[slackwarerobert]

Before I start scraping up a storm.....
I've come across a lead screw & motor for a 42" paper cutter.
When it was working it had .001 resolution on the controller.
It uses optical pickup sensor, and more than enough HP for
turning a lead screw with this designs loads.

Do you really need a bed for lathe, I also have a matching set of
rear axles from '71 pickup. They are about the same length as
the gear, so I was thinking to use them as rails and use 8
bearrings to mount crossways to them so I can adjust and true
them up to the head. I was thinking to mount rails with webbing
between them, and center and crossway sort of like a roller coaster setup.

[metalworkz]

Hello Robert,
I built the Gingery lathe per the book and it is not so difficult to do that way. I have seen many different ideas for the bed construction and although many have some merit it is just not that difficult to do the bed as Dave Gingery has described in the book. Something to keep in mind during the build is the fact that when you change one part it may effect any related parts and soon the parts as drawn and dimensioned in the book will need to be changed to fit the changing design also. I did change several items in the lathe, metal shaper, and horizontal miller but it was minor changes like my own hand wheel design that did not cause changes to the mechanical design and workings of the machines. It will be interesting to see if you go ahead with the improvised bed etc. so please keep us posted on your build.