Beautiful turnings Art. I'm trying to get into lathe work and am setup to use my Shopsmith, at least to get started anyway......
A limit to the length of posts ? I'm not sure but I would make them twice as long as the length from the middle to either end.I built my first lathe at about the age of about 14. I hammered a piece of copper tubing over the end of an old motor's shaft. I used hacksaw and file to shape teeth for a spur chuck. I made the tailstock center from a large spike driven through a 2x4 and clamped to the plank that the motor was screwed on to. Tools were made from old files, you get the idea. No photos.
With this I was able to replicate the spindle / spokes of my mom's old spinning wheel, which I had wrecked as a younger child.
I built several larger and very productive lathes over the years, No photos here either. I had been making small turned boxed, bowls etc. on a $50 lathe salvaged from the rust bin. I began to loose interest and decided I wanted to do something more significant. I built a large face plate only, bowl turning lathe and made a few plates and bowls including a 22 inch tray in which I tried to incorporate bits of all the species of woods I had laying around.
Take a look. Is there a limit to the length of my posts?
Art S