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ahhh, I knew there would be a sensible answer!

looks great

Thank you, the most satisfying part was machining everything to close tolerances and it all lining up perfectly

for me, it would be drilling the holes in the woodwork parallel so it all slides up and down

can't wait to get in the new house, get my new lathe set up and start playing again. currently eyeing TIG welders on ebay....

What lathe have you gone for? I have just let one of my lathes go to allow space for another Mill. TIG would be nice however I know someone who is very local and does TUG so as much as I would like a TIG set I have no real reason.

Apart from the saw, the only tools I used were a Chinese pillar drill, spirit level, workmate, and a set of little pointy things.
Drill holes in cheekpiece, insert pointy things, line up on the cutout butt, and give a light tap with a piece of wood.
The points then mark the centres for the hole to be drilled in the butt.
As long as the two cut surfaces are dead level when drilling, you can't really go far wrong...........and if you do mess up, there's always Isopon.
The three s/steel rods are threaded into the cheekpiece, taking care to ensure that they are parallel to each other.
The lengths of tube are then placed over them and the whole lot inserted into the holes drilled in the butt.
If all slides in easily, remove, apply a little grease to the rods, slide tubes on, apply a little araldite to the outside of the tubes and replace in the butt.
If it won't go in, or is tight, don't panic, just open the holes up a little and try again.
Any excessive space between the tubes and the butt can be filled with Isopon after the tube-retaining epoxy has hardened.

Pete

nothing spectacular - one of the clarke multi mill/lathe things



my Dad has one, and it's fine for small hobby jobs. He picked it up 2nd hand for me from a mate of a mate, think he is still trying to decide if he wants to give me his or the new one

what is TUG welding? or is that a typo?

Pete, that is about how I did it apart from I used the Mill I use for bedding jobs to machine the pockets, I also used transfer buttons to make sure everything lined up as it should. A remarkably simple process and one I will certainly do again when the opportunity arises.

Bradaz, with some imagination you will be amazed at just how much you can get done with such a machine.

Bradaz, I quite fancy one of those Clarke lathes...................

Pete

believe me, i'm not knocking it! and with the big 3-0 looming, I have a sneaky suspicion it will be free

they are nice little lathes. the mill isn't fantastic, it requires a bit of creativity at times, but it does work.

my dad's has a bit too much backlash on the main travel for my liking, but it's not a colchester and I have to remember that sometimes.

for any little bits i want to knock up at home, it will be great, and you see them at some very nice prices sometimes. I definitely recommend them. Dad has even set his up with electronic readouts.

If I had my way I would never work without a DRO (Digital Read Out) again, I have retrofitted them to the last two lathes and have one on the Mill. The real advantage is true measurements plus no worries about dialling out backlash or running a clock for final cuts

There are some super cheap magnetic systems and you can easily do two axis for under GBP100.00 at the budget end of things and it is money very well spent as far as I am concerned. Check out the likes of Chesters for such systems. If you want to go a bit more upmarket http://www.machine-dro.co.uk/ are great people to deal with and have a good range of products.