I am a brand new lathe owner, no experience, and very determined learner. I bought a lathe and brought it home last Sunday. It has tooling and would like to swap the 3 jaw out for the 4 jaw. It has a threaded spinlde nose, I am asking if there is a spindle lock, or what is the proper procedure to hold the spindle where the chuck can be spun off. This is a pre 1949 lathe with side tumbler and is in extremely good shape. I took the side cover off to get to the out board spindle for measurment to order material for a spider, and could not believe how little use the gears apparantly have had. Thanks for all comments, Tim