A recent thread reminded my why I didn't throw away the old bed when I converted the 7x10 into a 7x14. A couple years ago I saw where a guy had used his old bed from a similar upgrade as a place to park his tailstock when he needed to get it out of the way. He did a decent hack job, but it was still a hack job, and that was all he used it for. A parking pad.
Lets be realistic. We can get some modestly precise work out of a 7 x XX mini lathe but its not a super duper precision instrument. Why not do a little work (as was suggested in another recent thread) to actually make a fully longer lathe out of the assembley. Atleast for rough and low tolerance work. I've had this thought before, but for the most part I need to make some pretty short parts. I don't even use the full capacity of the 8.5 x 18 very often.
Still, once in a while...
Well, I have been working on a non-lathe related project the last few days. (Actually since November 2010). Converting a Hurco KMB1 over to Mach 3 control. I finally ran all three axis on the computer two days ago. I still need to get the automatic oiler hooked up, connect the limits, build my console, connect the VFD to the spindle... etc etc... You get the idea.
When I read the recent thread on extending a machine using an old bed I thought this might be a perfect project for the newly working mill. Use the bed to get everything lined up, and machine some sort of interface to join the two beds modestly accurately. Since I plan to convert the mini over to CNC anyway the lead screw is a non issue. I have some long acmes and some acme taps if I want to go cheap, or I can just use one of those long ballscrews I had planned for a big bed gantry router.
If I go to a servo spindle it could douple as a 4th axis on the big mill too, although with two beds strung together it might start to get a bit heavy to pick up and set on the table. LOL.
Steve Langford