Sorry I’m kinda late in this update. There’s something about getting the project wrapped up and fuctional that makes it hard to get back to the mundane things...like documentation! So, the lathe is spinning, chips are flying, I still have all my fingers, Boxes arriving now contain tooling, rather than restoration parts...

 

The Lathe is still sitting on the 2x4’s it was delivered on, making it kinda wobbly. But based on my abilities, I most likely wouldn’t be able to tell. The bits and pieces at the top of this page are a little misleading. The Tiny piece on the left is 6061 and has lots of little detailwork that I couldn’t capture with my camera. The Brass piece next to was a lesson in setting up the 4-jaw with a runout gauge. (there was less than 0.002 wobble when I decided it was good enough to start turning.) The Top part was hand turned. I flipped the piece, re-set up the chuck, set the VFD on 75% and the feed on the slowest possible feed, and let the lathe run. When I was done, the difference in thickness was on the order of 0.001”. I’m stunned at the precision and power this lathe has. Yes, i can overwhelm it doing interrupted cuts, but it lets you know how it feels. Next was a crappy piece of steel that cleaned up pretty nice, but I’m not near qualified to work with steel yet. Lastly, there’s the screw. My screw. It’s huge, left hand threaded, made from billet, not very strong, and there’s no nut in existence it’ll work with. But I made it.

 

This was the very first piece turned. Not pretty, but still cool.

 

 

There are still a few pieces left in the ‘original’ color. They may get painted, or they may just stay for contrast.

 

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