Back to Work, New Pics, Article, etc.

Back to work!

Rick Kernell sent in these pictures of his graduated Taig lathe handwheel.

"The power feed is working really well. This idea has been rattling in my head for a while. Maybe some one else may find this a help.
The new carriage feed moves at 1.800 inch per revolution. I marked off the wheel so that each 0.100 inch and 0.300 inch (black lines) has graduations. They are not knock-dead accurate due to the lead screw/gear play, but they are surprisingly reproducible."

Note that this is the new power feed version of the lathe. Rick was one of the first people to make the conversion.

Keith Brooke sent in a short PDF article on his method of Free-Hand Turning on the Taig Lathe.

Jacobs closed its last US plant so there are some deals out there. One that caught my eye: Jacobs 6208 1B Medium DutyChuck 6.5 mm 3/8-Inch 24tpi, There are some other good deals if you search for Jacobs on Amazon, especially if you need large 30 to 50 taper end mill holders.
[EDIT, it appears the deal on the chuck is gone and it's back to the regular price]

Finally, for those of you who probe in Mach3, there's a great probing routine here that promises to greatly reduce time. I haven't tried it yet but the thread on the Mach forum is encouraging.