On Thu, 15 Sep 2005 15:57:30 -0500, "Robert Swinney"
wrote:

"

Yep! This the rationale of those that forget about all that pesky "Fitch
balancing", and just use the biggest honking idler that they can figure out
how to start. Sometimes known as the the "Rozen system"; inelegant but
workable.

I like elegance, but I sure understand "field expedient" .
I continue to find the subject of esoteric interest, but my
self-starting RPC was whipped together in an afternoon over a decade
ago, works fine, I'll not be fixing what ain't broke. I didn't do
any fussy balancing. I threw a couple of caps at it in balance
formation and called it good since it worked. I don't need an
ammeter to tell me if my lathe is working.

I hit a switch mounted on the lathe, RPC starts. I can then use lathe
or mill at will. Done making chips, kill the RPC. The RPC is a
bit noisy, but not so noisy I can't hear "dinner's ready".