Single piece, simple ball turner.

[tonyfoale]

Now you're taking all the fun out of it!

Hi! My name is Bill, and I'm a toolahaulic!

Did I mention that I now have 5 lathes, 4 milling machines, down to 2 drill presses, and a metal shaper? 3 or 4 bandsaws, a chop saw, 3 bench grinders, four angle grinders... Man, I've got it BAD!

No you are wrong, it doesn't take the fun out of it. It is much more fun using the lathe now.
Yes you do have it bad, I wish that I had the space. I am tool deprived.
1 lathe, 1 CNC mill, 2 normal drill presses, 1 sensitive drill press, 1 T&C grinder, 2 bandsaws, 1 shock dyno, 1 flow bench, 1 watercooled eddy current dyno awaiting installation, 1 linisher, much of it homemade.

[WmRMeyers]

No you are wrong, it doesn't take the fun out of it. It is much more fun using the lathe now.
Yes you do have it bad, I wish that I had the space. I am tool deprived.
1 lathe, 1 CNC mill, 2 normal drill presses, 1 sensitive drill press, 1 T&C grinder, 2 bandsaws, 1 shock dyno, 1 flow bench, 1 watercooled eddy current dyno awaiting installation, 1 linisher, much of it homemade.

Different strokes, as they say. I've got too much ADD to be all that interested in learning to program a computer. I did programming for fun for a few years when I was a young guy. Put myself online with a 300baud modem and a Heathkit H89 my FIL built using a TurboPascal program I hacked together out of someone else's material. I would not have been able to write one from scratch, as my brain doesn't work that way. Tried several times, in fact, never could get it off the ground. I was able to learn manual machining. For a student, I was even getting pretty good at it. I will need a lot more experience to get any better, though. Honest truth is that I really started way too late. And I don't think I have enough time (even if I live another 30 or 40 years) to really learn to program G-Code. Might, maybe, be able to learn how to do 3d design. Someday. NO BETS THOUGH!

CNC or something more limited, like my ELS system, would be nice when I needed to make a part to get one of the machines working again. No doubt about it. But I should be able to keep my self busy for a few years getting to be good with the machines I already have. And don't worry about any comments I make about automating machines, it's just my eyes turning green with envy now and then!

Bill