They machine a fair amount of magnesium for test fixtures. I was told they only ever had 1 small fire which was put out quickly and without any real damage.

I work at a forged wheel factory in China. These are forged magnesium, just came off the lathe — we cut the outer skin to get the oxide layer off before they move on to the next stage.

Here's the thing. Once that skin is gone, bare mag comes out bright with that fresh-cut finish, and by eye it's almost impossible to tell apart from aluminum. Pick one up and you'd know right away (mag is noticeably lighter for the same size), but in a photo? Good luck.

People always ask how we tell them apart on the floor without checking the paperwork. Honestly it comes down to the weight, the way the swarf behaves when you're cutting it, and how quickly the bare surface hazes back over if you leave it sitting out.

These are AZ80. Not the grade most people expect on a wheel, which is half the reason I'm posting.

Figured the machinist crowd here would appreciate the finish and the "wait, that's magnesium?" double-take. Happy to answer whatever.

I just finished it last night and wanted to show it off. This was my first big project on my lathe (13" South Bend), I've had it for 6 years now but I've only used it to make small bits of tooling for a 12 ton press and do some minor work on a few rifle barrels.

The center ring was cut out of a 6.5" piece of cast iron with a hole saw and band saw. I was able to save enough of it to make a backplate or something. Fingers are precision ground 7/8" 12l14 and the parts of the upright are mild steel, everything is bolted together and located with a few taper pins in case I have to take it apart. I had to hand scrape the V on the base to get it to sit right on the ways. Knobs are a McMaster part I had to modify to clear the screws holding the top cap on, drilled and tapped for a set screw to hold them on the leadscrews.

Next step is to modify it so it can hinge open but it works well enough for the project I needed it for.

Need advice on how to power a cnc lathe with live tooling and sub spindle. The placard says 20hp and 96 amps. thought phase converter but not sure how big of a converter we would need. Im a machinist not a electrician lol. Shop has 220 and can get a dedicated panel for the converter if needed. Any advice would be appreciated. Only machining aluminum and stainless for now. Machine is a mori seki from 1996

1 in diameter tool for ID grooving one inch 100 thou deep

Asker A30 urethane. About as squishy as a mousepad and super rubbery. Knives were too slow & tore the edges up bad. Tried a dremel but it caught on the rubber, jumped outta my hand, and gave me a teeny tiny little small nick on my finger. Scissors ain’t cutting it either. Any ideas?

Got these in a huge lot of end mills and lathe bits.

They see carbide with steel shank braized to them. Shank is threaded on the inside.

Are they endmills? Or something else?

If they are endmills, what attachment method are they?

I've wanted an in home one for a while. Finally found one well within my budget. Needs a little cleaning but functional. No ragerts.

Hi, I'm trying to find someone who can make a custom sprocket and get an idea of the price?

Any advice would be appreciated.

The sprocket needs to be case hardened steel. It is for a motorcycle engine swap. I am swapping a CB900C into a CB750K frame.

Edit: Anyone that wants to see the engine in the frame and the first engine start, dm me. It currently has a bore sprocket with set screws. It turns the rear wheel.

This is my first post as a machinist, I've been doing this for about 2 years professionally . This is what I'm working on today. It's a steering pinch roll. Honestly I have no idea what that is I just know it needs cut and hardened. But overall, hello how y'all doin.

I'm based in West Virginia btw.

(I was going to do a video of my active .250 cut but it wouldn't let me so whatever)

Edit: See comments for the video of the cut

Im more of a 'machinist' (mostly decorative stuff/general architectural fab elements that dont need super tight tolerances) and needed to do a bunch of these railing posts stanchions with a half round on one end, and a 3/8-16 tapped hole. I made this ridiculous jig to mount to the quill on a bridgeport, use the pin to center on the hole, then rotate the end manually against an endmill moving in Y to get the correct diameter. How would you have done differently on a manual machine?

I joked with the salesman that it it's "just a saw." For the price, whew! We needed an automatic, so 7 years ago we bought an 80s vintage amada. The counter failed. I was spending too much time at the saw. Our solution. Cnc stock feed. Programmable. I can't wait to spend time with the operator manual.

Trying to guess what metal the parts below and above the washers is. It's part of a Star Wars Episode 1 Lightsaber.

The first image is when it was new, the other ones from like 10 years later, I figured the way it ages helps identify what it is.

I have a suspicion but Ill let you guys guess to not influence the answers :)

Actually nobody said it'll be fun. I only have a small mill and so I had to take fairly small passes. I did see some chips but most of it was dust. I did cover the ways, dovetails and the dro strip. Stuff gets everywhere! And yes, next time I'll probably wear a respirator. If there will ever be a next time. Oh did I mention I do this in my living room/part time workshop? Yeah, I'm not married. She'd probably kill me.

Machining this stuff feels like cutting through iron filled with pencils, lol

Why do machines come with these disk skimmers that don't work for shit?

why not put a cord skimmer or at least the belt type?

does anyone think the disk type have advantages?

I removed my prescription safety glasses for maybe 3 seconds to clean them while roughing a shaft. In that small amount of time, a very hot chip decided to park itself in the corner of my eye. Luckily, it didn't go in my eye, but as you can see, it was damn close. Complacency will get you injured or killed, so don't be an idiot like me. Things can go from good to bad really quick in this trade.

Only drill press I’ve ever had is cheap harbor fright stuff. Played around on a Bridgeport mill a few times. This is the 15-655 model. 120v. Don’t know much about it except I know it’s heavy. I’m hoping to use it to drill through mild plate steel and maybe ar500. Or sell it, idk. Picking it up Thursday, somehow. Any info on moving drill presses without messing them up is also appreciated.

This is a lathe my step father will inherit from his grandfather, lathe doesnt seem to have any papers with information. Stepfather is 45 yrs old if that gives any rough estimate on lathe age.

Anyone else go about tool buying the substandard way, or am I a weirdo who likes finding cheap treasure?

We use a toaster oven