Date: 18 Feb 2015
Report by Pat Clay

Start off by turning a cylinder. Ensure that the sides are parallel. For
this exercise the cylinder was turned to 92mm diameter. Using
Pythagoras, the side of the edge of the cube can be calculated, in this
case 65mm.

Make the end of the cube dead square.

Using the parting tool, mark the length of the cube (65mm) from the
flat edge.

Using the index mark 4 lines down the length of the cylinder. Care must be taken to compensate for the backlash in the index. These lines will be the centre of each face. Mark the middle of each line.

Cut off the cylinder and mount between centres on two of the index
lines. The sides nearest the tail-stock and chuck can then be faced,
again ensuring that they remain straight. Mount the work between
centres on the remaining two index lines and face the remaining
edges.

More complex is cutting equal holes in each side of the cube. This is
known as a turners cube.