Metal Lathe training

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This is reference material for people interested in using our lathe. This material is collected here in order to assist a workshop on using the lathe as well as for people to teach themselves how to use this machine.

Reading Material

For additional material on the subject of running and using a lathe use these links. The MIT guide is a single page with a good overview of lathe parts and operations. The WE Williams site contains complete PDF's of older books on using lathes. I have two expensive classroom books which cover lathe work which I will provide to Bloominglabs members in the near future.

Video Tutorials

These are free MIT videos which are a reasonable introduction to using a lathe. They are part of a 10 video series on machine tools, these are the lathe videos from this series. They each are about 45 minutes in length.

  • [1] - MIT video 1 for the lathe
  • [2] - MIT video 2 for the lathe
  • [3] - MIT video 3 for the lathe


  • [4] - Youtube search for "Tubalcain" maching videos, many different videos on different aspects of using a lathe.


Tool Grinding

Tool grinding is just as important as knowing how to use the lathe. You literally grind a small bar of high quality tool steel down to the correct shape you need for the cuts you need to make.

  • [5] - Tool grinding video from "Tubalcain"
  • [6] - Various pages on lathe info including tool grinding
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