Any videos of people using lathes?

[ScatterPlot]

This sounds like a really dumb question, but can anyone give me a video of someone using a lathe? Cause I cant figure out how you make things other than radially symmetrical things on a lathe. Please help!

[zads27]

Take a class at your local community college, or make friends with machinists who will show you how to do things properly.
Just watching usually isn't enough to get it down correctly.

[Pand0ra]

Originally posted by bertmcmahan
Cause I cant figure out how you make things other than radially symmetrical things on a lathe. Please help!

What do you mean by "radially symmetrical" ?

[boggerman]

You might find something at one of the manufacturer's sites, like Okuma or Hardinge. You could try a search for "lathe" to find more companies that make them, those are just the ones we use where I work(that are still in business, that is).

[ScatterPlot]

Im not really wanting to learn how to do it, I just wanna get it down in my head. Radially symmetrical means that its symmetrical along a central axis, like a baseball bat or a pawn from a chess set. I know mor complicated things exist made on lathes, like victorian legs for tables and gun stocks, not to mention all the metal stuff they do. I dont want to find a machinist that can help me out here cause theres a billion of them in my town and probably not any close enough that I could go see very often, like run over there after school or whatever. I just want to be able to see this in my head.

[ScatterPlot]

Oh yeah, and what does 3 axis and 6 axis and all mean?

[confedman75]

6 axis? what the......I thought there are only 3 axis. 3 axis is like putting a mill on top of a lathe.

[Kevmaster]

ive always thought there were 3,4 and 5 axis mills...never knew there was a 6th axis tho

[sniper1rfa]

6 axis are sweet. think a bit on a mechanical arm

they can bend over and back in to get the back of a work piece through a hole. INSANE!