable is picking up an existing thread to extend it. I thread using the cross slide and a screw stop for repeatability, so when I need to pick a thread, turn the compound parallel to the bed and easy-peasy, especially with acme and API forms.
Hmm...I could watch someone drive an RV around between steak dinners or I could learn a really useful tip like that 14 degree compound angle trick. What a great piece of advice!
I learned machine shop in the late 50's in high school.
I did not pursue it for a living, only as work aids. Today, 2025 I learned a lot form you and the 25 Micron setting was great.
I will use it on my 7 x 14 lathe.
Thank you, Quinn!
I did my apprenticeship in 1968, this morning lying in bed, tea cup beside me, watching and listening to you, I learned several set up’s I haven’t known for decades. You have a great way of teaching. Thank you.
She IS a great teacher. She 100% understands every nuance of every operation she teaches us…as a beginner, I love her, I can’t get enough.
For a budding machine guy this is the gold I have long sought.
That was really well put. I’ll second that
It's like finding your own master to be an apprentice to.
My kids love YOU. You remind them of Aunt Jen. She teaches Math in the NAVY. Smart Women Rule.
Extremely rare too! And fold when challenged outside of their safe space.
You teach really cool things without pretentiousness and your personality shines through in wonderful ways. Thanks for bringing such fun to the learning process.
Sometimes you'll speak of being able to "intuit" something. As a newbie, my intuition is often wrong, even 180° wrong.
Watching you work, hearing the explainations, absorbing your reasoning is developing my intuition. Am beginning to 'see' the next step, or visualize a process, even before ever doing it myself.
I know that watching isn't doing, but watching is learning (and often laughing; you've a great sense of humor. Utterly lacking in other videos & much appreciated), and so I wanted to tell you that you are building in us new folk that sense of intuition which appears a valuable tool to have in this lathe quagmire.
Thank you so very much.
Congratulations on being able to anticipate what she may do next. That is an excellent test to show how much you are learning.
WOW!! Your 14 degree tip has just just given my reliable 1970,s Clausing Lathe, Micro Adjustment Supper Powers!!!...thanks Quinn....Love your channel!!!
Good info, well presented as usual.
Two more:
1. A variation on the scaling setup is to deal with the imperial-to-metric thingy with appropriate compound slide angles, and
2. Mounting your compound slide on your milling table in various orientations (think angle plates) and the part in the spindle can open possibilities.
Ooh, both great ideas!
@@Henning_S. I forbid you to use metric terms in such an imperial manner.
@@Henning_S. No way to avoid the calculations... Setting your compound to precisely 11degrees and 18minutes only introduces more calculations.. Don't get that right then 0.01mm per thou on the compound dial goes out the window.
@@Henning_S. Setting by eye is far from "precisely hitting a metric diameter for a bearing"...
12 micron...
Is 12 micron.
Eye, have a feeling eye could creep up on your metric diameter before you set your compound
Done
Bravo, I look forward to hearing you weekly. You explain everything so well with clarity. The tone and Cadence of your voice are perfect. Keep up the good work and as always I'm looking forward to next week's lesson.
Like your explainations a lot, nice and simple, and at the same time detailed to understand how things are done... and you even do it wit a sense of humor... You are for sure a 10 out of 10; well for you it would be a 10.000 😜
Great breakdown of techniques!
My preference is the compound in the bottom drawer of my tool cabinet ;)
🤣😂🤣
I'm planning to do the same with mine, but won't throw it away, is has its place on the carriage, just not permanently.
Yes my on my crappy lathe the compound is an optional extra. The tool post mounts directly on the cross slide and gets replaced by the compound which has its own fixed tool holder.
Donnez nous une meilleure façon de faire sur tour de mauvaise qualité!
Brilliant (as usual)! It is one thing to know how to do such things, but the clarity of your explanations is exceptional.
Agreed.
Only just started watching the video, and already I know I'm going to find it useful as I often struggle with my top slide(Yes, UK person here). What a great feeling.
Cheers Quinn.
Cheers!
where did such a young person pick up this level of skill? one clue is the phrase "dead nuts" the last time i said that(15-18 yrs ago) i saw a blank stare... thank you Sooo much for keeping this skill alive. the compound is such an under-used asset,
Quinn,
I was only able to give you 1 thumbs up, but this video deserves a lot more.
Many of the items discussed, sure, I knew (been messing with lathes since the 50's), but there were a couple of new ones that I never thought of.
Thanks for the excellent presentation.
