Hello again,

I have a 60 year old Herbert preoptive Lathe. It is quite huge and I
have a chuck with a very bad case of worn out scroll. My question is:
is it possible to replace the scroll and the jaw carriers, or what
ever they are called. or would it be easier to get a whole chuck, -
there is no runout on the body of the chuck? I get runout that varies
over about 20 thou, depending on which bit of the scroll is in use.
What about the chances of finding a 4 jaw that would fit on the 3 stud
fixing. Does anyone have anything that is better than what I have
that is no longer in use? Anything considered. I am near Norwich.

Also I am trying to make a cone on the bottom of a 40 gallon drum. I
have been thinking that it might be possible to pound out the bottom
in the style of a calypso musical drum, to get the same effect. Has
anyone done it, or know how much of a dome I could beat out, - using a
rounded end wooden post for example, before it started to do damage to
the bottom ring edge or started to split the bottom. Or maybe I could
reinforce the top rim and jack down on the bottom from a strong
support at the top, to achieve the same effect.

Any comments would be welcome, thanks and regards, George.