On Tuesday, January 12, 2016 at 4:59:13 PM UTC-5, amdx wrote:
I have one of the Harbor Freight 7 x 10 lathes.
I have a bicycle seat post that I want to reduce the diameter by 0.025".
The spindle head is to small to accept the post, the bed is to short to
use the tail stock.
Any clever ideas how I could use this lathe to do the job. The post is
aluminum.
I took it to a machine shop, he laughed and said, "I've already spent
more time on this than the part is worth."

Mikek

I always try to figure out what is the real requirement. In this case I think the real requirement is to have a shaft of some diameter 12 inches long.. Does it need to be a tube? Can you buy a tube or shaft of the right diameter? Could you get the right diameter by using a threading die to take off some of the metal and use the depth of the thread as a guide to removing the necessary amount of metal. Maybe using a drill press to spin the post and a file to remove the metal down to where the threading disappears.

Dan