Taking a break from hoarding lenses

[jp]

I'm going to build a few.

Ordered myself a lathe.

A Grizzly G0752 10 by 22-Inch Variable Speed Lathe, and a pack of bits. It'll take a few weeks to get here. I had a lot of fun in high school shop making things with the big old worn out south bend metal lathes. I look forward to having a new lathe.

I've studied enough of the lens construction from what I've owned and from what I've studied at the Young/Crane pictorialism workshops. I'll build some barrels myself with the lathe, fit them to shutters I already own, and experiment with different surplus glass.

Maybe I'll make a black powder cannon or something similar as well.

[Drew Bedo]

Lenses: cool! The 'Bay has an aero-ektar with damaged rear elements. Could be a start for glass.

Black powder: also cool. A civil war style morter sized to shoot beer cans full of cement would be nice.

[Tin Can]

In HS many made shotgun shell cannons. I made slot car wheels on a huge surplus 20' long lathe. We thougt it was made to make cannons as it had an easy to use automatic taper system. Now I have a Unimat and Boley lathes, much better for tiny things.

Aren't black powder weapons not actually classified as 'guns'?

I look forward to your creations.

[Nathan Potter]

The Grizzly lathes are pretty decent for the price. I've used one at one of the companies I consult with recently. Don't count on much better than .001 inch accuracy unless you take some extraordinary precautions for clamping work. Use of collets helps with precision.

Sounds like fun.

Nate Potter, Austin TX., Holliston MA.

[Mark Sawyer]

Very cool! I'd love to have a lathe. The surplus Shed is the place to look for lens elements. Big selection of great stuff, well described and searchable at great prices.

If you want to be popular, learn to make flanges! :)

[Michael Graves]

I love Grizzly! My last purchase from them was a 3" thick granite surface plate. I'm using it as a stand for my turntable. Talk about isolation!

[Bill_4606]

I second the flanges.

[Bernice Loui]

Some years ago, I ordered one of these from Grizzly. Sadly it arrived mostly destroyed. The crate and packing was woefully poor. It had to go back for replacement.
Still, it did give a chance to inspect this lathe and evaluate it to some degree.

In the end, the replacement became a G4002 which has been in the shop for quite a number of years now. It is an OK lathe for what it is. Much better than a similar sized Southbend and on par with many lathes of this size that are made in China. These lathes are not going to be similar or even close to equal to a Hardinge HLV, Monarch EE, American Pacemaker or similar proper industrial lathe. They can be accurate to 0.0001" or ten thousands of an inch if care is used and proper tooling fitted.

Regardless, a lathe is much better than no lathe. The much more significant expense is not the lathe, but proper tooling and cutting tools which will make all the difference in using and resulting work from this lathe.

Then, there will be proper precision measuring tools involved and to be acquired..


Bernice




I'm going to build a few.

Ordered myself a lathe.

A Grizzly G0752 10 by 22-Inch Variable Speed Lathe, and a pack of bits. It'll take a few weeks to get here. I had a lot of fun in high school shop making things with the big old worn out south bend metal lathes. I look forward to having a new lathe.

I've studied enough of the lens construction from what I've owned and from what I've studied at the Young/Crane pictorialism workshops. I'll build some barrels myself with the lathe, fit them to shutters I already own, and experiment with different surplus glass.

Maybe I'll make a black powder cannon or something similar as well.

[smithdoor]

Looks like a good lathe
If you need more info see below will including charts and tables

Dave

http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/southbendlathe9
Manuals on all South Bend lathes
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/southbendmanual
For all lathes
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/Lathe_Tooling_and_Uses
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/southbendlathes/