I have as of now completed my spring-pole lathe. As it happens my initial design for both the pedal and the poppets was flawed; an alternate design made everything better. All I can think of that it really needs now is maybe a leather strap for drive instead of the rope I’m currently using. Pictures when I have the energy (i.e. not now). I have tested it, of course (which is how I discovered the above flaws); I suck, but that’s expected for it being my first couple of hours ever.
Turning on a spring pole lathe is apparently quite different from using a normal lathe. For one thing, catches aren’t as big a deal because the thing can only rotate so far in one direction. At the same time planing a cylinder isn’t trivial. I suspect my books are only going to be so useful in learning how to do this thing, and that I’m going to have to teach myself most of it (which is fine, honestly).
(Grr: posted now because Cox is being moronic; I finished it last night)
Tags: