I missed the staff meeting but the minutes show wrote
back on 22 Apr 2005 05:34:32 -0700 in rec.crafts.metalworking :
I found a 36 inch used metal lathe for sale for 350. What would this be
good for? I like working with metal. I have a couple of welders and am
wanting to increase my tools in my garage!

If you mean it can hold something 36" in diameter, you got a huge lathe
(I used one a bit larger to turn 31 foot long drill collars. I've seen
some rather hefty prop shafts being turned on others that size.)

If you have one which is 36" between chuck face and tail stock, you
have a "more normal" sized one.
Which means you can turn anything up to 36" long. Or longer if the
machine has a bar feed option (where longer stock is stuck in through the
chuck.)

That size pretty much covers most uses. It is it round, you can pretty
much do it. Thread it, bore it, face it, smooth it, you can make plugs,
bells, whistles, washers, breaches, propeller shafts, new wheels for the
four poster, yea even sex toys. You can even make julienne fries with it,
but you'll need to hold the potatoe just right.

And yeah, you can also injure yourself in methods most unpleasant, even
unto death, faster than you'd ever thought possible, if you don't follow
safe machining practices.


tschus
pyotr



--
pyotr filipivich.
as an explaination for the decline in the US's tech edge, James
Niccol wrote "It used to be that the USA was pretty good at
producing stuff teenaged boys could lose a finger or two playing with."