catalytic
Cast Iron
- Joined
- Feb 4, 2010
- Location
- Boston, Los Angeles, and Cleveland
Possibly stupid question of the day:
I was thinking how I wish I could fit a larger capacity lathe in a smaller footprint, which got me thinking: why do toolroom lathes have a horizontal spindle? Why not a vertical spindle like a mill, or like a vertical boring machine (with the headstock down low and the tailstock at eye height?) One would end up with a much smaller footprint for the same size machine.
Does it have to do with rigidity and the fact that a regular toolroom lathe, once leveled and bolted the the floor, is more square/rigid?
Obviously, loading long stock would be a problem, but (maybe I'm the only one) I've never had to remove the tailstock on our HLVH to put something long in. I imagine there are a lot of us who don't, depending on the type of work you do.
I was thinking how I wish I could fit a larger capacity lathe in a smaller footprint, which got me thinking: why do toolroom lathes have a horizontal spindle? Why not a vertical spindle like a mill, or like a vertical boring machine (with the headstock down low and the tailstock at eye height?) One would end up with a much smaller footprint for the same size machine.
Does it have to do with rigidity and the fact that a regular toolroom lathe, once leveled and bolted the the floor, is more square/rigid?
Obviously, loading long stock would be a problem, but (maybe I'm the only one) I've never had to remove the tailstock on our HLVH to put something long in. I imagine there are a lot of us who don't, depending on the type of work you do.