If you put a point on your drill adapter shaft, you can insert it into the center in the end of the compound leadscrew, and it will keep it centered while you feed.
I use a socket and just turn the nut that holds the dial, also always centered that way
4:20 thanks Quinn, I learned something this morning. I’ve always over cut, just like you said. Maybe now I can be better, like you !
Your knowledge sets the lightbulb off in my mind.
You easily encourage my passion for metalworking. I love every video you have presented -
Thank you for sharing the tip for increasing the resolution of the compound dial. My dad was a tool and die maker and he taught me that about 60 years ago. I use it a lot on my old Southbend lathe
Just came across your videos. You are an excellent instructor! I have been self teaching as a hobbiest for a long time, and you have cleared up several "murky" areas in far shorter time than anyone else. Thank you!
I use a plastic disk with 4 or 6 holes and bolt with nut in the middle of plastic disk + electric screwdriver for fast compound movements. It has much better centering and less vibration than T-shaped adapter. Also it can be used on cross slide. Also it does not damage lathe handles, because the disk was made of plastic.
You must be psychic...! I am in the process of building a sort of compound on my home made lathe, not really understanding the functional requirements... Now I know better and will rethink everything. Thanks for saving me (again)
"Relativity for compounds..."
- Blondie Hacks
That wins the internet today! Love your videos, very educational and fun at the same time. Keep up the good work, I've made some of your tutorial tools already, keep 'em coming 🙂
That 14 degree trick is pure gold. Will definitely be using that going forward. Thank you.
I follow many youtube machinists, you are the only one I've seen covering this subject. Top marks young lady
Thank Quinn! As always, you explain these technical subjects so that a hard headed amateur can understand.
I just leveled up by watching this. That was time very well spent!
Awesome video - I'm definitely adding this to the reference material for when I run lathe classes at our hackspace!
When I was younger I worked for John Martz Luger carbine maker from Lincoln, California and I would make sling ring reproduction parts. The one that went into the buttstock had wood threads cut into them. If one looks at wood threads they start on the end at a point then, quickly follow a radius to the tapered shank. I created a jig which worked with the compound of my lathe so the threads would begin cutting at the tip of the sling ring shank and would follow the curve to the main taper of the shank and lastly pull the threading tool out of the work at the finish end of the thread. The threading tool was a standard 60° tool with an angular flat ground into the end of the tool. When all was working properly and I had to sharpen the tool often; it produced a beautiful wood thread that was part of the sling ring mount. After creating the thread, I would take the part out of the lathe and put it into a 5C Square collet block and machine the rest of the part in my Lagun milling machine with a form tool I made. I also had my own tool sharpening / grinding capabilities on a pedestal tool grinder and would put a microscope on the post and grind tools under the microscope. I made alot of form tools both lathe and milling cutters in HSS, M2 and carbide.
Not sure if I've ever commented on your videos, but I do enjoy watching them, and I admire your talent!
You are obviously more comfortable with the math (trig) than a lot of the machinists out there BUT you covered the uses and NEED for understanding the math behind what needs to be done. Super job, Quinn.
I’ll be rewatching this one for sure! Thanks Quinn!
I got a kick out of the piece of string and the nut/weight to hold down the bellows over the lathe bed....simple and effective.....
Post-video addition on the way cover project. 😬
As many lathe videos I've seen I never saw some of these tricks. Out of necessity I figured out about machining large diameter parts when I turned down my brake rotor. Good show.
Wow, I was a machinist in the army for five years and had to "eyeball" some depths of cuts numerous times, that compound trig set up just blew my mind!
⁸
Excellent videos. The 14degree trick is definitely not common knowledge. Lathes are awesome 👏🏻
The compound on the lathe is a good layout tool too. The face relief angle on most right hand lathe tools is pretty shallow, so setting the compound on a 90 or 45 can give you a good sharp scribe line. Good for crappy castings too to see if the material will clean up.
Hi Quinn,
Very informative video. Another trick for making very small movements is setting the compound to 6° and now you are moving the tool 1/10 of the compound dial. I have used that trick several times on my mini-lathe. When I set the compound over the first time to 6° using angle blocks, I scribed a line along the compound on the cross slide so I can easily return to 6°. Stay safe.
The Sine of 5.75° is closer to 1/10 if you are able to set the slide that accurately or make a 10 to 1 angle block to set it.
