suggestions?

[mightysmurf8201]

As some of you may be aware, I'll be going under the knife this Wednesday, the 10th, for my knee and I'll be bed ridden for a few weeks, followed by a few months of very limited mobility while I recover. I'll be on paid leave from work during that time, so I figured I should spend my time wisely and be productive. I'm still about a year or 2 away from being able to get a metal lathe, but I'd like to learn as much as I can about metal lathe operation and machining and such before I actually have the lathe sitting in front of me. Can any of you recommend a good book(s) or source of information that I can study on the subject? I'll have lots of time on my hands and I hate wasting time doing nothing. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[sandahlpipe]

I'm no expert on metal lathes, but having just researched and bought my forever lathe, I found the hobby-machinist forum to be extremely informative. I haven't read any books other than excerpts from old scanned books on lathe operation to learn what a micro carriage stop was and things like that. Hope your surgery goes well!

[pipedreamer]

Mit use to have a online course free for lathe and milling machine.Google it and see whats up. Get well soon!!!

[W.Pastuch]

I never in my life thought I would say such a phrase, but forget books. They will be very useful once you have a metal lathe and know what exactly you're reading about. For now go on youtube, there's all the machining footage and info you can imagine there and you will be able to understand what's going on very easily with the videos. Just for starters there's tubalcain- not very entertaining, but extremely informative for a beginner.
Good luck with the surgery, have a speedy recovery!

[oklahoma red]

I would recommend an oldie but goldie that was published many years ago by South Bend: "How to Run a Lathe". Available on Amazon. Also, there are tons of videos on YouTube. As they say, seeing is worth a thousand words.
Good luck with the surgery.

[Rodneywt1180b]

Good luck with your surgery. Take it easy afterward and don't strain yourself. Give yourself the time it takes to heal. Good thing about it, pipes are small. Not much heavy lifting involved.
Practical Machinist is one good forum. You might get some info from Home Shop Machinist too.
Rodney

[caskwith]

MrPete222 aka tubalcain. The videos are long and slow but boy are they packed with superb information. He used to be a machine shop teacher so he knows how to explain things really well. He has posted hundreds of hours of footage in excellent quality showing all sorts of tools and operations, while much of it needs slight adjustment for pipe work you will still get a very good understanding of the basics.

[mightysmurf8201]

Thanks for all the suggestions! Surgery this morning went well. My wife is having a field day taking care of me. I was too out of it to remember, but she said that as I was coming out of anesthesia, the first thing I asked for was my pipe with some Escudo, and a filet mignon.

[sandahlpipe]

Did the let you smoke the escudo in he recovery room? glad to hear the surgery went well!

[LatakiaLover]

[Rodneywt1180b]

Recovery can be fun. I'm glad things went well.
Rodney

[mightysmurf8201]

Again, thank you all for the suggestions. I've been doing a fair amount of research the last few days. I particularly like tubalcain. I find him entertaining and informative. I started P/T this week, and it's been kicking my butt. As they say though, pain is just weakness leaving the body. I'm able to get around with crutches right now, with moderate difficulty, but mostly just keeping it elevated and iced.

[Rodneywt1180b]

P/T are a bunch of sadists. I don't care what they say. Pain is just pain.
I'm happy to see you're doing well.
Rodney