Metal lathes for spinning Coolus helmets and such

[Medicus matt]

They surely had harnessed water power?
What about the camed operation as used on sharpening wheels, you know the old foot operated ones?
That would also translate into a continuous rotation?

Harnessed water power? Well if they hadn't then those water wheels were a big waste of time. :wink:

Pliny writes about water driven cammed trip hammers being used to pound grain and there's strong evidence to support the idea that trip hammers were used in ore processing and metalworking.

Water power could be used to drive a a 'big wheel' lathe...but so could hand power or even treadmill power. If they could turn stone columns then providing enough power to spin metal obviously wasn't a problem.

Thinking about it though, control/regulation might be an issue with water power. Easier to tell the bloke peddling/turnig the wheel to speed up/slow down/stop then it might have been to disengage from a water driven power source?