Charlie Barnes
02-25-2013, 9:04 PM
Good Evening Everyone,
Long story short, I'm looking at an old Rockwell lathe, model 46-450. I went to see it tonight and it seems to be in good running order. It doesn't make any unusual noises and the variable speed works nice and smooth. I don't have any idea how old it is, but I'm guessing 40-50 years. I've been wanting to get into turning and want a good, solid, basic machine to learn on.
Here's the concern - I set up a dial indicator and I measured .004 runout on the head spindle (right term?) measured on the shaft right behind the drive spur/mounting plate. Of course the shaft I was measuring could have been out of round too, but it's the best place I could see to get a measurement.
Question: Is that too much runout? If it is, what is the "limit" for basic turnings (bowls, spindles, table legs, etc.)?
Thanks.
Charlie
255430
Long story short, I'm looking at an old Rockwell lathe, model 46-450. I went to see it tonight and it seems to be in good running order. It doesn't make any unusual noises and the variable speed works nice and smooth. I don't have any idea how old it is, but I'm guessing 40-50 years. I've been wanting to get into turning and want a good, solid, basic machine to learn on.
Here's the concern - I set up a dial indicator and I measured .004 runout on the head spindle (right term?) measured on the shaft right behind the drive spur/mounting plate. Of course the shaft I was measuring could have been out of round too, but it's the best place I could see to get a measurement.
Question: Is that too much runout? If it is, what is the "limit" for basic turnings (bowls, spindles, table legs, etc.)?
Thanks.
Charlie
255430