G code Lathe help with Radius

[Mathius]

I don't want to hijack anyone's thread, but while we're on the subject of lathes, my dad is getting one from work for free.. He's plant manager of a company, he's in charge of the whole building, and they were literally going to throw one out because they got a new one, so he managed to get hold of it. He asked me if I had a use for one, and of course I answered "hell yeah!.... If I can figure out how to use it."

I don't know anything about it, it's still being stored in one of the garages on site at his plant, but I would like to learn how to use one. Any suggestions on where to start, outside of some vocational courses? There is one place I know that might teach that sort of thing, but it isn't close.

There are probably others, but I am unaware of them at this time. Is it hard to learn how to use a lathe from a book?

I used one for some very basic beveling when I was practicing for a pipe certification (TIG), but I did everything by hand, I didn't know the first thing about setting the machine, and there was certainly no precision involved, just eyeballing it.



Mathius