16 x 40, wow! I guess the ideal situation would be to have such a lathe at
a friend's shop, where one could make use of the capacity when needed, but
wouldn't need to be responsible for the care and feeding of such a unit.
In truth, it wouldn't really have a much bigger footprint than a typical
serious hoobyist's 9 x 16, or the old Atlas 10 x 30 or whatever it was I
use to have before the owner took it back.
Anyway, if you can provide space and power for it, that could be quite
nice. I still remember the, uh, 94? Vintage Triumph Register convention in
Asheville, North Carolina. One of us needed some sort of bit for a car, there
was a NAPA store reasonably close, so off we went. While the transaction at
the counter was taking place, I wandered over and took a peek into the back
room. They had this lathe in the warehouse that was *big* - if they had the
chucks to fit, you could probably turn a complete TR6 in the thing, if for some
reason it was necessary. I was impressed. But then again, I've never toured
a shipyard.
mjb.
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