On 2008-07-14, Ignoramus13075 wrote:
On 2008-07-14, DoN. Nichols wrote:
On 2008-07-12, Ignoramus16038 wrote:
On 2008-07-12, DoN. Nichols wrote:
[ ... ]
The main thing is what happens when both casters under the
headstock swing in towards each other. How wide is the support base
when that happens?
Probably around 21 inches. Really plenty for low center of gravity
lathe.
Hmm ... I don't know about *your* lathe, but I would consider
mine (a Clausing 5418 -- 12x24") to be a *high* center of gravity. The
bed alone weighs more than the entire set of pedestals (unless the
drawers are filled to the top with tooling), and the weight of the
headstock, even with a belt driven one, let alone with your gearhead
one) shifts the center of gravity up to somewhere near the bottom of the
bed casting at best -- not even as far down as the bottom of the feet in
the chip pan.
[ ... ]
Again -- watch what happens when the contact point of the
casters swings in towards the other caster.
This is a valid point,. but less important for a lathe compared to
something taller.
Lathes *love* to topple over forwards or backwards when being
moved. Anything which can move the contact points outside the base of
the lathe and *keep* them there will help control it. If you go back
through the archives here you will find stories of lathes which toppled
forwards, breaking the handwheels and control levers, and sometimes
damaging the people who were moving them.
[ ... ]
xv is not good enough for images of this size. I would try gimp. I
recently transitioned from xv to gimp for photo editing.
"xv" is not satisfactory for *editing* one of this size, but is
good enough for a quick look at it, and the 'i' command (info) will tell
me what the dimensions of the image are as well. And the "quick" is the
key word there -- it loads a lot quicker than the GIMP does. And yes, I
use the GIMP for serious editing of images. Among other things, it does
not reduce the size unless I *ask* it to do so. :-)
I used gimp for about 10+ years, but now I am moving towards gimp. It
does exactly what I want and I can also script it.
Hmm ... don't you mean that you used 'xv' for about 10+ years?
I've been using it for at least fifteen years.
And I agree that "the GIMP" is the choice when *editing* images.
But "xv" is nice for flipping through a directory full of images. Turn
on the "visual schnauzer" (CTRL-V while the cursor is in an image or the
splash screen) click the "update" button at the bottom of the screen,
and you will get thumbnails of every image in that directory which you
have access permissions for. You can select, delete, and relocate the
images to other directories using the mouse. Nice when wading through a
bunch of images to cull out the bad ones prior to making a web page with
them.
But for *modifying* them -- "the GIMP" is the tool of choice.
Also, I made a chuck key from a 1/2" Proto socket extension and a 3/8"
round rod today. The proto socket extension was surprisingly difficult to
drill. A drill bit dulled right away.
A *good* socket extension is forged steel, and *should* be
tough. However, you could have used a *cheap* extension to make the
chuck key, and kept the Proto for serious work.
I have a few more of these protos, already.
O.K. But perhaps some of the rest of us would like those. :-)
Or -- you could have made the chuck key with your mill and a
square collet block. Just chuck the body in the collet block with an
appropriate sized collet, then mount the collet block in the milling
vise with one end lining up with the edge, then mill across the end,
flip it 90 degrees and re-mount in the vise, do it again until you get
the end square. Then measure the size of the square, subtract from it
the size of the square socket in the chuck, divide the difference by
two, and go back to the mill. Crank the knee up by the calculated
value, and repeat the milling of all four sides.
You can also use the same trick with a hex collet block to make
either hex or three sided ends (heads or bits) on your workpiece.
Yep, I did that one to make a hex. It was fun.
Indeed so. And a lot quicker setup than bolting a dividing head
to the mill's table.
Enjoy,
DoN.
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