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Bob Engelhardt Bob Engelhardt is offline
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Default Small feeds on the lathe

I put an motor-driven feed on my lathe
(http://www.MWDropbox.com/dropbox/ServoPowerFeed.pdf) which I built to
give a minimum feed of .003. I don't know why I chose that value - it's
probably the smallest that the change box will do.

I was just watching a Tubal Cain video on YouTube about the power feed
he put on an Atlas lathe. The Atlas gears only went down to .0046
(IIRC) and he wanted much finer. (His other lathes went to .0016 & .00076.)

My first thought was to modify my feed to go much finer/slower. But I
got to thinking that there must be some limit. It seems that if the
feed was too fine the bit would just rub until enough feed had
accumulated and then the bit would bite and jump. And the bit's edge
would be critical - razor sharp or better.

How fine do you feed? What are the considerations in doing a very fine
feed?

Thanks,
Bob