Any machinists in the house?

N

NuggyBuggy

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I have a lift which uses fittings that go into the swingarm pivot point on both sides. The vendor sells fittings for my road bike and I have these on order.

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However, I also have three dirt bikes and an old 87 project bike for which the vendor does not list fittings. I have a tiny (Sherline) lathe designed for machining metal, but I have only ever used it to turn a few pens.

So, I need some bar stock to learn on. The ideal material would be easy to machine, and hopefully affordable as I expect to make lots of mistakes. Bonus would be that it has the properties needed for this application, but I'm willing to buy different stock once I'm ready.

I talked to a guy at Metal Supermarkets who recommended something he called "C12L14". I didn't know what to expect but it seemed expensive at $50/linear foot, for 2" diameter stock. I told him I'd be happy to buy offcuts but he didn't have any.

Any recommendations from the knowledgeable here as to what I should start off learning with, what I might want to use eventually, and where I might find cheap material to practice on? I considered visiting machine shops and asking to buy offcuts, but I don't know what material I even want.
 
It's hard to go wrong with normal cheap mild Steel for this. Aluminum will be easier to machine but cost more and may have strength issues depending on the shapes/leverage.

Depending on the size you need, grade 3 bolts may be your base material that gets machined to fit
 
You need to supply more detail
Can you supply a drawing with sizes
A picture of your lift would be helpful
C12L14 is a mild steel but needs a cutting speed of at least 350 fpm (see Kenemetal calculator)
At these speeds things will happen very fast especialy if you are cutting threads.
You will not get a good finnish if you run too slow!
What type of tools are you using? brazed carbide or carbide inserts?
If you can get your hands on grade 8 or 12 bolts the material uses a lower cutting speed and will cut better.
Alternative is 4340 steel.
Check eBay for material may be cheaper.
Did this for a living for 50 years
 
12L14 is meant to be free-machining. It is leaded ... didn't think you could do that nowadays, but so be it. The percentage is pretty low. Might explain why it's expensive.

Your application is one where just about anything will work. Plain ordinary low-carbon steel AISI 1018 will work just fine. Machinability is decent, which is the property that you need. Weldability is good, though it doesn't look like you'll need it. Heat treatment won't accomplish much with that grade (other than carburising to add more carbon that this material doesn't start with much of) - but you don't need it.

For standard (cheap) carbon steels, AISI 10.. the two last digits are the hundredths-of-a-percent of carbon. AISI 1018 = 0.18% carbon. AISI 1045 = 0.45% carbon. The extra carbon makes it stronger and heat-treatable, but harder to weld, and to machine, though it's still decent compared to the alloy steels.

Don't buy bar-stock of any bigger diameter than you're actually going to need, if you're simply going to end up machining a lot of it away.
 
The last place I worked did a lot of small parts turning, we used 1018 bar stock and 303 stainless. Not are relatively easy to turn.

1018 is about $3/lb, 303 about $6. you can pick it up at and metal supply house in small quantities.
 
guzzirider said:
You need to supply more detail
Can you supply a drawing with sizes
A picture of your lift would be helpful
C12L14 is a mild steel but needs a cutting speed of at least 350 fpm (see Kenemetal calculator)
At these speeds things will happen very fast especialy if you are cutting threads.
You will not get a good finnish if you run too slow!
What type of tools are you using? brazed carbide or carbide inserts?
If you can get your hands on grade 8 or 12 bolts the material uses a lower cutting speed and will cut better.
Alternative is 4340 steel.
Check eBay for material may be cheaper.
Did this for a living for 50 years
Click to expand...
Some knowledgeable folks here!

My lift has two arms that take adapters which then fit into the swingarm pivot recess, highlighted here:

Screenshot 2025-06-17 at 10.33.01 PM.png
With the bike mounted it looks like this:
Screenshot 2025-06-17 at 10.40.07 PM.png

I'm guesstimating at dimensions but I think these pieces are about 2" in diameter in their widest aspect. I can get better dimensions this weekend. For now, I just want to learn on the lathe before trying to make something I would even consider using to hold up a bike.

