How big a piece (diameter) can a 7x lathe turn?

[Nelson_2008]

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"?

[TacPyro]

The largest part that I have turned on my Microlux 7x14 was 3" and it was tight. I'm not sure if you could turn much bigger than that.

[kawazuki]

You may not turn outer dia's greater than 3 - 3.5" it doesn't preclude the turning of larger objects for boring / facing operations! They are small machines - probably stall on stuff much larger anyway! Should have got a larger machine..................old adage - 'easier to turn small stuff on a big machine than big stuff on small'

[Nelson_2008]

Hello TacPyro,

Thanks for your reply.

Apparently you can turn larger diameters, e.g., 4", as long as they are relatively short pieces, e.g., 1" - 2" long...the bigger in diameter, the shorter they must be.

I guess you would do this by loosening the compound slide and rotating it away from the axis, and then rotate the tool post to make the tool perpendicular to the work again.

This is what I've been told.