european lathes and back to school

Yesterday, I had a conversation with Gabriel Craig of Smith Shop in Detroit. Gabriel was looking for a 4 jaw chuck for his German made Weiler lathe. He sent me the photos above to inquire about the mounting system. I am used to threaded or camlock spindles on my lathes but I once had a small lathe that has a similar through bolt and taper, but I had never heard of the DIN 55022 bayonet mounting that his lathe had. 

After we talked I became really interested in learning more, so I spent some time researching the system and trying to figure out how to adapt a 4 jaw over to his lathe. It turns out that Rohm makes a chuck with this system. I found several forums that talked about adapting some camlock chuck adapter plates to the mounting system. I found some other sites that I sent to Gabriel but it was actually difficult to find that much on the system. You can find tons on American systems of lathe chucks but the European systems seem kind of obscure. Gabriel later informed me that the DIN 55022 system was no longer used after 1975.

Gabriel also sent me a video of the lathe and his shop layout. He has a huge space situated across the street from the old Ford Highland Park Plant. I think it would be so cool to explore this area. The industry of Detroit has always intrigued me.

Later in the day I had a Zoom meeting with the Chancellor of my University, her team, and the entire Art Department. The meeting was intended to address questions and concerns of faculty about going back to teaching in two weeks. 

I'll be teaching a hybrid face to face/online format. The plan at the moment for my classes is to provide all demonstrations via video one day of week and then the second class period of the week I will have students split into two different meeting times, so we can implement the techniques and practice our skills. Outside work time will be limited to when I can be there to supervise students in the classroom. I have been busy preparing tool kits for each student so that they have a robust set of tools and materials that they can uses from home as well. It's a crazy time to be teaching hands on one on one skills. 

Unlike some of my colleagues, I'm ready to be back in the classroom and take on this challenge. That said, I'm nervous for the health of our student population and I'm afraid all of the preparation could go up in smoke if/when there is an outbreak and we move to fully online teaching. 

I know the University just wants to keep jobs intact and try to stay afloat through this. They have been making plans for what kinds of cuts will be made if enrollment number drop. Full faculty cuts are high up on the list. It's curious though that the numerous administrators and their six figure salaries are never mentioned in any of the scenarios. Oh well, what can you do besides keep your head down and do your job. I'd rather be in the classroom than dealing with outraged faculty, schmoozing with donors, and taking orders from politicians. It's odd that the education part of the equation gets lost in most of these meetings though. Not surprising though when something gets this big and involves so many people.