My armchair is so comfortable for these old bones that a current
discussion re best lathes got me to musing instead of turning. My
position, as usual, is squarely on all sides. I remember thinking, and
not long ago, that it just couldn't get any better than a Myford, Delta,
Oliver, Harrison, and other successors to Dunlap, Beaver & Coronet.

The "ne plus ultra's" that we knew would be all the lathe we could
possibly ever want soon became stepping stones to 'better' lathes. (an
awful lot of us still stand on those stones, but humor me for sake of
argument). You know what inevitably happened, and an even 'greatest
generation' is sure to follow Oneway, Stubby and their cousins. We think
that pride of ownership, price, weight, specs, elegance, convenience,
durability and all things that make us lust for that final machine has
reached a zenith. I don't see useful objects or even art forms getting
much larger than the people who use and enjoy them, but don't bet on it.

What will the lathes for the 2010 season be like, assuming that we are
still using them for wood art, architecture and _fun? Maybe new
materials, integral threading & ornamentation, lasers, air bags, vacuum,
compressed air, copying, dust control, automatic speed changing,
spindles that hold everything without pins, chucks or spurs will
obsolete today's very best. The BMW of lathes, whew! The ultimate all or
none (dehumanized?) turning machine.

I have made fun of the absolutely best lathe. Now it's time to make fun
of me.
What do you guys want or expect to see in woodturning lathes for 2010?
Arch

Fortiter,

The 2010 VB36,000 wood lathe. Complete with a 410 hp, supercharged v-10. Chrome
pipes, of course. A three-dimensionally rotatable headstock. Six inch diameter,
titanium-alloy spindle. Super high-tech "magnetic field" type bearings (no metal
on metal contact, for optimum smoothness and wearability). And a 7000lb,
perfectly machined cast-iron, diamond encrusted stand. Oh, and a cup holder for
my coffee.
Dan


In article , Arch
says...

My armchair is so comfortable for these old bones that a current
discussion re best lathes got me to musing instead of turning. My
position, as usual, is squarely on all sides. I remember thinking, and
not long ago, that it just couldn't get any better than a Myford, Delta,
Oliver, Harrison, and other successors to Dunlap, Beaver & Coronet.

The "ne plus ultra's" that we knew would be all the lathe we could
possibly ever want soon became stepping stones to 'better' lathes. (an
awful lot of us still stand on those stones, but humor me for sake of
argument). You know what inevitably happened, and an even 'greatest
generation' is sure to follow Oneway, Stubby and their cousins. We think
that pride of ownership, price, weight, specs, elegance, convenience,
durability and all things that make us lust for that final machine has
reached a zenith. I don't see useful objects or even art forms getting
much larger than the people who use and enjoy them, but don't bet on it.

What will the lathes for the 2010 season be like, assuming that we are
still using them for wood art, architecture and _fun? Maybe new
materials, integral threading & ornamentation, lasers, air bags, vacuum,
compressed air, copying, dust control, automatic speed changing,
spindles that hold everything without pins, chucks or spurs will
obsolete today's very best. The BMW of lathes, whew! The ultimate all or
none (dehumanized?) turning machine.

I have made fun of the absolutely best lathe. Now it's time to make fun
of me.
What do you guys want or expect to see in woodturning lathes for 2010?
Arch

Fortiter,

(Arch) writes:
What do you guys want or expect to see in woodturning lathes for 2010?

Built-in vacuum system.

Computerized control panel with persistent defaults and TRUE rpm reading.

Computerized spindle lock with push-button re-indexing.

Laser contour marking for spindle work.

More support for (and offerings of) jigs and such.

Reduction in prices (due to popularity, of course!).

Available in your choice of colors ;-)

In article , says...

(Arch) writes:
What do you guys want or expect to see in woodturning lathes for 2010?

Built-in vacuum system.

Computerized control panel with persistent defaults and TRUE rpm reading.

Computerized spindle lock with push-button re-indexing.

Laser contour marking for spindle work.

More support for (and offerings of) jigs and such.

Reduction in prices (due to popularity, of course!).

Available in your choice of colors ;-)


Hm....

The Stubby already has the built-in vacuum system so you can strike that
one off. Also, since you get two banjos with it, the second one can be
used for many purposes. I use it to hold the trap for my boring bar.

