Tim, I am trying to put everything into perspective. Having a custom threaded rod made to eight plus or ten feet is probably not that expensive either. And buying four eight foot or ten foot long rails from legacy will cost a pretty penny but only slightly more than a second 900. What sounds interesting to me now is the possibility of modifying or replacing the legs on the 900.
I also find interesting that everyone says the weight bends the alum rails to which the headstock and the tailstock are attached. I would have thought that the headstock and the tailstock would be the real problem. I can see why the alum inner rails are used, but I can also see why someone would use an iron inner rail. I guess what is gained from the alum inner rail makes shoring them up the best option. I will continue to cost out this conversion of the 900 to a eight or ten foot machine. It sounds a lot cheaper than buying a new or used 1800 or 2000, and many times cheaper than the eight foot artisan II. And I'm going to have to give more study to Bill's secondary spindle mount. As folks used to say in the 60's--he's way out there! Begat On Mon, Dec 5, 2011 at 10:25 PM, Tim Krause <artmarb...@comcast.net> wrote: > The 9" limit is because of the amount of travel in the legs, not the > distance between the inner rails. You can go up to 11.5" if you can lower > the bed further. That requires milling the slots in the legs an additional > amount. You also have to raise the machine above your table if it is a > bench model. My ultimate solution was to make a new pair of legs that > addresses all of these issues. > > Have you seen Bill's secondary spindle mount? It increases the diameter to > the 20" range. That's because the spindle is under the rails. It's > written > up here. http://ornamentalmills.com/Bill_Bulkeley/side_cutting_mod.html > It's a couple of pillow blocks and a plate to lower the tailstock. > > I'd be more worried about the flexing of the machine from the added weight > of the wood. Building a solid base would solve that problem. Are you > really worried about special brackets? I think I can cover you there! > > The 900's are 5' long so that's more of a problem if you where going to > combine them for making a 12' machine. > > -Tim > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Begat" <bega...@gmail.com> > To: "Legacy Ornamental Mills" <legacy-ornamental-mills@googlegroups.com> > Sent: Monday, December 05, 2011 6:47 PM > Subject: Surprised at How Inexpensive the Acme Threaded Rod Is > > > > Hello All, > > > > Followed up on the posting on the threaded rod that Tim made yesterday > > and found that standard sizes for the lead screws that the company > > makes are six and twelve feet and that the price would be in the > > neighborhood of $5.00 per foot!! > > > > It dawns on me that there would be limitations in using two 900 frame > > for making the 12 footer. The inner two legs would limit the swing > > diameter to 9", forming the maximum size diameter of the columns. > > > > I'm sure there would be other issues that you all will point out to > > me, especially the need for special brackets. > > > > Begat > > > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Legacy Ornamental Mills" group. > > To post to this group, send email to > legacy-ornamental-mills@googlegroups.com. > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > legacy-ornamental-mills+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/legacy-ornamental-mills?hl=en. > > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Legacy Ornamental Mills" group. > To post to this group, send email to > legacy-ornamental-mills@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > legacy-ornamental-mills+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/legacy-ornamental-mills?hl=en. > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Legacy Ornamental Mills" group. To post to this group, send email to legacy-ornamental-mills@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to legacy-ornamental-mills+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/legacy-ornamental-mills?hl=en.