Thank you so much for all your videos on lathe and mill tricks, I have a cnc machining certification and an engineering degree. I was able to land a dream job as a model/tool maker and felt super underprepared for manual lathes/mills. These videos have made me feel much much better
Some neat tricks. Nice video. I like when people know what they're talking about.
you are spot on with great presentation, love your work
All excellent compound tips which compound the versatility of a lathe.
Love your poor woman's power feed.
You would make a VERY good machine shop teacher.
Setting the compound at 30º will divide the movement in half which I also find handy.
My old machinist teacher Ken Mayhak (50+ years of Machining), loved the compound, he'd talk about it everyday haha! even told us the 14 degree trick, which i had forgotten until now!
we used a similar trick when boring out a nut for our rings! something to do with the threads and material hardness? Can't quite remember everything he told us, but I wish i took notes!
Awesome Video and Thanks again for the memories of Machinist class, i need to find an apprenticeship!
Excellent and informative video Quinn! Thank You!
While not as experieced on lathes as on other machines, I did learn the compound was my friend. Rigidity was an issue on a South Bend that was older than me, but I did figure out the gib adjustment, and sometimes made a cut while pushing a finger on the tool holder. (Certainly not the best precision, but when criticality was low enough, and time was short, it worked).
on the last part with the compound: using it in this fashion also greatly expands the reach of the tooling when doing over length parts in the steadyrest. you can get really creative with the setups there too...
Dear Quinn, watching this again 2 years later, it is still wonderful, and very informative....
I hope your move to Canada
has worked out for you,
best wishes from Florida, Paul
This channel is a treasure 🤩🤩🤩
This was a great video, enjoyable, informative, and a welcome distraction from what I *should* have been doing instead.
I don't think it will stick until after I get a usable lathe, and start trying to solve problems with it. On the plus side, I'll get to watch it again!
About using the compound device. Worked in a Airspace company. It was was used alot, for all kind of angles. Moving in to 14 degrees, that is a very nice feature 👍. This is handy to dial in .0005" to hit your target.
Thanks for the great video! By the way, I watched the video with closed captions on. Your intro said "Hello internet, my name is Quinn and this is bloody axe". Don't worry, I won't call the cops.
Well done! Another tip that can be handy to keep markings and compound handles in a convenient front right orientation is to setup your taper cut on the back side of the part and then, of course, run your spindle in reverse to make the cut.
Indeed. There are four orientations of the compound available to cut steep tapers, rather than just the two shown in this clip.
I guess it's worth reminding people with screw-on chucks that they cannot safely use two of them (the ones which require reverse spindle rotation), unless they fit a lock of some sort.
@@Gottenhimfella Great point. I had not even considered this.
@@TandaMadison I forgot to add: for those who can't run in reverse to take advantage of the other quadrants, think about turning the tool upside down and running in fwd. (Tool will need to be "opposite hand", though)
I was right there, with you, right up to …. “Do the trig” 😳
🤣🤣🤣
Never heard this before GREAT !! But I'm glad I have never had to worry about anything closer than + or - 1 thou in my garage !!
Another brilliant video. Chock full of practical advice. My takeaway from this one has to be at 15:55 though "It's like relativity for compounds"! 😂😂👏👏👏
Highly annoyed my spellchecker changed chock to chick, but soooo glad I caught it. 🤬 Fixed.
It's not just monarchs. I have a very humble little 10-in Sheldon that has four-way power feed as well as reversible lead screw and automatic kick out for threading. It was just a little $750 lathe, but it has a surprising amount of well thought out bells and whistles. I believe Logan also offered one model with a powered compound, however that one was only powered in one direction
This tutorial was BRILLIANT!!!!
Great video presented in a manner a noob like me can understand, which is much appreciated. My dad was a Master Machinist (and a Master Chief Petty Officer) in the Navy during WW ll, unfortunately he died when I was 11 y/o and never had the opportunity to impart any of his extensive knowledge to me. I took up machining when I was in my late 50's when my brother-in-law gave me a cheap Chinese mill/drill machine (but hey, it was FREE...lol's) and I struggle with trying to get the machine to hold any resemblance to tolerances, a battle which I lose every time. Maybe some day I'll be able to get a better machine.
So we all have one more friend than we thought. Great episode!
Quinn for president.
I have exactly the same wimpy compound. I replaced the gib screws to a dimension higher and that made it more rigid. Also some extra hand scraping improved it.
Again, another great video Quinn. I've learnt something new to do with my mini lathe. Thanks.
