"Joseph Gwinn" wrote in message
...
In article ,
F. George McDuffee wrote:

On Sat, 05 Apr 2008 13:22:40 -0400, Joseph Gwinn
wrote:
snip
The problem has been that I could not cut a 1.25" diameter mild steel
bar off in the 3-jaw chuck without house-shaking chatter. This with a
HSS T-blade 1/8" wide in an Aloris BXA-7 holder.
snip
=========
As you have discovered "parting off" or cut-off is one of the
more difficult lathe operations.

Many people use a cut-off tool upside down from the back of the
machine with good results. These are generally home made.
http://iwr.ru.ac.za/~iwdf/lathe/reartool.html
http://www.americanmachinist.com/304...se/78007/Issue

kits are available
http://www.hemingwaykits.com/Catalog...%20Version.pdf

The problem with the 5914 is that the cross-slide won't go far enough
back to allow for two toolposts, and has just one T-slot. Apparently,
there is a two-slot cross-slide available for the Clausing 5900-series
lathes, but I have not seen one. DoN may have one.


snip

That sounds like the production cross slide, which was probably intended for
use with a bed turret. They came in two versions I think, those being
leadscrew and lever types. I've got the leadscrew type and never found the
need to try it, mostly as it seems best suited to production work and I'm
more into one-offs or very short runs.