Quote Originally Posted by editor@glue-it.com View Post
I have to say, I really like the hand-cranked lathe, great for cutting threads up to a shoulder and when something is very delicate.
The hand crank has another important use...

If your lathe uses screw-on chucks and you don't lubricate the threads before each mounting, it may be difficult to unthread later. (This is especially true if you don't change chucks frequently.) The temptation is to engage the back gears without removing the coupling pin, thus locking the rotation of the spindle. Then, when torque is applied to the chuck, often with a wrench, the back gears take all the force and you risk breaking a tooth or two.

A better procedure is to block the rotation of the chuck with a wooden block and use the crank to unscrew the spindle from the now fixed chuck.

There are numerous ways to build a crank; here's how I built mine...

Lathe hand crank