Irreversible modification

The first thing that came to mind when I saw the picture was that the guy put a 10" chuck on a 12" lathe, opened it up to chuck a piece and then turned the lathe on ... instant gap. ;)
 
Just curious, in this type of situation is it possible to shorten the jaws stick out by grinding/milling up to a point for clearance?
 
The point I'm getting here is that if you are willing to butcher a lathe bed then you should be willing to take a 9" grinder to your chuck jaws and get the job done ... needs must, I guess.
 
I would never touch the lathe bed, but I have an 8" 4 jaw chuck(12" swing) that has never been mounted, and this got me thinking about my clearances:)
 
Nah, that's a very common combination. Just use it but be sure to give the chuck a spin before you turn the lathe on.
 
That's good, I'm thinking it might be tight with the jaws all the way open.
 
For what ever reason he did it, he should realize it has greatly decreased the value of the lathe. If you are just looking for a lathe do do small/ short non precise stuff, it could still a useful lathe. With some of the prices I have seen on Ebay for Atlas parts, depending on what he wanted for it, one might make out well selling the parts off it. Or may not take a ton of work to shorten it. Since I got the Shopfox, I have not turned anything over 1" dia, and about 3" long with my Atlas. I find it easier to do the small things on the Atlas, then with the 12" Shopfox.

Of course, it might make a good add for JB Weld.
 
KBeitz said:
My lathe has a factory removable part to make it a gap bed lathe.
How common is that ?
Click to expand...
My lathe has something similar. The whole section under the chuck can be removed by screwing out 4 M16 allen cap screws,but my issue with this design is that you also remove the rack section that gear of the carriage works on. So now the carriage can't go further that that point and sometimes that makes removing the bed section useless because you can't reach the aria to be machined with the toolholder.
 
KBeitz said:
My lathe has a factory removable part to make it a gap bed lathe.
How common is that ?
Click to expand...
Very common.

The one shown in the OP is more of an 'irreversible modification' than a blunder IF it got the job done and did not screw up the lathe.
Ugly it is in any case.
 
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