On 16 Aug 2004 17:20:47 -0700, jim rozen wrote:

||In article , GTO69RA4 says...
||
||But lots of of folks tweak the small spindles on those
||machines, and replace them with exact duplicates.
||
||Jim
||
||The trick I've seen most done is just making solid spindle for it. Stronger
||than the original with the oversized through-hole.
||
||The original AA products machines did not have the hole. That
||was added later, along with the back gears and whatnot.

Yep. Mine has a solid spindle with only 1/2-24 threads for the chuck.
It appears to also have a recess for a center, but it's pretty well munged.
Interestingly, it has a series of belts & pulleys to drive the leadscrew. Might
make threadcutting interesting

BTW, I attempted to build a new spindle from a 5/8 shock absorber shaft. It cut
easily, but I could not get it to cut smoothly. Any dea what kind of steel that
would be? Any reason it would not be suitable for a lathe spindle?
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Texas Parts Guy