"wmbjk" wrote in message
...
I had to make 6 circles recently, 1/8" thick, 6" diameter. They needed
to be nice, so I always intended to lathe turn them. Trouble is, when
I've done it before using a plasma cutter and a compass-style circle
guide, the smallest variation in the angle of the torch head while
cutting left the blanks just inaccurate enough to be a pain to turn on
my small lathe. So this time I cut them square from 6" wide flat
stock, center drilled the squares, and mounted them on my quick and
dirty turntable, which was cobbled for a previous project from a
modified $10 HF boat winch . Added an adjustable arm to hold the torch
head locked in position, and started cranking. It worked so well that
I almost could have skipped the lathe turning. You'd think the
winch-turntable would need a separate ground to the material, but the
current carries through the gear train and bushings without problem.
It's overkill for 1/32 accuracy, but you might find it useful for
other projects. Very low tech, here's a photo
http://www.citlink.net/~wmbjk/images/winchturntable.jpg

Wayne

Great idea, I like the way you think!