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The first video is pretty good for a basic introduction to the Taig lathe. Jose takes you though some hands on turning, drilling, tapping and threading techniques.
The advanced video is again quite good value, but be prepared for four hours of it. If you're expecting to see anything actually made in this video, forget it. Yes, Jose talks about some of the neat add ons and explains how he made them (it would have been cool if he had shown how he made them), but other than a handwheel you won't see anything but a demonstration of some advanced techniques.
This certainly is a grab bag of techniques. Mainly of use for clockmakers and owners of Myford lathes, although information might be extrapolated for other uses and other brands of lathes.
It is certainly intersting to watch Bill Smith at work, and a video well worth getting even if only for that.
If you want to learn how to make a disc from a flate plate (trepanning) on the lathe without sawing it out, have a desire to make some dividing plates, and do some milling on the lathe get this.
A very thorough look at how to grind a graver (much simpler than a conventional lathe tool), how to hone it and how to use it. Using a graver is becoming a lost art, but the results can be astounding.
Do a google search for diamond toolholder or Freeby toolholder and you will find the complicated attempts to get a good finish on harder materials. Bill Smith shows you techniques with gravers that are far simpler and produce superior results.
This is one of Jose's more recent productions and this shows up with superior production values. I liked the measured approach to the subject, and the fact that the work is done on a common and reasonably priced grinder.
An excellent introduction to the basics and a "must have" for anyone who is a beginner and looking at the whole subject of tool grinding with some trepidation.
Mr Tascione will not be to everyone's taste especially if you are only a beginner like me.
He certainly keeps things moving along with a light hearted manner, but misses several important points along the way. This is not the right way to teach a beginner particularly when safety is a consideration and there are instances of "do what I say not (whatever dangerous practice) you have just seen me do."
I would recommend the John Topes videos in preference to this.
I'm obliged to give this one a better rating than the first course simply because the construction of some very neat jigs is shown in detail along with some very useful tips for using them.
However, Bob is back to his shortcuts which may be dangerous in the hands of a beginner which has to downgrade the overall rating. Also, at one point he realizes he has neglected an important alignment consideration which forces him to tear down a jig and go back to square one. This was clearly an unforced error and not something that was set up for teaching purposes, couldn't this have been edited out?
John Tope is very thorough, sometimes painstakingly so(!) However he touches all the bases and no information is missed-just the thing for a beginner.
I was impressed with how the lessons are put together to build upon each other in a practical fashion. I would be very surprised if anyone came away from these courses without a degree of comfort about choosing and buying a watchmaker's lathe, making gravers and using them for hand turning.
John Tope is very thorough, almost painstakingly so at times. These videos were not at all what I was expecting, nevertheless it was a very educational experience.
Among the techniques covered is how to make a punch and harden it. The heat treatment is shown in detail and the technique very clearly explained. The topic on how to grind lathe tools is probably the easiest to understand of any material I have seen on this subject.
Be prepared with the fast forward button in case he's going too slowly for you, but be aware that if you come back to check there are no "holes" in the information presented.