As for tools - I had a few for my lathe and quite a few cutters for the mill, but I think they may have got lost in a garage fire. I believe they were mostly HSS. I may have had one or two with carbide inserts. Can HSS cut the kind of metal that's been suggested in this thread?

I looked around and the Sherline 1/4" HSS cutting tools seemed expensive. Atlas tools used to sell Sherline but now it looks like there is just one place in Canada that does and they don't seem to have much of anything in stock. I'd be happy if someone could recommend a source for cheap cutters, at least for while I learn. I looked on Aliexpress and couldn't make heads nor tails out of what they were describing - probably because I know so little at this point.
 
Mad Mike said:
The last place I worked did a lot of small parts turning, we used 1018 bar stock and 303 stainless. Not are relatively easy to turn.

1018 is about $3/lb, 303 about $6. you can pick it up at and metal supply house in small quantities.
Click to expand...
@Mad Mike did you mean to say 1018 and 303 ARE easy to turn?

I just priced this out at Metal Supermarkets. IF I used their calculator correctly. 1018 turned out to was $61.36/lf. I had no idea this stuff was that expensive, even if for minuscule quantity. Gives me a new perspective on the cost of making stuff, for sure.

When I bought my mill it came with a box full of brass that had been cut into discs about 1/4-1/2" thick and maybe 2" in diameter. It turns out the seller was a member of AA and used the mill to CNC medallions for members. Unfortunately no length of stock long enough for me to try my hand here. Priced brass out at Metal Supermarkets as well. That stuff is even more expensive - around $266/lf. Too bad it was cut into discs - I'll have to find some use for them.
 
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Metal superstore prices are stupid.

Try some commercial suppliers. I use Alexander metals in Mississauga. If you get cutoffs, a 1” bar x1’ would be about $12 , a 1/2” bar about $3 per foot.

You can also try metal recycling places, they sell 1018 scrap for $2/lb.
 
NuggyBuggy said:
Some knowledgeable folks here!

My lift has two arms that take adapters which then fit into the swingarm pivot recess, highlighted here:

View attachment 74633
With the bike mounted it looks like this:
View attachment 74634

I'm guesstimating at dimensions but I think these pieces are about 2" in diameter in their widest aspect. I can get better dimensions this weekend. For now, I just want to learn on the lathe before trying to make something I would even consider using to hold up a bike.

As for tools - I had a few for my lathe and quite a few cutters for the mill, but I think they may have got lost in a garage fire. I believe they were mostly HSS. I may have had one or two with carbide inserts. Can HSS cut the kind of metal that's been suggested in this thread?

I looked around and the Sherline 1/4" HSS cutting tools seemed expensive. Atlas tools used to sell Sherline but now it looks like there is just one place in Canada that does and they don't seem to have much of anything in stock. I'd be happy if someone could recommend a source for cheap cutters, at least for while I learn. I looked on Aliexpress and couldn't make heads nor tails out of what they were describing - probably because I know so little at this point.
Click to expand...
High speed steel can cut mild Steel fine. It needs to be sharpened more often than carbide and material removal rate is lower but it doesn't crack from a single minor mistake like carbide. For better or worse, hss cutters are easy to modify the angles on. That can help you cut various materials but changing cutter geometry with no experience will probably hurt you more often than it helps you.

Fwiw, I suspect your base stock needed is close to 1". That reduces material prices by a mile (your numbers times 0.25).
 
GreyGhost said:
High speed steel can cut mild Steel fine. It needs to be sharpened more often than carbide and material removal rate is lower but it doesn't crack from a single minor mistake like carbide. For better or worse, hss cutters are easy to modify the angles on. That can help you cut various materials but changing cutter geometry with no experience will probably hurt you more often than it helps you.

Fwiw, I suspect your base stock needed is close to 1". That reduces material prices by a mile (your numbers times 0.25).
Click to expand...

This kit SHOULD cut more than a hundred feet of bar stock. YMMV.
 
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