No harm in mentioning it. This machine already has run out from a bent spindle. The cost of a new spindle is more than I'm willing to commit to this piece of equipment. Its out 3 thou on a part that's 1.5" from the jaws. I compensate as much as I can with the four jaw. I know I'll never be able to make precision parts on it, or make long parts that aren't wonky in some way. Also, doing some of the things I'm doing are likely to bend it further but I figured its better than nothing until I find something more robust.
I am taking the precaution of going sloooooooow. And i think the fact that this is 6061 aluminum is helping extend the machines capabilities a little. If this was steel, there would be no way I could even make this part. That parting operation took almost an hour. The previous shots of the work I've done took hours. I think you can do more with these machines than most realize at the expense of time. When you want to turn something down the machine isn't capable of heavy passes. You have to make light finishing passes over and over and over again. I think that time suck would probably discourage a lot of people and I don't blame them. I can't wait to get something a little more capable! For now though, I'm happy to have something to do a little work on and learn a thing or two.
