The Pittler Slide rest

The Pittler slide rest is totally unique, it can swivel in all directions, it can cut balls, concave or convex shapes etc. The stem can quickly be raised to suit a cutting height without the need for packing. It also has it's feed screw hidden in the same manner as the main bed of the lathe. Taking into account that the slide can move around the axis of the lathe bed, and also around it's own axis an almost unlimited variation of positions are possible. If the traverse were divided into 100 parts, this would yield 100 positions for the full travel. By the turning of the traverse around it's own axis ( the complete turn represents 360 degrees) the following result is obtained: 100 X 360 = 36,000 positions and by turning of the traverse around the bed slide, we have another complete turn of 360 degrees, that is to say: 36,000 X 360 = 12,960,000 positions in all without moving the bed slide! (info from Pittler catalogue 1898)