I missed the staff meeting but the minutes show snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com wrote back on 22 Apr 2005 05:34:32 -0700 in rec.crafts.metalworking :
If you mean it can hold something 36" in diameter, you got a huge lathe (I used one a bit larger to turn 31 foot long drill collars. I've seen some rather hefty prop shafts being turned on others that size.)
If you have one which is 36" between chuck face and tail stock, you have a "more normal" sized one. Which means you can turn anything up to 36" long. Or longer if the machine has a bar feed option (where longer stock is stuck in through the chuck.)
That size pretty much covers most uses. It is it round, you can pretty much do it. Thread it, bore it, face it, smooth it, you can make plugs, bells, whistles, washers, breaches, propeller shafts, new wheels for the four poster, yea even sex toys. You can even make julienne fries with it, but you'll need to hold the potatoe just right.
And yeah, you can also injure yourself in methods most unpleasant, even unto death, faster than you'd ever thought possible, if you don't follow safe machining practices.
tschus pyotr