Hi Bridger

Things are not the same anymore, thank the Lord, but when I started
turning wood, late 50th early 60th, there was no one to ask how to, no
tools to buy, etc.
I used our big old engine lathe, German build in the 30th and had to
figure out how to hold or fasten a block of wood, make a tool, sharpen
it at what angle, or shape, turn at what speed, how to sand, what to
finish with, etc. etc.
I also tried a bar on the compound slide, its nice for using inside a
box when using a scraper but there are problems with adjusting for
center height, for inside turning you want to be above center, for
outside, at or below, spacers don't improve tool rest stability, and if
you use a bowl gauge rather than a scraper, the angle to use your gauge
in will have your whole tool carridge in the way, that is why I use a
banjo and tool rest, and after years of using that setup I have no
damage to my Prism ways.
So Bridger do as you please of course, I'd be the last one to tell you
don't do this or that, but for what its worth, i've been there and done
that.
Hope this is of some help to you.

Have fun and take care
Leo Van Der Loo

Bridger wrote:

On 5 Feb 2004 21:27:30 -0800, (Bob Itnyre) wrote:


Bridger I had the same question/situation a few years ago. Here is
how I solved it.
I turned a little device, shaped to slide into the T slot that the
lantern style tool post goes into. If you can imagine, this device
looked like two stacked silver dollars with two quarters centered and
stacked on top. I drilled a tapped a 5/6 x 18 hole in the center of it
and slid it into the t slot.


basically a Tslot nut? I have a mixed lot of misc Tslot nuts. hafta
see if one might work.




I got a piece of 1 1/2 angle iron about 5
inches long. I drilled a hole in one of the sides of the angle iron
that a 5/16 bolt would fit through. I laid it on top of the compound
rest, with the hole aligned with the tapped hole and slid a short bolt
in and presto I had a tool rest that I could adjust around as needed
and put my wood turning tools on it to turn wood.


this will probably be my first approach. I like that it involves the
least amount of changing the current configuration. it has a couple
of drawbacks that I can see- it eats up a couple of inches of swing
(of which I have little to spare) and it leaves some easily removeable
precision sliding parts in the waste stream of wood chips.






By the way Grizzly
sells a number 3 morse taper spur center if you need to turn spindles.


they als sell a #2MT cup center for the tailstock. Got 'em : ^ )




Of course you might have to adjust sizes to fit your needs. Beauty of
it is, it is real fast to set up and take down,


easy back and forth from wood to metal. nice.




and also it rides on
the existing carraige so your ways don't have some alien device on
them, possible gurring them up.


this is a real concern.





Drop me a line if you have any
questions. Keep turning. Bob



thanks
Bridger