to lathe or not to lathe

[caffeine7]

I was checking out some parts at my local bike shop and found a great chro mo layback seat post. It seems pretty beefy so i was wondering if it would be worth it to lathe off about .2mm to fit my schwinn frame. Would it weaken it too much? I'm a pretty big guy at 6' about 225. Second question, anyone in or around the Riverside, CA area with a lathe that would be willing to turn it down a little for me for a few $ or a few rockstars?

 

[jerrykr]

the thought of a layback seat post chucked up and spinning in a lathe, has my mind jumping out of gear.

 

[Spincycle]

Can you be more specific as to which part of the seat post the .2mm is comming from? If it's cro-mo than it's probably chrome plated or powder coated. If that is the case than removing the plating will probably give you the .2mm your looking for. Bent objects don't generally lend themselves well to turning operations.

 

[caffeine7]

its plenty long, i was thinking from the bottom to about 3"-4" from the welds then cut off the bottom inch or so that needs to be in the chuck

 

[LowpowerD]

Being a machinist by trade, I have some knowledge of such things. To cut through the chrome you'd need expensive tooling, like maybe ceramic. Also I'm familiar with that seat post. Not only is it chromed, but the steel it's made out of is pretty hard. I'd use a bench grinder. Turn it by hand as you're grinding. If you're fitting to Schwinn you'll end up with thin side walls.
You may be better off cutting it, then welding a piece of bar stock in to it that has been turned to a diameter to fit in your seat tube.

 

[caffeine7]

Thanks, maybe I'll go with plan b and put it in with my "for trade" stuff.