Bill

Soft start like my router.

Arch wrote:

My armchair is so comfortable for these old bones that a current
discussion re best lathes got me to musing instead of turning. My
position, as usual, is squarely on all sides. I remember thinking, and
not long ago, that it just couldn't get any better than a Myford, Delta,
Oliver, Harrison, and other successors to Dunlap, Beaver & Coronet.

The "ne plus ultra's" that we knew would be all the lathe we could
possibly ever want soon became stepping stones to 'better' lathes. (an
awful lot of us still stand on those stones, but humor me for sake of
argument). You know what inevitably happened, and an even 'greatest
generation' is sure to follow Oneway, Stubby and their cousins. We think
that pride of ownership, price, weight, specs, elegance, convenience,
durability and all things that make us lust for that final machine has
reached a zenith. I don't see useful objects or even art forms getting
much larger than the people who use and enjoy them, but don't bet on it.

What will the lathes for the 2010 season be like, assuming that we are
still using them for wood art, architecture and _fun? Maybe new
materials, integral threading & ornamentation, lasers, air bags, vacuum,
compressed air, copying, dust control, automatic speed changing,
spindles that hold everything without pins, chucks or spurs will
obsolete today's very best. The BMW of lathes, whew! The ultimate all or
none (dehumanized?) turning machine.

I have made fun of the absolutely best lathe. Now it's time to make fun
of me.
What do you guys want or expect to see in woodturning lathes for 2010?
Arch

Fortiter,


--

Gerald Ross
Cochran, GA
............................................
It's always darkest before you step on
the cat.


-----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
-----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =-----

Bill Rubenstein writes:
The Stubby already has the built-in vacuum system so you can strike that
one off.

I'm still in the "cheap lathe" category, so a stubby is WAY outside my
means.

Also, since you get two banjos with it, the second one can be used
for many purposes. I use it to hold the trap for my boring bar.

I was thinking of a bed-indexed table with tapped holes in the top for
fastening things to, like a router jig for fluting or a precision
face-truing jig.

How about a Jet Mini lathe with a 24" swing? Well, then it wouldn't be a
mini, would it?

Barry


"Arch" wrote in message
...
My armchair is so comfortable for these old bones that a current
discussion re best lathes got me to musing instead of turning. My
position, as usual, is squarely on all sides. I remember thinking, and
not long ago, that it just couldn't get any better than a Myford, Delta,
Oliver, Harrison, and other successors to Dunlap, Beaver & Coronet.

The "ne plus ultra's" that we knew would be all the lathe we could
possibly ever want soon became stepping stones to 'better' lathes. (an
awful lot of us still stand on those stones, but humor me for sake of
argument). You know what inevitably happened, and an even 'greatest
generation' is sure to follow Oneway, Stubby and their cousins. We think
that pride of ownership, price, weight, specs, elegance, convenience,
durability and all things that make us lust for that final machine has
reached a zenith. I don't see useful objects or even art forms getting
much larger than the people who use and enjoy them, but don't bet on it.

What will the lathes for the 2010 season be like, assuming that we are
still using them for wood art, architecture and _fun? Maybe new
materials, integral threading & ornamentation, lasers, air bags, vacuum,
compressed air, copying, dust control, automatic speed changing,
spindles that hold everything without pins, chucks or spurs will
obsolete today's very best. The BMW of lathes, whew! The ultimate all or
none (dehumanized?) turning machine.

I have made fun of the absolutely best lathe. Now it's time to make fun
of me.
What do you guys want or expect to see in woodturning lathes for 2010?
Arch

Fortiter,

Arch wrote: (clip) What do you guys want or expect to see in woodturning
lathes for 2010?
^^^^^^^^^^^^
2010 may be too soon for the real improvements to materialize, but this is
what I foresee:

If you want to picture the lathe of the future, you have only to look at the
changes which have occurred in several other technical fields: automobiles,
sewing machines, cameras and machine tools. This will take time, because
the wood lathe of today is very primitive-- at a stage comparable to the
horseless carriage. It's ahead of the horse and buggy, or the needle and
thread, but, wow, what a future. Step pulleys and manually controlled speed
will be replaced by feedback systems, which sense the load, and optimize
the speed.. The tool will no longer get dull. Gouges will be tubular, and
will rotate, so the part that is not touching the wood will pass over a
sharpening system. The design of a bowl will be done on a computer screen,
with a mouse and a keyboard. Once the form is established, pressing
"Enter"will cause the tool to find the wood surface and begin removing
everything that is not a bowl. There will be stored programs, similar to
those in the modern sewing machine, which can produce "features" on demand,
all perfectly formed and completely reproducible.

