On Jun 19, 6:55*pm, Jim Wilkins wrote:
On Jun 19, 4:31*pm, Searcher7 wrote:

On Jun 19, 3:13*pm, Jim Wilkins wrote:
On Jun 19, 11:25*am, Searcher7 wrote:

On Jun 17, 7:43*am, Jim Wilkins wrote:
On Jun 17, 1:46*am, Searcher7 wrote:
On Jun 16, 6:53 pm, "DoN. Nichols" wrote:
...
...Deflection controls the maximum length you can have protruding
from the chuck or collet. The part inside the spindle is irrelevant.

I thought that the distance between tailstock and headstock would
determine this.

For 2" pipe and light cuts perhaps. 1/8" brass rod yields too much to
turn straight if it protrudes even 1/2".

And I assume deflection is why steady rests were made.

It is, but they can't occupy the same space as the carriage. Follower
rests don't help if the part has shoulders. If you tried to turn a 6"
length of 1/4" aluminum without the tailstock it would just climb up
onto the lathe bit.

Of course. (But I don't know what you mean by shoulders).

Yes. My determination is that with my lathe 9/16" would be the maximum
diameter I could pass through the spindle using 3C collets, because
that is the largest diameter these collets are made for.

Higher than that would require a 5C collet chuck for the 5C collets.

Not if you needed to turn some 3/4" thin walled brass tubing, or thin
a washer, or remove the part to test a fit and then replace it to cut
some more, or turn it around to machine the other end, or file it
without risking precious body parts, or face a batch of pieces to the
same length. An MT3 collet would be fine for all those.

But Isn't MT3 a "tool holding" collet?

You could make one end of the drawbar serve as the depth stop by
turning it down below the thread roots. I'd bring it out within ~1/2"
of the end. The collet slides further into the spindle as you tighten
it but the drawbar doesn't move.

It also helps if you are making bicycle spokes or threading the ends
of tubing, ...
Of course. But I have no projects like that on the horizon yet.

They aren't on the horizon, they are submarines waiting to torpedo you
with broken lamp and plumbing parts etc. When I *bought the lathe I
had no idea that in a few years I would be making antique lawnmower
tires and space laser prototypes on it

MT3 collets use a drawbar, so they are not an option.
Darren Harris

Ask yourself why they are used on rotary tables. An MT2 collet holds
the centering rod hehttp://picasaweb.google.com/KB1DAL/H...10360947850418

But wouldn't an MT2 dead center be better?

On the lathe you could do the same to center a gear blank on a
faceplate, I did (with 5C) to turn the OD of that piece. A chuck and
faceplate won't fit at the same time, but you can use a collet with
either, like to hold a depth stop for a chuck.

I'd think to use my MT2 dead center here also. And I'd have to make
sure that I get a chuck or a face plate with large enough center
bores.

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.