Darren, thank you. The one I'm looking at buying comes with a soft jaw chuck of sorts, but if it's not appropriate I will order that one. Things do have to be aligned perfectly, yep. WIll getting it centered/flat be an major problem? (again, excuse my ignorance I know nothing about lathes...)
John, thank you! I had never thought of that. An extension tube might just be the trick! If I can attach the adapters securely to one, it will mean I won't have to physically mount the adapter on the chuck. Hope you're enjoying your Pentax ;). My friend just switched to a K7 and a couple of limited lenses... must admit, they look like wonderful tools.
I will keep the 3 jar chuck in mind regarding potential damage. A soft jaw chuck of sorts looks like the best option. Don't have an extension tube with me for the required mounts, so can't say about the build or thickness of the metal... I'm hopeful it will hold it's shape well enough w/o resin though (as it will be perfectly circular on the chuck-mounting side, so I could hopefully use a circular chuck or one with more jaws... which i assume makes distorting the metal less likely)
Thank you everyone! You're a very friendly and helpful bunch, glad I (eventually) found this site! Alas, I can't share any experience myself for others, but if anyone every wants some photo-related tips or a canvas print you know where to come
