Gentlemen, I am wanting to build a lathe for turning cylinders/spindles 9 inches in diameter x 5 feet in length. Would it be unreasonable to consider doing this on a spring pole lathe? I'm thinking with that much wood mass it would take a while for it to slow down - reverse directions - only to have to slow down and repeat. Perhaps a treadle lathe would be better suited to such a task?
My concern is that the rotational mass of such a large hunk of wood would/could over power the spring pole, bungie or other such motor and break it as the inertial forces of a large piece like this would not want to be stopped so quickly.
I originally posted this over in the Tools section but only got one response. Fingers x'd for better results here. Thanks