How to Lathe a Steel Mold?

Hi weehong78,

The correct term when using a Lathe is "Turning". My son called it "Lathing" when he was training to be an Engineer.

Best of luck,

John

OT?????

I think it is a good response to the OP, who is using incorrect terminology and will be assumed to be ignorant if they continue to use the wrong term.

Sorry for the miswording, thanks for correction anyway.

weehong78,

No need to apologize. We knew what you meant. It just wasn't technically correct.

More to the point, lathes usually make only round things. So, you might make round inserts for your mold base, but for making the detail of the cavity you'd use cutting tools in a mill or machine center or use EDM, electrical discharge machining.

Hi lynlynch,

I am going to use lathe to turn a sphere along the center of mold. The rest will be done in different way. The purpose to turn the spherical surface is to achieve a shining surface. Any special tool required (if different from diamond tool) at the lathe in order to achieve this?

OK,

Now I understand. Yes, you can use a lathe for this. You may still have to polish the surface to achieve the finish you require.

This can also be done with a CNC (computer numerical controlled) machining center, or even a CNC milling machine, using a ball cutter.

There are many ways to do this. You will need someone at your facility to help you.

Good luck.

Wow, thank you lynlynch,

That means I can still use the diamond tool at CNC lathe to achieve it without sourcing for other tool. Great. If the surface is not as I expected, then only I polish it to get the good finishing surface, and ball cutter at CNC milling is another option for me?

This is a great help to me. Thank you so much.

A lot depends on how you control the machining process. If you use computers to design the "tool path" you can achieve a smooth finish without too much polishing.

Lathes are good for turning, not lathing, inside diameters, outside diameters, threads and not much else.

I really think you should not try to do something about which you know nothing.

Thanks lynlynch for the advice.

I feel everyone starts with nothing, there's no limit to know more.

I still hope to know more about lathes, turning, etc. cheers.

You can't lathe a steel blank to make a mold. That involves rotating the piece along one or more of the principal axis.

You should be using a milling machine instead to perform this type of activity. If it's a complicated shape, then you need to really have a CADCAM driven milling machine. Really complicated pieces involve laser or high pressure water cutting, but that is beyond the means of most people and small companies as those types of machining equipment are quite quite expensive.

Do a Google or Wikipedia search...

Hi CaptMoosie,

Thank you very much for the input.

I am working on a simple shape with few straight lines and curves. There are some parts that I will pre-work it before going to lathe. I am trying to fabricate the critical part that involves continuous curves with lathe.

Hope to understand more if I can do turning for the continuous curves. Cheers.

To the OP; A picture is worth a thousand words.

Hi RDGRNR,

Thanks.

Should I put picture of mold I am expecting or something else?

are you talking about turning things in the lathe.

Lathe is a noun not a verb. You can turn or face material on a lathe. Kinda like "I'm going to car myself home".