"Leo Lichtman" wrote in message
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"Owen Lawrence" wrote in message
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"Leo Lichtman" wrote in message
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"Owen Lawrence" wrote: (clip)I've got a lathe that can hold about 35"
with the live centre, but I want to turn bedposts 36" and 48" long.
Obviously I'll have to do each one in two or more sections. (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Sometimes the obvious is wrong. You could hold the work in a chuck and
a steady rest. I have described, in an earlier thread, how to hold
square stock in the steady rest, so I won't go into it again, unless you
ask.

Excellent!

How does your tailstock hold a live center? Isn't there a Morse taper?
Do you know that you can buy collets that fit in a Morse taper, for any
drill size you care to use? Uses up less bed space than a jacobs chuck,
and more accurate.

It has a Morse taper, but it's held in an outside-threaded cylinder.
(clip)The problem is, when you loosen the thing so it can move, it slops
all over the place.(clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
How about drilling on the lathe by sliding the tailstock forward instead
of cranking the ram? (I still recomend using a steady rest, and doing the
bedposts in one piece.)

My lathe isn't long enough to use the tailstock this way for this project.
I suppose it's something to try some other time, but I tend to research
things to death before ever trying anything that could be the slightest bit
dangerous. Everything about my tailstock is sloppy until it's locked down.
I wouldn't want to get the bit canted and then have it jamb or snap.

Can you tell me where I can find a picture of your suggested steady rest? I
think I get the concept okay, but I'd like to see it in action. I looked
for one, but didn't find one. If I can turn the whole length on my lathe,
then I can drill the hole by just ramming a gouge into the end, can't I?

- Owen -