Looks like a good lathe and a possible candidate for an electronic lead screw :http://www.autoartisans.com/ELS/
Although , if you want to stick with change gears Myford gears (and copys of) are cheap and plentiful. You'll need a 127T plus a few others to do metric threading
But.
Before you...
There's quite a few good ball turning ideas on this French forum:
http://www.usinages.com/accessoires-outils-coupe-pour-tournage-f109/outil-tourner-les-spheres-t31118.html
Google translate works fairly well if, like me, your French is not all that good.
Chuck,
Have you considered closing off the exhaust hole inside the cylinder (i.e. moving the exhaust hole further away from the piston so it's partially covered by the cylinder gland) to provide an air cushion instead_of/as_well_as the o-ring?
Bill
If you mean the cost then it's not too bad:
Royal mail air (small packet) is ~£6 (but insurance is only upto £46 ) usually quite reliable
Royal Mail Airsure (small packet) online tracking, £500 compensation for £15.97
so, it should not put you off :)
Bill
Hi
I have decided to put my prototype indicator (see http://madmodder.net/index.php?topic=3776.0 )up for auction on ebay to raise money for the Royal British Legion's 90th anniversary appeal.
http://www.britishlegion.org.uk/support-us/how-to-give...
I was suggesting a possible cause of it, yes. ;)
Given your description, noise while moving towards the column rather than moving away, I would still check the gib. It could be jamming - Perhaps the cause of the lost teeth?
Might be the gib sticking. The tapered gib should be locked between two adjusters to prevent it jamming when moved.
This is the table gib on my Haighton (the saddle is pretty much the same) : the heads of the adjuster screws fit into the recesses on the tapered gib
This is the underside of...