Thread: Making a Faceplate Lathe

I then had to raise what I had up to a suitable working height , be able to bolt it down and fit a motor at the back for the belt drive.
I welded up steel reinforcing so that it could also hold 14 threads that stick out of the cured block at precise points. This took a bit of work to get right !! there are the 6 for the Cast iron Sparrow that had to be spot on , 4 for the motor mount and four out the front for holding on tool rests and a hook at the back for when I have to move it . We also made up form work which was leftovers from a large french provincial Style TV cabinet that Had come in for being reduced in size , some of the moulded corners in that were there to be used for nothing . That gives the formwork a complex looking contruction that wouldnt normally be done. When the concrete was poured we used a small air powered jack hammer as a vibrator on the sides of the form . lots of bubbles came to the top doing that . Cracking it open the next day was good fun

Once the Sparrow was bolted on I found out it needed some bracing , so the sturdy X brace was made and bolted in. we layed a small level pad to put it on and moved it to that and screwed it down with a fine sand and cement film in between. Its as solid as Ayers Rock.

The VFD is mounted on the wall I have a dust collection system that works with it as well ,and the diameter of the plywood is 800 mm . The center is about 1100 off the ground so in theory I could spin 2.1M I don't think that will ever happen.
There are a few more pictures of form work and jigs that were made for holding threads in place for welding.

The table out front of the lathe is a Wolfenden chisel or chain mortiser base fitted to a base with a way we made so the base can be wound in or out . The table top can also be moved in or out and left and right , and the whole lot can go up or down . This is just for machining radius dishes , a guitar Makers tool, with another machine that rolls from left to right on the table . it will also allow machining with a router as a work piece spins .That could be good for dished table tops .
That whole table set up can be taken off , and the next step is for a tool rest for free hand turning

Rob

Lovely work.

That's fantastic lots of great ideas

Rob,
when you make something like a functional tool, and add that extra flair, it adds a whole other dimension to the thing.
It's a treat to look back at the pictures of the making.
Great effort.
Cheers,
Peter

That'll make some nice big lazy susans, I'm sure you'll be able to sell some to the Chinese Restaurants
Nice work by the way. Love the fancy form work
Kryn

Rob - I really like the use of concrete for the base, and some nice design details too. Very well done.

There was a post recently (can't remember which forum) about setting up small metalworking bench lathes for maximum precision, that cited a wartime reference, where a steel and concrete base was recommended.

I doubt that a Sparrow with such a ball and chain will take flight any time soon !!

Regards,
John

Very impressive.
Do you need to worry about the motor filling with dust?

Im happy your all enjoying the view Gents Thanks .

I have even been coming back for second and third looks , the images have been in storage a while and I hadn't really studied them for a while. This much building took three years . we would work away on the woodwork and every few months do three or four days on the lathe . Me and two other guys at times. The whole thing will get a coat of Black paint one day . Im pretty sure Ill do it Flat acrylic Black . I intend to Guard the belts at the back .

Another possibility I may do with it is mount a second motor . I scored the same type of old motor as the one on there which has a reduction gear box fitted , it does about 40 to 1 rpm and was used to drive an old Organ out on stage at the Brighton theater in the old days for intermission playing to the audience , I was told that by the seller . the 40 to 1 would be good for machining with the router.

Lazy susans ?? LOL

Dust in the motor is not a worry so far. when Im doing MDF dishes the dust sucker takes 98% of it to the bag , its very efficient . It sucks just behind the cutter . Mdf as you probably know is very messy stuff , a little build up happens when I do lots of them . Its the sanding at the end that causes it . Im wearing a mask and have the fan going strong as well. Its under a lean to out back which makes it OK when the weather is nice.

Rob

A lot of thought going into this build, Rob. I'm guessing there's been quite a bit of satisfaction also?

Wayne

Yes Wayne, I did get some Satisfaction doing this . There is more to do though , a few more stages to go .
Here is a video I took when I first got it running.

Rob

Great video Rob -thanks for taking the time to post it

I really like the old GE motors, and the mounting / tensioning arrangement you've designed (bars on edge, pivoted on a shaft) looks great. The weight of the motor I'm sure provides plenty of gravity assistance in establishing initial tension!! I had wondered about the compatibility (high freq., insulation etc) between these old GE's and VFD's (and you've got a gold plated VFD there in the SEW), but looks like it works really well.

There's a lot to like in this build. Design, proportion, materials and execution.

Regards
John.

Thanks John .
Yeah I like the old motors . I got that one out of a bin at a high school My mate was working on . It ran the air conditioning fan . I was kicking myself that I didn't grab the fan as well for a while. It was a big long squirrel cage one and I let it go .
I was planing on a way to tighten the tension for the belt , there is only one on it in the pic but I have two on now . Gravity does the job though and I don't know if I need to tighten it . I wonder If it's safer for me and the machine that way , having them loose ? I once jammed up my Goldie copy lathe and if it wasn't for the belts slipping the machine would have broken some gears.


Rob