New Member

[BSA-Chipmaker]

Hi All;
A quick post to tell you a little about myself. I found you after doing a search online. I retired back in 08/11 from a 16 yr truck driving career. It was the 4th career after USAF, tire salesman at the now defunct Montgomery Wards, and pc tech at an engineering co. My interest in metal destruction, (not willing to say I can actually mill or turn stuff yet, even tho I have made a lot of chips) comes from my Dad who has a full scale machine shop in his basement. He is self taught and doesn't really want to teach me for fear of starting me out with bad habits. I'm ok with that for now. Hopefully as I gain some experience he will help with my questions. Anyway, he gave me his first machines, an Atlas MFC horizontal milling machine and a Dunlap mini-lathe. Both are in very good condition. He also has a mid-size lathe that I will get when I have some room for it. I have made several purchases at LittleMachineShop to start my tooling and have a couple of projects in the works which I can elaborate on later as I need help with them. A couple of pics of my "shop" which show some of my other interests too. Gary

 

[dalem9]

Welcome Nice stuff . Glad to have you . Dale

 

[Tin Falcon]

welcome to the board. there are a number of sticky threads that may help you . I would suggest you get and read a copy of the army machining manual TC 9-524 public domain pdf.
and read the safety rules here . I would not worry to much about Dad teaching bad habits IMHO the only bad habits are the ones that get you hurt. so unless had is missing a few body parts from machining you are likely OK.
I like the mill. seems od having a chuck on it ??
The Dunlap is a capable little machine but has its limits. I have a couple in the basement myself.
we are here to help
Tin

 

[tel]

Welcome Gary

 

[Maryak]

Gary,

Welcome to our forum. wEc1

Best Regards
Bob

 

[metalmad]

Hi Gary
I was looking at the 3 jaw in the mill spindle myself.
What a great idea, no room for a tail stock though :big:
welcome
Pete

 

[BSA-Chipmaker]

Thks for the welcome posts. Tin, your right, the Atlas was not intended to be a lathe but I'm asking it to do double duty since the Dunlap isn't the easiest to use yet. The 3" 4-jaw chuck was a gift from a friend and has one of the jaw screw holes stripped for much of the bottom of the hole. I can use it with a spacer shim. Also, it didn't have a tail stock with it. I have one from a Craftsman that I was given with the chuck. It has a wider set of ways so it won't fit. Thought I might be able to make a new mount plate when I get enough experience. I also have a 4" 4-jaw to use on the Atlas so the Dunlap can be used only when I need to. Hopefully I wont need to use it much longer anyway.
Pete; Your right, it would be a little tough to hang it out there! Not much travel in that axis either. I have had to be quite creative on some of the setups so far.
I agree on the safety issue. I like the looks of all 10 of my digits and would like to continue to see them!!
I downloaded the Army Manual and have started to review it. Lot to learn. I also included a pic of a blade guide I made for my bandsaw. Pretty basic machining and drilling and it works a lot better than the broken one! Gary