Lathe Motor Mount Improvements

[Paul Jones]

PJs,

Below is a photo of the improved surface finish after doing the various lathe improvements to eliminate most of the machine vibration. This example is a surface cut across a 3" diameter section of 6061-T6 aluminum. The cross feed rate was 0.0006"/rev (at 660 RPM and a finely honed HSS tool bit) which is very fine but also provides a lot of opportunity for the vibration to show up on the finish and I don't see any in this photo. Also sprayed once with WD40 for the aluminum cutting fluid.

I hope this provides some encouragement to make the changes to your lathe.

Paul