Of course, the requirements of automation will make it impossible to deal
with the variations in old-fashioned wood. Things like bark inclustions,
excess spalting and odd grain patterns would be death on the idealized
programs of the future. So turning blanks will be manufactured out of wood
/plasticcomposition, to a controlled consistency, with grain patterns molded
in. Every wood blank will come with an ASA rating, which will tell the
computer how it needs to be turned. You will be able to previsualize a
bowl, set up the parameters, set the lathe in motion, and go do something
else. It will be glorious.

There will still be people like Roy Underhill around, who will keep the old
methods from dying out completely, for the sake of a few nostalgia buffs in
our midst.

No bed. Headstock and tailstock to be suspended in the air in perfect
alignment in a strong magnetic field.
Indestructable porcelain composite chisels. Integrated 5 axis AIC
(Artificial Intelligence Controlled) milling machine and laser engraver to
handle unexpected influxes of orders. AM/FM/mp3 stereo. Cup holder with a
force field top to protect my coffee from dust.


"Arch" wrote in message
...
My armchair is so comfortable for these old bones that a current
discussion re best lathes got me to musing instead of turning. My
position, as usual, is squarely on all sides. I remember thinking, and
not long ago, that it just couldn't get any better than a Myford, Delta,
Oliver, Harrison, and other successors to Dunlap, Beaver & Coronet.

The "ne plus ultra's" that we knew would be all the lathe we could
possibly ever want soon became stepping stones to 'better' lathes. (an
awful lot of us still stand on those stones, but humor me for sake of
argument). You know what inevitably happened, and an even 'greatest
generation' is sure to follow Oneway, Stubby and their cousins. We think
that pride of ownership, price, weight, specs, elegance, convenience,
durability and all things that make us lust for that final machine has
reached a zenith. I don't see useful objects or even art forms getting
much larger than the people who use and enjoy them, but don't bet on it.

What will the lathes for the 2010 season be like, assuming that we are
still using them for wood art, architecture and _fun? Maybe new
materials, integral threading & ornamentation, lasers, air bags, vacuum,
compressed air, copying, dust control, automatic speed changing,
spindles that hold everything without pins, chucks or spurs will
obsolete today's very best. The BMW of lathes, whew! The ultimate all or
none (dehumanized?) turning machine.

I have made fun of the absolutely best lathe. Now it's time to make fun
of me.
What do you guys want or expect to see in woodturning lathes for 2010?
Arch

Fortiter,

Thanks for all your great answers. I hope I get to see your ideas
actualized.

I hope Leif is well. I expected a built in
LDD vat and sprayer to be up front. Maybe he won't wait for 2010.
Arch

Fortiter,

Before the the new age lathe gets started working on the wood, it has to get to
the wood. How about a crane which will grab the wood blank and mount it on the
lathe. This would save a lot of time and prevent bad backs. I know a lot of
doctors would hate this lathe, and probably try and prevent it from hitting the
market because it would take away one of their main income producers.

In article , ghodges2
@aol.com says...
Before the the new age lathe gets started working on the wood, it has to get to
the wood. How about a crane which will grab the wood blank and mount it on the
lathe. This would save a lot of time and prevent bad backs. I know a lot of
doctors would hate this lathe, and probably try and prevent it from hitting the
market because it would take away one of their main income producers.

I think that John Nichols sells these with many of his lathes. A number
of the Stubby group have made their own using a highly-discounted
electric hoist from Harbor Freight.

Bill

Hmmm... my lathe happens to sit under a 16" steel I-beam, I bet I
could put a really big hoist on that! Unfortunately, my lathe won't
handle anything bigger than I can easily lift anyway :-(

I don't see much change other than the color of the paint and an increase in
their price in the next 10 years.

