Making washers on a lathe.

[God mode restorations]

Evening everyone.
I am or will be investing in to a lathe this year.a warco lathe.just so that I can take on oher projects and be in a better position to make things. I have loads of new books on lathes and machining .my questing is how do you make washers on a lathe.is the a particular parting tool for making these.

 

[mike os]

Use a right hand parting tool....

 

[God mode restorations]

Use a right hand parting tool....

OK thank you. ...

 

[ronan]

Washers are usually stamped from sheet, rarely turned. I have done it though, but only larger washers out of stainless steel for bike parts. Its just not worth it otherwise.

 

[optima21]

all depends on the size of the washer

 

[Seadog]

Machine washers are turned. They have bevel on one side.

 

[pedrobedro]

My friend has a small lathe and it doesn't work particularly well with parting tools. He cuts then faces off anything he wants flush.

 

[God mode restorations]

The washers I would like to make vary in sizes but most will be m12 with a osd of 40mm and 5mm thick. They are for a lorry I have and will be doing a lot of work on over the winter period. I can by them but I would enjoy making them and other things.

 

[Screwdriver]

I think I'd be making a cylinder first, face off then cut off the washer rather than parting. Once you have a stack of rough washers, you could superglue the faced side to a stepped mandrel and finish the other. Bit of heat and they ping off.

You might need to make the mandrel from two concentric parts with a removable centre to allow the finished part to come off..

S.

 

[Badger1bear]

you could cut them with a mag drill cut the center hole first (leave the magnet turned on) then change bits and then cut the outer

 

[daleyd]

It'd be interesting to knock a couple out but if your wanting say 50 or so then I'd be reaching for my wallet!!

 

[God mode restorations]

Unfortunately I will need a lot of them.I have a 1989 volvo fl6 tractor unit to do a lot of work on.most of the bolts and washers are m12 upwards. Bing a lathe and tooling is expensive but will prove to be a very useful and learning new things. I can buy them but there is no satisfaction. Making them gets me totally involved .

 

[Mr shiney]

Unfortunately I will need a lot of them.I have a 1989 volvo fl6 tractor unit to do a lot of work on.most of the bolts and washers are m12 upwards. Bing a lathe and tooling is expensive but will prove to be a very useful and learning new things. I can buy them but there is no satisfaction. Making them gets me totally involved .

There is satisfaction and wasting your time...... buy them.

 

[daleyd]

Yeah I understand that sentiment, and I'm sure there will be lots of things you could use the lathe for, it's just that "personally" making washers wouldn't be top of my list when there are so many needed and they are cheap and readily available , but then it's not my truck so as long as you are happy then why not!

 

[God mode restorations]

There is satisfaction and wasting your time...... buy them.

Yeah I understand that sentiment, and I'm sure there will be lots of things you could use the lathe for, it's just that "personally" making washers wouldn't be top of my list when there are so many needed and they are cheap and readily available , but then it's not my truck so as long as you are happy then why not!

I hear what you are saying guys and I agree it is easier to buy them.a lathe will serve it's perpose well. It was just another thing to learn and not having to order off the net.then waiting z week for them to turn up only to be the wrong size .

 

[daleyd]

If you have odd size spacers etc then for sure lathe would be the way to go, but for general "washers" you can buy 100 m12 for about 4 quid from Screwfix!

As I said it'd be an interesting exercise to do a couple but surely you have to balance out your time versus cost and whether you could be more productive doing other stuff. I imagine turning them in a lathe won't be hugely quick, even if you get into a good routine. Add in the cost of material and the waste from drilling them out, I can't see you would make any meaningful saving at all.

But whatever you decide, good luck!

 

[Richard.]

Don't get me wrong I love my new found passion for using a lathe and would use any excuse to turn metal into swarf but like said above if there was any more than 3 or 4 I'd be just putting in an order.

 

[God mode restorations]

If you have odd size spacers etc then for sure lathe would be the way to go, but for general "washers" you can buy 100 m12 for about 4 quid from Screwfix!

As I said it'd be an interesting exercise to do a couple but surely you have to balance out your time versus cost and whether you could be more productive doing other stuff. I imagine turning them in a lathe won't be hugely quick, even if you get into a good routine. Add in the cost of material and the waste from drilling them out, I can't see you would make any meaningful saving at all.

But whatever you decide, good luck!

 

[God mode restorations]

Yes your right guys.ordering a load would prove to be the better route......but I will need to make other spacers ect . But once again cheers for your input.

 

[ronan]

Its a question of using the grey matter, spending 4 or 5 hours or more even, making something you can buy in the local hardware for a fiver is a fools errand.