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Old 07-22-10, 09:01 PM
  #6  
NoReg
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Join Date: Aug 2005
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Silverbraze, admit it you are a lathe fan though, as well as an expert frame builder. I have 7 lathes in my shop, but I try to be objective despite my preferences.

I just play around with this stuff, but I don't really go to the lathe for anything when making a frame. I will face a few things just because I enjoy it, but I really don't need to and probably wouldn't do that if my lathe were set up for mitering. I'm looking forward to making a hub when I get back.

There is a lot of potential lathe work in a frame, but most of it seems to be done for me like BBs or is done with specialized reamers and facers. The only specific job mentioned by either pro is mitering which can be done on a lathe for sure, as long as you use it like a 2 axis mill. That is really mill work and since mills are about the price of a battery drill around here, I just don't see the point in evolving a process and tooling for machines not really designed for the work.

It took me about a year to get the contacts to get all the tools cheap, and by then I had paid a little more for them. By the end, I had older guys trying to get me to come pick up their stuff just to get it out of the house. One guy gave me a bit sharpener/ surface grinder, and tried to get me to take his 2 station german mill, and a really nice lathe he had for 400 total. Stuff is out there as the manual economy is shuffling off to the dump.
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