DoN. Nichols wrote:

[ ... ]

Chacun a son gout...

After all -- I don't have to worry about the usual virus
infections with the Sun Workstation. They are all targeted at the
easiest target -- Windows. :-)

Yes. Mine has caught the swine flu I think.

[ ... ]

The small pulley that should match it (L series) is 6495K23. This
one is steel, the bigger one is cast iron.

O.K. Cast Iron is fine for the task. It is the softer metals
like the aluminum hub, and the softer plastics like the acetal
(Delrin) body which are likely to be problems for your job.

I suspect it is all academic.

O.K. If you are considering purchasing a larger lathe (as
suggested by the questions about lubrication), yes it is more than you
need to do.

It is all about understanding the options and then making the right choice.
The one big unknown is the future performance of the RedNeck beast. I made a
toolpost for it (well, a boring bar holder really) and it will be ready to
go tomorrow. If it does half a decent job the pressure is off.

[...]

Well, it is a close run thing between using the telescopic gauge and
a micrometer and actually making something with the required
accuracy. The last two attempts at making something to a given
dimension I overshot by
0.010" and 0.004" respectively. I suppose I am getting better...

Hmm ... first trick is to make sure that the tool is quite
sharp.

As well as the operator.

Second is to feed something like 1/3 the distance to reach final
diameter, make your cut, and measure what you really got, comparing it
to what you expected. Divide what is left by two, and adjust by how
far off your previous result was. Feed in that much, and make
another cut and measure again. Adjust again for the final cut.

It is difficult to get a very light cut to produce what you
want, because deflection of the workpiece and the tool may prevent
ever taking a bite, so when you finally feed enough to take another
bite, it is too big. So sneaking up on the final dimension can be
difficult, and making larger cuts works better.

I am still struggling to understand fully what happens if you run the tool
over the workpiece in two or three passes without adjusting the feed at all.
This applies to both the mill and the lathe. In both cases it was the
finishing cut that took me past the specified dimension.

As for getting the boring to work right -- bore to a few
thousandths undersized, and then use a reamer to get to final size.
The same problems with sneaking up on the size occur when boring as
when turning -- perhaps more so.

I guess this is OK up to about 1/2". Economy-wise.

Talking about economy: I went to visit the shop that sells my stuff from
time to time. Contrary to expectations their sales were up 35% on last year
so I'd better get going.

--
Michael Koblic
Campbell River, BC