Well, I acquired a project. I now am restricted from buying more huge hunks of machinery until Jan 1. I have a South Bend 13 inch late that is gonna need a steady rest, maybe two. I think with some good plans, it could be fabbed with the rotary table and mill.
I was reading on the wiki, and the lash on the mill was mentioned. Right now, the lead screw on the lathe is as accurate as it can be, would be a good time to turn a new screw for the mill, and add the anti lash devices on the handwheel ends if people are interested. If, the screw has long clearances front and rear, then the threading is fairly forgiving. It’s the trying to get the tool bit back before a collision near the head stock/end of piece that is the real bear. If it overruns generously, plenty of time for the controls.
If I recall the main pia is that the threading depth of cut is like .003 if I recall, and periodic passes with no addition depth of cut are needed, then close to end the passes are .001.
Oh, and if the fellows that were working on that old lathe are still about, and the old iron matches… we could measure the parts directly if that helps and they are still working on it.
