Using a Lathe

A neighbour of mine has a large lathe that I'm sure I could sweet talk into letting me use. That's all very nice but I haven't the foggiest how to use it, or how it would be helpful! Also asking him to teach me would be taking the biscuit.
Currently my engineering skills go as far as using a hammer and hacksaw, oh and sometimes a pillar drill if I feel like being 'precise'....

So how does someone like me go about utilising access to this tool? What can I do with it that's useful for combat robots, and how do I go about doing it? Remember I'm trying to make a 4-Bar flipper/lifter at the moment.

Cheers!

Downloaded some old US army textbooks on various workshop things from here.

The first one has 70 odd pages of lathe information starting around page 110 or so and should be a good primer on generally using a lathe (and other workshop tools if you read the other sections.)

You'll have to ask your neighbour about the specifics of his lathe though

I would ask him to show you. It's not difficult to pick up the basics and a lot of it is just experimentation to find out what works with your particular setup.

I would advise buying a mini lathe. Bought one on here second hand years ago and it has been invaluable both for machining parts and for getting experience on a lathe.

Off the top of my head I'd quite like to make some drill gearbox surrounds. The gearboxes I have currently where largely held together by the body of the drill, so making some would be a good start. Is that possible? Remember complete novice here!

@Gary, don't you also have s mini mill?

Those should be possible. Might need some finishing work using another tool. Yes I got a mini mill recently although I may get the next model up soon and sell sell the smaller mill as I could do with the bigger work area for my next feather chassis

If your neighbour is willing to let you use his lathe, I am sure he'd appreciate you saying you don't want to cause damage or wear to it and you'd be a bit happier if he wouldn't mind just taking you through it's operation on-top of all the reading you've been doing...