This gave me flashbacks to SB's How To Run A Lathe, had to go dig it out and if you set your compound to 84 degrees, each .001 of compound travel translates to .0001 of cut. (Pg 42 in 55th ed.). Love your stuff!!!
Joe Pie has disproved the myth that setting the compound at 29.5 degrees allows the single point tool to cut on the leading side only, his point is that it has to cut on both sides or you will not get a good finish on one side of the thread. Thoughts? He did a video on this subject which is quite convincing. This video of yours is VERY good........ thanks
That was a great and highly informative tour of the compound. Happily added to to my "likes". And particularly with the hints on the reach aspects. It's not just the small lathes that can run into such issues. And consider that even if one does make a solid riser it's not like the compound cannot be swapped in and out as the situation requires.
I ran into the same issue with the degree scale not being the full 360. My 12x36 size lathe angle markings only goes around to plus/minus 45 and originally came with only a single "0" hack mark. I added additional hack marks at plus and minus 45 and 90 to the cross slide top. And later on to allow swinging right around as you demonstrated I added more marks at 135 and 180 on the tail stock side. An initial light scratch mark followed by a light tappy-tap-tap with a small purpose ground cheap cold chisel and light hammer finished the very helpful job. At times the work can also be in the way of the proper zero mark too. So having the additional hack marks comes in handy in additional ways.
Thank you Quin. Every video hurts my brain. Keep up the great work.
Hi and thanks for the "inch" version of feeding tousands. As living i Sweden most lathes are in metric here. Long time ago I was notified that feeding tousands of a millimeter was done by setting the top slide to 5.5 degrees. I bought my lathe (Blomqvist) for my hobby workshop in the mid seventies. Cheers! // Ingvar
One important thing you may have missed - When you are indicating on that dead center that is chucked in the lathe, you need to make sure it is running true, and especially be careful that the indicator tip is on center vertically (ie. at the lathe's spindle axis vertically). Otherwise your angle will be off. You can find that point by leaving the quick change dovetail (the one that is holding the indicator) a bit loose and sliding it up and down to find the highest point, keeping pressure back on the toolholder so there's no slop in the reading. Then, lock it in place there.
You provided some great tips to some previous problems I never considered the cross slide would have solved. Thank you.
If your lathe can run clockwise you can work on the backside of the part, if not you can still work from the back by turning the tool upside down.
Instead of setting your compound at a crazy backwards orientation, spin your lathe backwards and feed on the opposite side you normally would, this is usually only useful for facing and easy to get to work, but it is much easier to feed.
I'm somewhat surprised that I've never seen anyone use this method, bit I'm sure people do. Great videos, your steam engine looks like soo much fun.
You do have to be very mindful of how your chuck is mounted before making the decision to run the Lathe backwards to do machining operations. Mine simply screws onto the spindle so if I'm not careful and take too big of a cut running backwards it can unscrew the chuck.
Been rewatching a bunch of your lathe videos. You've referenced it a few times, but I'd love to see your take on a solid tool post.
Just found you. What a great programme, loved it - keep the tips coming. B from England
I will be sure to recommend this video to lathe newbies. I learned lathe operations at my technical HS but the 14º offset trick is new to me. Thanks! My tip: I use a Sharpie to mark the positions of my compound and cross slide at "0" so I don't have to count my handle turns when backing out. Also keep a small bottle of alcohol and a rag handy to erase the marks.
Excellent presentation!
I am no professional machinist but in my mind, the only need for the 'compound' is for taper turning? Agreed about the rigidity issue and up this time, my home-built mini-lathe started in 1978 has survived well without though able only to do parallel turning. I am currently considering building a compound for taper turning but mainly as an academic exercise as the actual need is only hypothetical at the present time.
Keep up the good work!
Got lost... I will have to watch this one a couple of times :)
Very nice 👍🏻 I totally think the coffee cup was especially nice ThankYou
I'm realizing that I've never actually met a smart person until I came across this channel. I don't even machine things yet and I'm in awe.
Compound is very useful! : D Cones, chamfers, threads, precise movement on both axes, also you can use compound when your cross slide, or Z-slide is not working (for example to fix it or to add thrust bearings there, etc.) etc. : D
I love my compound too! I can't imagine using a metal lathe with out it!
Excellent tips, Quinn! Another reason to set your compound at 180: your precision bench lathe has no lead screw, and your carriage/cross slide is bolted down to the bed. 😉
A lot of good tricks! Thank you Quinn. Brazil.
