Furnished content.
(from Lumberjocks.com)
First, I should acknowledge that I have access to not one but two lathes in my garage. One is my 1960s ShopSmith which was given to me by a neighbor cleaning out her garage (and currently motor-less and needing substantial work). I have done most of my turning on that machine and like to use it as a lathe.
But, as I said, it currently is out of service AND it was too short. I recently restored a spindle lathe (gifted to me from a friend of friend from his side yard, rusted and broken) and it works but I still need to address the gearing [spins way to fast] and it again is too short.
The real problem is that I had gone to the shop of that friend of a friend and used his full sized JET because I was turning a 3 inch dowel to make a wooden screw. My ShopSmith was on the fritz and I didn't have the spindle lathe yet. I turned a dowel on his lathe at the max length. I then brought it home and made the screw.
This is ultimately going to be an end vise on my new bench. But as I was designing my bench I realized it was WAY too long. I needed to trim it down, but I also needed to do so in a manner that I could identify the center. The best way to do that is to part it on a lathe… but it didn't fit on the spindle lathe.I have watched a number of builds of spring pole lathes, both with an actual pole and with bungee cords. I figured that I could cobble one together to part off the screw. I ran to Harbor Freight and picked up bungees and nylon cord. I had an off-cut of 2×6 and several off-cuts of 2×4. I made two uprights and cut a tenon approximately a third of the diameter about 2 long. I spaced out the screw on the 2×6 and made a through mortise that I could slide the uprights in with about an 8th of an inch clearance and extra space in front so I could drive a wedge from underneath to secure it.Here's where the learning comes in: I initially just used pin nails, cut of the head and used the nail itself as a drill to make a hole to put them in… they bent very quickly. So then I used a thicker nail, which worked better but ultimately failed as well. Then I nailed through the support which worked long enough for me to do what I needed with the lathe. If I were to do this again, I would use a 1/4 + screw or bolt (hopefully with coarse threading) and sharpen the end to a point. For repeated spindles of the same length this setup would work fine but it is obviously not adjustable by more than a few 8ths of an inch. I also needed a cutout for the cord to pass through so it wouldn't fray. I quickly realized I needed a rest and quickly through one together.
This was a single use tool (it cost $13, but I have a bungee cord and a bunch of cord left). Left a bit to be desired, but it worked.Oh, and if it isn't obvious, it is ni my vise on my old bench. I wouldn't move the tool rest with this setup, I would move the whole lathe.