First, the lathe has got a new accessory - a cover. I believe that machine tools should be protected from the outside world. Covers keep them snug and warm (perhaps) in their own little oily environment. The Myford lathe has had Myford plastic covers which go brittle after a few years. The milling machine has a garden furniture cover which has shed its plastic lining after years of use. I tried finding a similar garden furniture cover for the Cowells on the internet without success but became aware that there are firms making bespoke machine covers. I eventually used a company in east London that quoted a month’s delivery time. It arrived within two weeks, was not expensive and appears to be far more substantial than a garden furniture cover (made from thick PVC).
I have now made good use of the lathe. It is rather sweet to use. So far I have only used the self centring three jaw chuck which appears to run true (a real surprise since they never run true for me). The cross slide is permanently engaged with the leadscrew which is interesting. The leadscrew pitch is 1mm and the four dials are large and very clearly marked. The graticules are marked at 0,02mm intervals. The handles are even larger and there is no backlash. The leadscrew can be disconnected from the power by a cross slide operated clutch. This works very consistently.
Having started to use the lathe I am now questioning the need for a DRO. Because everything is so clear and simple the DRO requirement has moved from “must have”, through “need” and “want” to “could be of use”. This suits me because I was getting very confused and mixed-up looking at DRO websites.
AVTUR