I have a class scheduled for Sunday the 13th from 9 till 12pm. Learn how to make round things rounder. Seriously it is a good tool to have in your back pocket. You will learn how to safely operate the lathe and how to develop techniques for tolerance. Someone recently made their own wedding rings on the metal lathe.
If we were previously checked out on the former lathe, do we need to take anything to use the new one?
Also, somewhere I remember hearing that you can attend any class you paid for again for free if you just want to brush up on the topic. Is that still correct? I was thinking about doing that sometime soon on the lathe.
David and I are working on putting together a “recertification” video on the new lathe to cover the differences between this one and our old one. Unfortunately that’s been pushed to the back burner a bit as we try to get things finished up before Austin Woman comes. Hopefully we can get that done in the next couple weeks.
If you see me around, I can give you a quick rundown. It should only take ~10 minutes or so. I may not have free time until next week though.
One thing to note to anybody reading this: please don’t attempt to try threading on the new lathe unless you’re very confident in your abilities (i.e. you already have experience cutting threads). We’ll be adding an advanced lathe class soon that covers threading and a few other topics. Having the ability to cut threads is obviously a huge improvement over the old lathe, but the lathe can be severely damaged if something goes wrong while the half nut is engaged.
That is very incorrect. We don’t have the class capacity or funding to give away classes like that. When members feel they need brushing up on a shop area or machine, we encourage them to retake the class or post on the forum asking to sync up with experienced members for help, depending on how rusty they are.
Also, it’s important to note the new metal lathe is very different than the old one. As @mkmiller6 mentioned, there will be recertification content in the near future for members. Anyone who simply took the class with the previous lathe but never used it on their own would probably best benefit from taking the new class.
Where can I sign up?
Awesome! also picked up the shaper course while i was there - I have been meaning to do that for ages!