- Not enough frustration in your life?
- Parts being made too quickly?
- Not enough broken tools?
- Tolerances too easy to hit?
Try machining copper!
All the worst qualities of plastics, but hard enough to grab, so you can't take a cut more than .002"
More time in the shop, away from family and in-laws - especially important in the holiday season
You can snap off drills - for that all important excuse to go to the hardware store
Chatter & squeal enough to make all the neighborhood dogs howl
Lousy finish cuts means more time polishing, and you'll have a foolproof way of discovering which of your cutting tools has a less than perfect edge
Cheapskate that I am, I decided to grab a couple of pieces of 1.5" copper from the scrap bin. Masochist that I am, I decided they'd make good flywheels, with my limited machining experience. As you can see, the finish needs a bit of work. You can also see the marks in the edge from the chuck; don't tighten it down enough, and you can have it spin right out when the tool grabs.
Crisco shortening was used as a lube (tip from minilathe forum), and the tool was a carbide bit. I had the tool sharpened by one of the diamond machinists at work, so it was about as perfect as it's ever gonna get. Cuts were light - .002 or less, and I cranked the crossfeed handwheel slowly. Still, it chattered, and the surface is covered in microscopic burrs (what looks like dust in the pic). Took me all afternoon to do this one piece, both sides.
It does have the redeeming quality of having considerable heft for it's size, so should function quite well.