On Tue, 12 Jan 2016 20:43:24 -0600, dpb wrote:

On 01/12/2016 4:10 PM, Ed Huntress wrote:
...

However, if the bed is too short to use the tailstock, it raises the
question of how long this thing is and how much of it you want to turn
down. A long, thin aluminum tube is going to present a deflection
problem, in which case you may have to rig a follow rest in addition
to the steady rest. You can look that one up, too.

Just heard this afternoon a lathe operator was killed when the bar was
turning bent and hit him in the head...spinning things unsupported can
do nasties.

When they grab the tool and climb up it, they'll often spring out of
the centers up and back -- right for your head.

We don't hear as much about that danger today for several reasons, one
of which is that, unlike the early days of manufacturing, our primary
workpieces aren't power-transmission shafts, as they were in the early
days.

And, of course, there aren't a lot of lathes doing production work
with an operator standing in front of them, and without a protective
enclosure.

--
Ed Huntress