Yep, definitely good points. After re-reading my first post, I thought of some money saving info, too. Once you've gotten your lathe set-up and your pre-ground tool bits give you a taste of the "good life". You can go to a good hardware store and get some HSS square stock from their metal ben ( uaually 2ft pieces, 1/4 square for about $1.50 ) cut it into 2'' long pieces and grind them into new tool bits that will work fine for turning plastics, aluminum, and copper. For modeling purposes, heavy guage, bare copper cable material in the #3 and #4 sizes can be found at the same store. ( buy it by the foot off of the bulk rolls ) For a harder copper alloy; check-out the copper ground rods. They are in the 7/16" to 9/16" diameter range and about 6ft. long. My local store had them at about $14 apiece, but that was before the value of scrap copper went sky high.
Tip Time:
I made an auxillary chuck for my lathe to hold smaaaallll diameter material that the lathe's 3-jaw chuck would not gripe. I bought a replacement 1/2" drill chuck ( KEYED-not keyless so you can get a firmer grip on materials ). Then I went to the hardware area, and found a hex-head machine bolt of the diameter and thread-size to fit the chuck's attachment hole. That bolt should also bet at least 6" long. Get a nut, flat washer, and lock washer for the bolt ( to act as a jam-nut to lock the chuck onto the bolt. After you've attached the chuck to the bolt and tightened it eye-bulging tight. ( I didn't have a torque wrench ) All that's left then is to mount the chuck-bolt assembly in the 3-jaw ( or 4-jaw ) lathe chuck as if it is a work piece. Close the drill chuck jaws and move the tailstock over so that the center in the tailstock can help you center the chuck-bolt in the lathe's chuck. WHOOOOSH. NOW you're ready to turn those little bitty, tini-tiny, diameter pieces by using your new super secret, midget lathe chuck. ( you might need to buy a following rest for those long, small diameter pieces.) My own list of future projects include scale 2.75" rockets; M-904 nose fuses; Mk-106 practice bombs; AC cannons with moving parts; maybe even...
Oh, excuse me for rambling on. HAVE FUN!!!
P.S. Don't know what a following rest is???? Look it up in your lathe book.
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