I need to turn just a couple legs for a small table I'm trying to
repair. The problem is the bed of my lathe is not long enough. I could
add a bed extension but that would require building a new stand etc

A good reason to not buy the bed extension is that this is the first
need for such a long turning after several years of owning the lathe.

I'm wondering if I could support the spindle in another way that is
safely support the spindle.

william kossack wrote:
I need to turn just a couple legs for a small table I'm trying to
repair. The problem is the bed of my lathe is not long enough. I could
add a bed extension but that would require building a new stand etc

A good reason to not buy the bed extension is that this is the first
need for such a long turning after several years of owning the lathe.

I'm wondering if I could support the spindle in another way that is
safely support the spindle.

Depends on how long the leg you want to make is when finished. I have
made longer pieces on my Jet mini by making it a two piece affair, with
a female and male part on the connection point. A "feature" of some
sort will magically appear on the joint to cover it up. If it is
painted, I wouldn't even bother with that.

Standard table height is somewhere around 28 to 30 inches, so you can
two piece a leg easily on the mini.

I have two Jet minis... maybe you can borrow another small lathe like
yours since they are pretty common and easy to transport. I can take
one lathe and flip it around and make a bed to bed connection, then
clamp it together with the tailstock reversed on the right hand side
lathe.
Don't bother about it matching perfectly, it doesn't need to since the
location of the tailstock will providet the correct axis for turning.
It does need to be very, very well attached at the bed connection
though so that you won have movement.

Years ago, (I think it was Bill Grumbine) posted a lot of pics where he
turned something like a 12' boat mast with his Nova 3000. He mounted
the tailstock on something he could move and after determining the
right height and alignment, he tightened the tailstock to the material
and away he went. There were some additional devices to help keep whip
down, but it worked great.

Robert

Hi Bill

You could make one part of your stock round, (like a short piece of
pipe clamped around it) then use a steady rest and turn one half, flip
around and do the other end, it's one way of doing it.

Have fun and take care
Leo Van Der Loo

william kossack wrote:
I need to turn just a couple legs for a small table I'm trying to
repair. The problem is the bed of my lathe is not long enough. I could
add a bed extension but that would require building a new stand etc

A good reason to not buy the bed extension is that this is the first
need for such a long turning after several years of owning the lathe.

I'm wondering if I could support the spindle in another way that is
safely support the spindle.

I needed to turn a couple 6' columns in a 4' lathe. I removed its gap bed block
and screwed it to a nearby counter using some shims to get the height correct.
I turned one end, flipped the spindle end for end, and finished the other end.
Dan


"william kossack" wrote in message
...
I need to turn just a couple legs for a small table I'm trying to repair. The
problem is the bed of my lathe is not long enough. I could add a bed extension
but that would require building a new stand etc

A good reason to not buy the bed extension is that this is the first need for
such a long turning after several years of owning the lathe.

I'm wondering if I could support the spindle in another way that is safely
support the spindle.