After talking to Sears customer service, then Sears online customer service, they gave me the number for the manufacturer of the the Craftsman Copy Craft lathe duplicator. I ended up talking to a tech guy there, and explained the issue. First I had to convince him the problem wasn’t with my lathe. I explained that the bars were 42 inches long. The brackets that held the bar at the ends were 1 inch wide, so 42 minus 1 inch at the ends is 40 inches. Then the carriage is 6 inches wide with 3 inches on either side of the cutting tool. So 40 inches minus the 3 inches on either side of the tool is 34 inches. I managed to get 35 inches by putting the brackets halfway onto the end of the bar. The guy said he would have to call me back. He called back a few hours later and appologized that the 38 inch number in the manul and on the Sears website is wrong. So I am going to take the thing apart tonight, and return it to Sears. I need to be able to duplicate 36 inches for what I am doing. The thing also seemed to be a real pain the neck to set up as well. I am going to build my own duplicator. I ordered some HSS cutting tool blanks off of Amazon. I found some instructions on how to grind them. Meanwhile I will start building the duplicator tonight or this weekend. I may find some scrap steel, or an old screw driver or file or something, and grind it into a temporary cutting tool to play with until I get the HSS steel. I bought a low speed grinder last night for sharpening the lathe tools, so I can probably use it to grind these as well.
The Craftsman Copy Crafter lathe duplicator that I bought and that is supposed to be able to copy spindles up to 38″, apparently will only actually do 35″! Grrrr! I have the bar holders out as far as they will go, and probably farther than they are supposed to go (ends of the bars are only haflway in the holders), and when the carriage moves from end to end, the cutter only moves 35″. Where they got this 38″ number I do not know. I am looking at making a shop built duplicator that will be easier anyway. I have some cool pics on the net of things people have built, and I will make my own.