The Metal Lathe (Build Your Own Metal Working Shop from Scrap)

For all you home founders out there, and excellent do-it-yourself job and I got started years ago with a Gingery furnace. Be very careful about what crucibles you buy on Amazon, and I would consider going with a thicker top and not using the pop gate he recommends, but you can find the myriad variations on Gingery lathes on the internet. As much fun as you can have doing something nerdy and dangerous. Use good PPE and for God's sake get with someone with metalcasting experience, then have a blast. Everything Gingery is baller.

This is a very well written book for anyone that would like to make a hobby lathe, is interested in casting, or would like to learn more about machining. The book clearly goes thru all the steps required to build your own hobby metal lathe. Some of the manufacturing techniques are old and/or out of date but that is not a problem so much as an advantage. If you have literally nothing when you start you can follow the book exactly as is and build the lathe. If you have some basic tools or more advanced tools, then you can follow the main idea in the book but use what you have to make the work go faster and easier.

More than anything else, this book and its predecessor have taught me how raw metal becomes productive machinery. It's difficult to imagine a better education in machinery than building your own lathe, or at least thinking about it. I strongly recommend this book to aspiring or novice machinists.However, this book is not without shortcomings, and I worry that other reviewers have not adequately guided reader expectations.This book does not introduce the lathe. It does not explain lathe terminology. It does not explain lathe accessories. It does not explain lathe operation. It does not explain ancillary tools and skills. It does not explain the properties of materials involved. The reader needs to have prior knowledge of these things.Furthermore, unless the reader is fortunate enough to live near one of the world's industrial centers, and down the street from a junkyard, the fabrication of a lathe may not be a cheap affair, as the author implies. In many cities or countries it is now difficult to obtain scrap metal, tools, and materials.The book jacket, and other reviewers of the book, suggest that the reader will require only basic hand tools to build the lathe. Unfortunately, what were once considered basic hand tools are becoming scarce. Machinist grade drill bits, taps, dies, reamers, and tapping fluid are neither widely available, nor inexpensive, in many parts of the world. Weak demand for these items has made them somewhat costly and rare, even in industrialized nations. While some of the required tools may be found in common hardware stores, the quality of tool may be so poor as to make the buyer wonder if he will have to make those, himself, too!Having been written in the U.S. around 1980, this book uses the inch/foot system of measure, and U.S. thread standards, instead of the metric system. Aspiring young engineers may find this archaic, but the book is worth the trouble.Buy and read the preceding book in the series, The Charcoal Foundry, prior to this book. This book relies upon knowledge and skill with the foundry.The preceding caveats and warnings aside, this book is an impressive contribution to the literature. I strongly recommend it to aspiring or novice machinists/engineers.

Have most of the goodies saved up now to start putting together my projects presenting it this series of books. Most of which are scraps of wood, pop cans and such. I did get the foundry sand for free, and if you do get this book, you should get the first one in the series too, as these books build upon what you have already done in the first book. Great series, and hope these books will be still available in the future, as these subjects are a dying art.

Dave is a product of the generation willing to give a very hard, honest day's work to get ahead in life or achieve what they want. These books are truly inspirational and a MUST for anyone who has any interest in machining or just tinkering. I have all the books and have read them several times. Apart from the foundry have yet to tackle any of his other stuff. I have time to read, haven't found the time to create. I look forward to the day I start this build.

What is there to say? It includes everything Gingery wrote out for his version of a lathe. Some measurements are missing on the drawings and parts are inefficient in size in parts, but it will work. And I doubt Gingery had engineering training/ education which is fine.

Based on older technology, but very well understood. With this book, and the others in this series, one can have home shop machines that can build almost anything.

This one of six books by the author, each building upon the previous one. The text details how to build your own metal lathe with a minimum of ready-made parts, based primarily on aluminum castings you make yourself (as shown in Book #1 of the series).I did not build the lathe, but I did read this and his "How to Build A Milling Machine" book. The author takes the approach of using 19th century techniques and designs, showing how to emulate them with today's hardware store components. Sadly, the books lack any color photos. There are tons of drawings, and a couple of moderately clear black and white photos.While interesting, the machines seem to appear VERY home-made when complete. It is also clear that many, many hours are required in the construction.Although I did find the author's "can do" approach encouraging, I think you'd be better off saving your money for a ready-made lathe...