Can I swap spindles on a plain bearing lathe?

[D.sebens]

Holy crap. Had something to make on the lathe and what a difference. It’s still a “small” lathe but wow. Was machining some 1.5” random steel that has a nicer surface finish than standard mild steel. I was able to run about 800 rpms with a .030 cut. Not hogging by modern means but making blue chips with this steel and good finish. Previously I would of had to be running in the slowest speed to get near this. Also I thought because I was using carbide I was getting a lot of deflection where I could get close to my diameter then my next cut that was a much lighter cut would take way more than previous cuts. Turns out while that can happen with carbide it was more due to spindle deflection. I cut .030” passes then finished work with .010 and .004” passes. Cut true to size for all the passes.

I am so much happier with this now!