Re: small hobby lathe

Donald,

Did you know you can "twist" cast iron and sometimes remove (or
minimise) the problems you describe?

I first read this in Fine Woodworking magazine many years back (they
were still black and white). The article was on the merits/demerits
of import tools. In a sidebar, The technical rep from either
Powermatic or Delta "straightened" jointer tables which had warped by
clamping a "stick" lever and GRUNT! He said that it was a 'one time'
fix, and amounted to removing the stress from the *now* aged casting.

I thought, "Yeah,right!?" when I read it, but 'filed it away in the
wetware', just in case...

Couple years later, a friend buys a Grizzly jointer and guess what?
IT WORKED!!!

The small pieces of the 7x10 may not be suitable for "levering", but
a carefullly applied arbor press(and suitably placed supports) could
be worth a try. Slow easy pressure... On the jointer table, we
could 'feel it give'.

Hope this helps.

Ballendo

> These little things are spit out faster than the castings can
> age and you will probably find despite all the ground surfaces,
> that it's not to the specs you would hope. The top half of my cross
> slide has a twist in it of about .015". The bottom has a twist of
> almost .010. It will almost certainly have to be reground in the
> future before I convert it
> Donald Brock