When I retract the cross slide on my Microlux lathe all the way back, it looks like the front face of the tool holder is only about 1.75" or so away from the center line, which to me implies that the largest diameter piece I can turn down is in the range of 3" to maybe 3.25" or so, depending on how the tool bit is mounted.
Yet from what I read at
www.mini-lathe.com and
www.littlemachineshop.com, it seems that four and five inch chucks are quite popular...so my question is: Why would anyone want to put anything bigger than a 4" 3-jaw, or a 3" 4-jaw chuck on a 7x lathe? Is there a way to turn diameters bigger than 3"?