My name is Alan Reinhart, and I'm living in Royersford,
PA. That is a little burg about
30 miles N.E of Philadelphia. As of 10/23/97 I will be 54, and have been at this
spot about 20 years.
Since 1976 I've been making my living doing odd sorts of computer programming. Cut
my teeth on PDP-11/05's using DEC assembler under RT-11 and RSX-11. Been up thru
a number of the micro's - now I'm a big Macintosh bigot, doing database programming
with a 4GL called Omnis.
Whatever you do - don't dump those Mac's and go to Windoze!! Apple will prevail!!
There
are great things in the works, no matter WHAT the press likes to say. :-0
Going way back, did 2 hitches in the Navy as a Radioman, with 36 weeks electronics
training
down in Bainbridge, MD. Got out in 1969 at RM2 - too bad - I'd have retired in 1980
with a good
income!!! (Where have you heard THAT little whine before?) :->
I've worn a lot of different hats - but they all seem to focus in around design and
making
stuff. As a mechanical technician at the Ronson Lighter factory up in the Poconos
(about
2 hrs west of New York city), I made my first contact with machine tools. Used to
watch
with great facination as those model-makers literally carved prototype cigarette
lighters out
of metal. Saw my first Bridgeport there, as well as that beautiful Hardinge 10"
lathe...
Now I have an old Sheldon 10" metal lathe in the basement. Reconditioned it
myself,
and could have bought a real nice import for what I put into it, but then you know
how THAT goes... Also have an early Jet 8x30 knee mill. So I'm reasonable well
set up to make stuff. The 16' x 25' basement shop is pretty well set up for general
woodworking
as well. And the den/study is modestly equiped computer center: Mac PPC 7100/80
40mb ram; about 3.7 gig of hard disk space plus a bunch of Zip disks; Laserwriter
II NT.
A 17" monitor and a boat-load of fonts and clip art.
First contact with woodturning was in Boy Scouts (around 1953 or so!), but never
did much
until around 1980 or so - got a Sprunger 12" spindle lathe. Built a variable
speed drive
for it based around a Maury-matic adjustable pitch pulley. Two ranges via a jackshaft.
Then in 1988 I got this idea to build a big lathe... The L1
I began work on the L1 in 1989 with the idea of making
a large lathe with a wooden frame. It
was to be of oak 4x4's and as beautiful as it was functional. I made a prototype
from
pressure treated 4x4's from the local lumber yard. Used the Jet mill to cut the motise
and
tenon joints. It looked pretty much like the current L1. Then I discovered that it
would have
cost more to get the oak beams than it would have to do it in steel, and in steel
you
get the added benefit of weight. So... steel it is.
Originally, the idea was to create a big heavy lathe so you could turn these giant
bowls, and also get away from the traditional spindle lathe. My inspiration was the
Harrison short-bed lathe from the U.K. In fact, the first bed on the L1 was awfully
similar to the bed on the Harrison, as it can be seen in Richard Raffan's "Turning
Wood".
As time and study went on, I've modified this vision to a more realistic view. It
seems
that turning "big wood" is not so much the issue as is having a really
sturdy lathe that
will work easily in "saleable" size range. From what I've learned, really
big pieces are
first, very hard on the turner, and secondly, hard to sell. Next I began t realize
that if you
have a 12" lathe, and try to do a lot of 12" work, you'll probably be up
against the wall
in terms of the lathe's strength, bearing load handling, etc.
With the L1, you have a 24" lathe, and the tool rest will in fact handle a 24"
diameter
object in the chuck. But more importantly, it will COMFORTABLY handle 12,
14 or 18" diameter work, and not be overloaded. Additionally, when you are working
in the smaller sizes, it is sort of like having your work tied to the side of a very
big rock!
Vibration and machine-walk are just not something to think about with the L1...
I also wanted to build a lathe that would accomodate very rapid speed changes. It
needed to take full advantage of modern electronic drives. Take a look a most lathes
on the market today - although the trend is beginning to change, many have moveable
motor mounts, to allow speed modification thru pully changes. This affects the
basic design of the machine. In the L1, I have used a fixed motor mount, which has
greatly
simplified the overall design of the machine.
Most lathes on the market today are simply re-hashed spindle lathes. There are only
a very few that have taken the approach of creating a "bowl" or "faceplate"
lathe.
And it is my perception that the majority of popular "craft" and "art"
type work
is of the facceplate nature. And I mean in no way to slight spindle work - I just
see
is as another division of the craft, with it's own set of demands and skills.
And when doing bowl or faceplate work, there is just nothing like the access you
get with a shortbed lathe. It's a whole new experience. You can actually stand
"behind" the work... it affects how you can approach the work with your
tool...
The RES Dream
I hope to perfect the L1 to the point where I can begin to offer it to the world
as a
custom built product. Given the weight of the macine, I'm also hoping to be able
to offer a set of plans and possible access to some of the more exotic components
at a reasonable price. It would seem to be a great life - building quality machines
for folks, seeing my ideas go out into the world... Turning and selling a few bowls
between buiding machines... Out of the computer ratrace...
Ah - dreams are great,
aren't they!??