Great video, Quinn! For most of my life, I haven't owned (or had access) to a metal lathe. i make props for theater, TV and movies and what I usually make are small, handheld props that can handle a close-up if needed. So a few months ago I bit the bullet (and broke a couple teeth in the process :) ) and bought a small Proxon metal lathe. It has been a wonderful, frustrating, irritating, beautiful learning curve. While most of the things you've done really wouldn't apply to my lathe, I still watch the videos and see if it would help. Often, it does. My lathe tailstock has a MK 0/short moris taper, whatever the hell that means. They don't make a few things for it that I wish they did, such as a dead center, a tap follower, a die follower a steady rest, etc. However, from watching your videos (and some others) and taking my time, I made all the tools I just listed. I really wish they made an independent jaw 4 jaw chuck but I guess you can't have everything. Every day that I use it, I'm learning more, failing more and learning from that, and being successful. The Lathe Compound Tricks video gave me several new ideas and ways to do things. Thanks so much for making and sharing your videos, and yes, I am already a Patron. ;)
Proxxon themselfs make a low quality 4 Jaw and there is a Lower Profile 80mm 4 Jaw somewhere on the internet to be found
Blondi, you are awesome. I am a 40 year retired machinist and really enjoy your videos in retirement. Still learn something new every once in awhile.
I dont know what you do for a living but based on what I just viewed you should be a teacher. Excellent video. Thank you
Got to love the auto captions again, seems you channel is called "bloody axe" according to RUclips
Well, that's probably what would happen, if Quinn would ever spend a significant amount of time with her woodworker friends.
On Android in the app, RUclips gives categories for the recommended videos. Which were "wood turning" and "wood turning lathe".
The bloody axe might explain that.
For steep angles you can always set the compound to the desired angle but cut on the backside of the part with the lathe in reverse. Works well to keep the hands away from the chuck when dealing with extremely sharp angles.
Thank you for your incredibly informative video. You always explain concepts clearly and you never take for granted that your viewers will already have an important piece of background knowledge.
Love these videos. Nobody told me when I bought a lathe there would be math involved!
thanks miss from Australia. bloody genius.
Just got my 1st lathe and your vid are helping me very much! I did not realize how stupid I was until I started messing with with this lol thanks for your vids
The compound on my Chinese bench lathe was held down with two hex head bolts used as T nuts. Machining up some proper T nuts improved rigidity especially for parting.
The 14 degree compound is ancient lore. Some of the old Cincinnati tray top lathes had a detent at 14, 29.5, and 84 degrees (at 84 degrees .001 compound =.0001 cross)
!?
My whole world literally just changed. My skill bar just went from basic attack to lvl 80
@@DonThomasjrMy retired toolmaker friend made a 1” x 1” block with a sine bar that was 84.29 degrees. Then you hold the square end on the chuck, line up the face of the compound and you nail the 10 thou =1 thou dead on. Fast easy set up and more accurate than a detent.
There's a lot of compound interest in this post 😁.
Makes me wonder what else we can do with the compound slide.
According to youtube subtitles, your channel is now BLOODY AXE.
Very nice video as usual. The angle block demo is sweet, and using the cross slide zeroing with the compound for feed is a really neat idea.
Not that this is recommended but you can also loosen the compound and swivel it during the cut to form shallow concave/convex hemispherical cuts, like a very limited ball turning tool. Stressful on the machine and somewhat risky for the user, much like a ball turning tool.
thank you- the 14.5 degree part will help a lot with my very old large lineshaft lathe.
One mark on the cross slide and on the compound is .004
I enjoyed the video and learnt something new as usual, thank you. Incidentally I use the trick of locking the carriage with the leadscrew nut as I don't have a lock on the carriage so the compound gets used for a lot of cuts. I also made a angle plate for 14.5 degrees so I could set the compound against the face of the chuck easily, squeezing up on the end of the compound that with the compound angle unlocked sets it up perfectly. It is just a case then of tightening the lock nuts.
I prefer the taper attachment when I can use it, and the compound is as likely to be off the lathe as on, with my most used machine. The place I find it indispensable is picking up an existing thread to extend it. I thread using the cross slide and a screw stop for repeatability, so when I need to pick a thread, turn the compound parallel to the bed and easy-peasy, especially with acme and API forms.
Hmm...I could watch someone drive an RV around between steak dinners or I could learn a really useful tip like that 14 degree compound angle trick. What a great piece of advice!
Fantastic video, I’ll be showing my students this one!