Nathan Hawkes
03-03-2009, 6:20 PM
I ordered my new lathe last week, and I want to be ready for it. I'm digging footings for a concrete foundation, and I want to make a new steady rest for it. I couldn't seem to find the width of the bed ways. I'm looking for not only the top width but the bottom of the ways as well--they aren't straight up&down. I'm thinking about having the steady rest frame extend to the bottom of the ways & clamp on the top and the bottom for ridgidity, and to make possible the use of a thinner piece of wood to waste less of the swing capacity of the lathe. It may end up not being necessary, but My current setup with glued & braced ply & 2x4's is just not stiff enough to keep the wheels from vibrating slightly out of position, even when using 2 wing nuts on each slide. I'm going to have braces around the slides so that they are held tightly and cannot move side to side, which should alleviate this, if the sheer mass of the 3520 doesn't stop the vibration by itself.
Thanks creekers
Thanks creekers