Making a wood lathe

billb2011

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Hi all. Well I am fairly new to machining but not fabrication. I have inherited a lathe and mill and want projects to start the learning process. My wife is interested in wood lathing but we don't own a dedicated wood lathe so I plan on building one. There will probably be minimal machining involved but there will be some depending on how elaborate I want to get. I have some parts from an old drill press that should work nicely, the variable speed pulleys so it can have different a speeds for example. Also the quill from the drill press I am thinking of using for the tail stock so it can crank in and out.
I have not done much wood turning except way back in high school so I thought I would ask some of you what you like in a wood lathe. Most of the work will probably be limited to 12" in length or less and probably not much more than 2-4" diameter. She would like to do the ink pens you see a lot of and some other stuff for spiffing up the house decorations here and there, basically she just wants to play on it a bit for now and who knows she might really like it and want to get serious about it. Anyway keep in mind its not going to be super elaborate but still easy enough to work with.
Let's hear your ideas and thanks!

Bill
 
Smooth bearings. 3800 rpm capable Lots of chucks, mandrels, faceplates, etc. HSS tools. #2 Morse taper with a couple of collets and draw bar. Replaceable tip live center. Low speed grinder. AAW membership. www.utahwoodturners.org website for the newsletters. You might consider a used Jet 10x14 mini lathe or similar. That's a good start....
Dave
 
Sounds like a good project...if you can pull enough 'scraps" together to make all the parts...I keep hearing the theme music for "junk yard wars"...no better project than a zero cost, made from scrap useful machine tool...

BUT...if you have to buy beg steal parts, maybe for her use (small parts, pens etc...) a practical solution is a new Harbor Freight 7x10 mini lathe...less than $400.00 on sale plus 20% off coupon...and a $50.00 mini turning set from Penn State...all that's left is to make a home made rest (or rests) and a face plate or two...the three jaw chuck and live center that comes with the late works fine for wood turning....

Just saying...nothing better than a no-cost tool, unless the no cost machine and tooling ends up costing more than new...

Cheers!

IMG_0871.JPG
 
Thanks for the replies. All great suggestions. Like I said before though I am going to make one for now just as a project. I like making my own tools, my father taught me that. Im not saying later on I wont buy a good one though. I really dont have a use for a wood lathe at the momemt but my wife wants to try some wood turning and if she likes it I'll most likely buy her a good one.

My plans for right now without getting into too much detail are: 110v 1/3 hp motor 3600 rpm (Ive got other ones with less and more hp and different rpm but I like the physical size of this one for this project). The main spindle shaft I am making out of an old jeep axle I had laying around, I am turning it down to .625" to fit the pulleys I have although I havent looked into pillow blocks yet I may have to base the shaft size off of those and sleeve the pulley or something. The chuck for now will be a 1" drill chuck I have and then I can chuck up various work holders that I make myself in that.
For the tail stock I plan on using the quill from the drill press so I can crank it in and out but so far I havent given much thought how to build it.
For the ways I plan on using schedule 80 pipe and turning the OD down a little to true it up. Now Im not sure yet if I want to use wood or metal to mount the headstock and tail stock to the ways. If I can find some aluminum big enough I would like to use that for less weight, we'll see.
And for the table to mount it all on I am going to use an old sewing machine table that I have from the late 1800's. It is all cast iron and has an intricate scroll design, its really nice and heavy.

Thats it for now, I still havent drawn up any plans for it and I may or may not, I kinda fly by the seat of my pants so to speak on most of my projects, but they usually turn ut well. My last project was a hydraulic press that turned out great, I will probably post a thread about that in the appropriate forum.

Let me know if you have any other ideas, I'll take all I can get, this should be a fun project. Thanks.


Bill
 
I guess I would suggest an indexing plate to allow you to use a router to create flutes on a cylinder. Also, a real tailstock locking mechanism, not the cam lock type that are common on the newer commercially produced lathes, I find that they just slip too easily. I would also suggest maybe a DC motor and drive for the extreme ease of setup and also good torque characteristics. 1"-8 spindle thread is also the most common. Keep us posted, I love seeing projects like this.
 
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