How to Set Your Lathe Compound to Remove "Tenths" (0.0001")

[JohnGrimsmo]

That's brilliant! Nice G0602, wish I knew this tip before I converted my G0602 to CNC :) Great video.

[algae1000]

Hi-Standing in front of your machine, I believe the X axis is side to side (along the length of the bed or table and the carriage or compound, if it set in the same alignment-parallel to the bed). Y is front to back (away from you and back, the cross slide). Z axis is up and down (vertical like a drill press spindle/quill). Because the compound swivels, it represents a 4th possible axis, and the spindle is yet another axis. Then, there are the angles along each of the axes.

[applejak2000]

@algae1000

No, Z+ is toward the tailstock along the bed axis, X+ is toward the back of the lathe orthoganal to Z, and Y+ would be straight down orthogonal to both X and Z.

[madaboutpix]

thank you for the information, highly ingenious.

[algae1000]

This is a very good method of removing very small increments with some control. You also have to trust the degree marks on the compound. The thickness of a mark can make a difference. Did you mean to say Y axis in the beginning, rather than Z axis? Thank you for the videos.

[ProjectsInMetal]

@algae1000 Are you talking about @1:27 when I talk about "advancing the compound in Z"? Technically the apron moves in Z and the Cross Slide moves in X, but I can never remember which axis the Compound dial travels in - but I didn't think it was Y. Since I had the compound turned almost parallel to Z my brain was thinking Z axis. Anyway, isn't Y axis a tool height adjustment in CNC lathes? I've seen the compound labeled Z2, but not Y (at least not that I can remember). Sorry for the confusion!

[applejak2000]

@algae1000

Cannot be Y because Y is orthogonal to X and Z. When you are standing straight up at the front of the lathe your body is parallel to the y axis. Y+ is downward toward your feet by the righthand rule, IIRC.

[algae1000]

@applejak2000 In Cartesian theory (on paper), you are correct, however; In the real world of manual machine work, rather than using Cartesian points (CNC?), X is the lathe bed, Y is the cross feed, and if you had a spindle or knee like a milling machine, Z is vertical. Look on eBay, or any machine tool supplier at milling tables, attachments, etc., and you will understand this is true.

[algae1000]

@algae1000 I would like to add that the points X=0, Y=0, Z=0 are not used in practice when working manually on a mill, drill press, lathe, or surface grinder etc. In a lathe, for example, that point could be put at the center of the work in all directions, but in practice, the axial center at the far right of the piece being turned is usually the point where all cuts relate. On a vertical mill, because that point can be anywhere, but is always relative to the table and the radial tool center.

[applejak2000]

@algae1000 ""X=0, Y=0, Z=0 are not used in practice when working manually on a mill, drill press, lathe..."

Yes they are! With a digital readout and to a lesser extent with the dials on the hand wheels. Essentially when you touch off the tool or use an edge finder and set zeros on your digital readout you ARE using X=0, Y=0, Z=0 on a mill or X=0, Z=0 on a lathe. Just the same way they are used in CNC (I do both, one for a living the other for a hobby and an occational buck)

[applejak2000]

@algae1000

take a look at Introduction to Machining on a Lathe youtube for a look at the coordinates system utilizing a DRO. This is standard. Has been forvever and will continue forever. Get used to it.

[algae1000]

@applejak2000 You are obviously very passionate about your stance on this, to the point of now being rude. Lathes are not limited to just the X & Y axes. Milling attachments and tool post grinders add the Z axis and are sold as such. Lathes and mills both use the same coodinates. It is not practical that 2 different systems are used on machines 8 feet from each other in a working shop. UC Davis eng. is correct on theory, but it is just not true in the real world. Be civil to this old guy.

[applejak2000]

@algae1000

One, I'm not being rude. Two IT IS TRUE in the real world. The very one that I work in AS A MACHINIST. Like I told you look at the youtube video titled "Introduction to Machining on a Lathe " and you will see what everyone else seems to know, but you. And you keep insisting you're right. Look, on a lathe Z+ is toward the tailstock! That's the way it is, too bad if you think that mills and lathes uses the coordinate axis orientation THEY DON"T __ never did and don't now.

[algae1000]

@applejak2000 YOU ARE BEING RUDE WHEN YOU USE CAPS, and when you say stupid things like "Get used to it!", that's not rude? I 100% guarantee that you only type those kinds of comments. You would NEVER talk like that to someones face!!! We don't act like that, now do we? There are many like you on Youtube who "type big". I am done typing to you. Leave it alone.

[applejak2000]

@algae1000 For a mill yes, but not a lathe. The Z+ axis on a lathe is along the axis of the ways toward the tailstock. If you take a look at something like: dubya dubya dubya dot engineering.ucdavis.edu/efl/LA­THE.pdf you will find that out. Second where you have said "if you had a spindle or knee like a milling machine, Z is vertical" Lathes have no knee and a vertical Z make no sense with horizontal spindle. The axis you give are for a MILL NOT A LATHE!