The only real changes in the wood lathe in the past 2408 years have been the
addition of ball bearings and the electric motor. Other than that, they still
spin a piece of wood between two support pedestals so we can hold some type of
tool against it with the intent of changing its shape . With this slow rate of
evolution, why should we expect any major changes in the next 10 years?

I would be happy with some simple improvements, like someone making a lathe
with something better than ball bearings. One would think that they could at
least use a spherical roller bearing or Timken taper bearings so that they
could be preloaded and adjusted for "Zero" end play. It seem rediculous to me
that anyone making a lathe that sells for $5000 will worry about an additional
$200.

Most of us would be happy if a lathe could be made with tool rests, motor
shafts, and drive belts that didn't break; lathe beds that didn't twist as they
aged; head and tailstocks that were lined up when we got them and that stayed
that way; and locking mechanisms that worked without our having to use a
hammer.

Now, if someone wanted to be innovative they could improve the tool rest. My
ideal tool rest would be adjustable in length from "Zero" to the full distance
between centers (no more changing rests or using more than one banjo),
adjustable to any inside or outside shape (always turning with minimum tool
overhang), be infinitely rigid, and have the ability to do all of this
automatically. I don't think that I am asking for much.

While I am dreaming, I would like to see someone develop a tool steel that had
the wear resistance of a 2060 steel AND the ability to be sharpened to as keen
an edge as a High Carbon Steel. So far, those two elements have not been
mutually inclusive.









Russ Fairfield
Post Falls, Idaho
http://www.woodturnerruss.com/

Gee Leo, they already have that system. Its called a CNC machine.

"Leo Lichtman" wrote in message
...
Arch wrote: (clip) What do you guys want or expect to see in woodturning
lathes for 2010?
^^^^^^^^^^^^
2010 may be too soon for the real improvements to materialize, but this is
what I foresee:

If you want to picture the lathe of the future, you have only to look at
the
changes which have occurred in several other technical fields:
automobiles,
sewing machines, cameras and machine tools. This will take time, because
the wood lathe of today is very primitive-- at a stage comparable to the
horseless carriage. It's ahead of the horse and buggy, or the needle and
thread, but, wow, what a future. Step pulleys and manually controlled
speed
will be replaced by feedback systems, which sense the load, and optimize
the speed.. The tool will no longer get dull. Gouges will be tubular,
and
will rotate, so the part that is not touching the wood will pass over a
sharpening system. The design of a bowl will be done on a computer
screen,
with a mouse and a keyboard. Once the form is established, pressing
"Enter"will cause the tool to find the wood surface and begin removing
everything that is not a bowl. There will be stored programs, similar to
those in the modern sewing machine, which can produce "features" on
demand,
all perfectly formed and completely reproducible.

Of course, the requirements of automation will make it impossible to deal
with the variations in old-fashioned wood. Things like bark
inclustions,
excess spalting and odd grain patterns would be death on the idealized
programs of the future. So turning blanks will be manufactured out of
wood
/plasticcomposition, to a controlled consistency, with grain patterns
molded
in. Every wood blank will come with an ASA rating, which will tell the
computer how it needs to be turned. You will be able to previsualize a
bowl, set up the parameters, set the lathe in motion, and go do something
else. It will be glorious.

There will still be people like Roy Underhill around, who will keep the
old
methods from dying out completely, for the sake of a few nostalgia buffs
in
our midst.

Russ Fairfield wrote:
I don't see much change other than the color of the paint and an increase in
their price in the next 10 years.

Nope, we're gonna see massive improvements. With voice recognition in
computers, the lathe of tomorrow will be just like the one's aboard Star Trek:
"Computer, increase speed 10 rpm", "Computer, stop the lathe", etc. No more
reaching across the way to stop a disintegrating bowl.

Of course, the voice recognition module (vrm) will be a bit extra over the
standard price...

....Kevin
--
Kevin & Theresa Miller
Juneau, Alaska
http://www.alaska.net/~atftb

the Nichols lathe comes with that feature, many others add it via an
overhead hoist
"Ghodges2" wrote in message
...
Before the the new age lathe gets started working on the wood, it has to
get to
the wood. How about a crane which will grab the wood blank and mount it
on the
lathe. This would save a lot of time and prevent bad backs. I know a lot
of
doctors would hate this lathe, and probably try and prevent it from
hitting the
market because it would take away one of their main income producers.

