Why cast iron?

[Bill Dufour]

I see a granite bed on the lathe, don't you?

The only part made of stone has no moving parts. All the moving parts are iron or steel. I notice he has no lead screw or even gears. I suppose stepper motors and cnc have replaced most of the tricky bits.
Reminds me of the glass snowboard someone had made. It worked okay until it didn't.
Bill D.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmZ1QfZ9Skk

5:00 they start to ride.

[Mark Hennebury]

The only part made of stone has no moving parts. All the moving parts are iron or steel. I notice he has no lead screw or even gears. I suppose stepper motors and cnc have replaced most of the tricky bits.
Reminds me of the glass snowboard someone had made. It worked okay until it didn't.
Bill D.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmZ1QfZ9Skk

5:00 they start to ride.

The OP asked:

"Why are power tool tables made out of cast iron and not some other material such as granite or marble?"

I was simply answering the question.

Many machine tables are made of granite.

Many of the other components, such as bases, columns and bed ways are also made of granite.
I showed a few of the ways in which granite has been used in various machines.
I did in no way make any attempt to say that granite was in all ways superior to cast iron, or that it could be used to replace all of the parts made of cast iron.

[Bill Dufour]

Not saying the lathe wasn't granite. it is interesting to see it. thanks for posting. This whole thread reminds me of the concrete ships made in WW1. Some of which are still afloat. One was beached near Santa Cruz California and turned into a dance hall then a fishing pier. I think it is too broken up to step on these days. One of its sister ships is still afloat in British Columbia as a harbor protection wall for a lumber mill. So this is wood related They were described as good solid ships until they hit something then the broke apart like a dropped tea cup.
Bil lD.

[Brian Holcombe]

I’ll be sure an avoid naval conflicts with a granite lathe. I might be able to avoid using one for trench warfare as well.

[Mark Hennebury]

Not saying the lathe wasn't granite. it is interesting to see it. thanks for posting. This whole thread reminds me of the concrete ships made in WW1. Some of which are still afloat. One was beached near Santa Cruz California and turned into a dance hall then a fishing pier. I think it is too broken up to step on these days. One of its sister ships is still afloat in British Columbia as a harbor protection wall for a lumber mill. So this is wood related They were described as good solid ships until they hit something then the broke apart like a dropped tea cup.
Bil lD.

I don't have a problem with anyone trying something new, don't have any problem with failures, that is all part of learning and progress.
I saw some concrete boats when i was in Newfoundland back in the 70's or 80's Done as an experiment, I don't know anything more about them.

I saw the lathe / grinder video a year or two, not sure when exactly, but i found it quite fascinating and to me its a brilliant piece of work in both concept and execution, and an inspiration that opens up your mind to possibilities of new construction methods with incredible accuracy, and possibly within reach of a small machine shop, with purchasing many off the shelf parts. I recently got a quote to get my lathe bedways machined, and it was several thousand dollars and the tolerances were in a couple of thou, not micron. Plus of course i have to dismantle, crate and ship a machine that weighs several thousand pounds.
To me that video of the the lathe was brilliantly inspirational, especially since i already have a couple of large air bearings and an 8' granite surface plate on which to assemble projects, so it got me thinking.

[Bill Dufour]

They did do some experiments with big aircraft carriers made of reinforced ice during WW2.
Bill D.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Palo_Alto

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Peralta

[Ben Rivel]

Cast iron is just better

[johnny means]

I'm thinking the biggest advantage of cast iron from a manufacturers standpoint is the "cast" part. I'm betting that if you had to machine iron components from a slab cut from the middle of a mountain, it wouldn't be nearly as ubiquitous.

[Mark Hennebury]

I'm thinking the biggest advantage of cast iron from a manufacturers standpoint is the "cast" part. I'm betting that if you had to machine iron components from a slab cut from the middle of a mountain, it wouldn't be nearly as ubiquitous.

Cast Granite.
Mineralgussbase-ByVention (1).jpg

[johnny means]

Cast Granite.
Mineralgussbase-ByVention (1).jpg

What are we looking at?

[Mark Hennebury]

What are we looking at?

Cast granite. granite particles and epoxy cast in a mold.

[johnny means]

Cast granite. granite particles and epoxy cast in a mold.

Oh,concrete��

[Peter Christensen]

Not concrete. Closest approximation would be Super Corian.

[Mark Hennebury]

Oh,concrete😁

Concrete is not so bad.
The Pantheon in Rome is an example of Roman concrete construction.

1280px-Rome-Pantheon-Interieur1.jpg

[Bill Dufour]

In California most of the new concrete work I see has about 50% rebar inside the concrete. This is for structural stuff not sidewalks and simple foundations.
Which dome was being built and Leonardo added a big chain around the base so it would not fall? maybe florence?
Bil lD.