Another success!! Lathe is fixed.

I can't believe that this was so easy. I made a call to a metal supplier and he said that he wouldn't be able to work with aluminum. Then I took a little closer look at the strip that I had. It had a convex area where it went down the length of the steel tube. THAT would be tough to duplicate.

So, I thought "Well, I could tap here and there, judiciously, with a hammer and see if I can straighten it out. The worst I would do is ruin it, and it's basically already ruined." So I tapped here and there. In about a half hour that strip looked pretty good. Then I attached it to the tube with new rivets. It worked just fine !!

Now, the tool rest arm is a little snug in ONE area as I try to slide it down the length of the tube, but it still works. All I need to do is slide carefully, not yank on it as it slides. That's probably what a previous owner did, causing the rivets to break. (Ol' Blue Eyes would say "Nice and easy does it every time.")

So, this fix was about $5 for a pack of rivets. Now I can start making circular shavings.