In article 1066800190.19346@prawn,
Kevin & Theresa Miller wrote:

Nope, we're gonna see massive improvements. With voice recognition in
computers, the lathe of tomorrow will be just like the one's aboard Star
Trek:
"Computer, increase speed 10 rpm", "Computer, stop the lathe", etc. No more
reaching across the way to stop a disintegrating bowl.

While you're saying "Com..." I'll already have hit the stop button.
Positionable controls (no reaching across anything) are much more
effective (and cheaper) than hokey gimmicks like voice control.

Though it would be sort of amusing to find your lathe taking directions
from Meat Loaf playing on the stereo - "... all of a sudden the lathe
was going like a Bat out of Hell..."

--
Cats, Coffee, Chocolate...vices to live by

Kevin & Theresa Miller writes:
Nope, we're gonna see massive improvements. With voice recognition in
computers, the lathe of tomorrow will be just like the one's aboard
Star Trek: "Computer, increase speed 10 rpm", "Computer, stop the
lathe", etc. No more reaching across the way to stop a disintegrating
bowl.

I'll buy it when it responds to "Aaaarrrghhh!"

Cup holders! Way to go. My computer has two of those little deals.

Barry

"Passerby" wrote in message
m...
No bed. Headstock and tailstock to be suspended in the air in perfect
alignment in a strong magnetic field.
Indestructable porcelain composite chisels. Integrated 5 axis AIC
(Artificial Intelligence Controlled) milling machine and laser engraver to
handle unexpected influxes of orders. AM/FM/mp3 stereo. Cup holder with a
force field top to protect my coffee from dust.


"Arch" wrote in message
...
My armchair is so comfortable for these old bones that a current
discussion re best lathes got me to musing instead of turning. My
position, as usual, is squarely on all sides. I remember thinking, and
not long ago, that it just couldn't get any better than a Myford, Delta,
Oliver, Harrison, and other successors to Dunlap, Beaver & Coronet.

The "ne plus ultra's" that we knew would be all the lathe we could
possibly ever want soon became stepping stones to 'better' lathes. (an
awful lot of us still stand on those stones, but humor me for sake of
argument). You know what inevitably happened, and an even 'greatest
generation' is sure to follow Oneway, Stubby and their cousins. We think
that pride of ownership, price, weight, specs, elegance, convenience,
durability and all things that make us lust for that final machine has
reached a zenith. I don't see useful objects or even art forms getting
much larger than the people who use and enjoy them, but don't bet on it.

What will the lathes for the 2010 season be like, assuming that we are
still using them for wood art, architecture and _fun? Maybe new
materials, integral threading & ornamentation, lasers, air bags, vacuum,
compressed air, copying, dust control, automatic speed changing,
spindles that hold everything without pins, chucks or spurs will
obsolete today's very best. The BMW of lathes, whew! The ultimate all or
none (dehumanized?) turning machine.

I have made fun of the absolutely best lathe. Now it's time to make fun
of me.
What do you guys want or expect to see in woodturning lathes for 2010?
Arch

Fortiter,

Positionable controls (no reaching across anything)

I want my controls wireless on a wristband. And an automatic stop touch
sensor on my face mask right in front of my nose. It won't protect my
face, but at least the lathe will be off when I fall across it
unconscious.

-mike paulson, fort collins, co

While you're saying "Com..." I'll already have hit the stop button.

Maybe you could program it to stop if it hears the word "Ouch!"


In article ,
Ecnerwal wrote:
In article 1066800190.19346@prawn,
Kevin & Theresa Miller wrote:

Nope, we're gonna see massive improvements. With voice recognition in
computers, the lathe of tomorrow will be just like the one's aboard Star
Trek:
"Computer, increase speed 10 rpm", "Computer, stop the lathe", etc. No more
reaching across the way to stop a disintegrating bowl.

While you're saying "Com..." I'll already have hit the stop button.
Positionable controls (no reaching across anything) are much more
effective (and cheaper) than hokey gimmicks like voice control.

Though it would be sort of amusing to find your lathe taking directions
from Meat Loaf playing on the stereo - "... all of a sudden the lathe
was going like a Bat out of Hell..."

--
Cats, Coffee, Chocolate...vices to live by