home built woodworking lathe

[jow104]

Surfing I ran across this article.
I have never ventured into woodturning but ask forum members if it would be worth the exercise to build such a lathe
http://www.mimf.com/articles/lathe/index.htm

[CHJ]

Surfing I ran across this article.
I have never ventured into woodturning but ask forum members if it would be worth the exercise to build such a lathe
http://www.mimf.com/articles/lathe/index.htm
Bet it don't get a CE certificatehttp://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/images/icons/icon7.gif if you make one.

[Orange]

heh that lathe would fall to bits. that must be one weak lathe. to make a lathe out of would is mad. especially pine. the spinning of the motor would make it collapse. i hope you did not biuld one like that

[jow104]

Yeah, alot of things I have built never stood much chance.

Boasting

I built a photocopying machine back in 1959 for an employer when I worked for a shipping agent in the City of London.

I must admit they puchased an electronic model very shorty after but it cost them thousands.

[jow104]

heh that lathe would fall to bits. that must be one weak lathe. to make a lathe out of wood is mad. especially pine. the spinning of the motor would make it collapse. i hope you did not biuld one like that

Advice taken

[smidsy]

To build something like that you would not get any change out of about $200, and that's assuming you have an old motor and can score the timber cheap.
If you need to buy a decent motor and pay shop price for timber you would be past $300, he's talking about getting a machine shop to machine a 150mm thread so you could add at least $50 for that, and then you need to buy face plate, head stock and get a spur drive from another lathe.
Even if you made it worth building in terms of cost by scrounging the parts on the cheap, it would flex worse than a GMC and the fit of everthing would be subject to the weather.

For $379 you can get an MC900 which has 3/4 h.p. motor, swivel head, variable speed, cast iron bed and comes c/w faceplate, spur drive and live centre.

You do the sums, the only time you'd build that lathe over an MC900 would be if your mother in law took up turning.
Cheers
Paul

[mike44]

Woody, I built a lathe that will turn 48" center to center. I built the lathe from construction lumber. I estimate the weight at about 150 lbs, cost me about $225.00, american dollars. This included machined headstock spindle and tailstock spindle, one drive center,one live center, new 1/2 hp motor and all lumber and misc. hardware.
There is a Fine Woodworking book on Wood Lathes, do not recall title, there are at least three lathes and drawings in this book. My lathe is very substantial, very accurate. I have been using it for two years and am very satisfied with it.
If anyone is interested I'll email pics of the lathe. In the attachments ,I have a chess table I made with turned legs, and chess pieces turned on this lathe.
The table is honduras mahogany, pieces are maple and bubinga.The squares are also maple and bubinga.The pictures could be better, I used a polaroid camera.
If you build one, you can buy replacement parts from a new lathe dealer, I got mine from Grizzly , I believe the spindles cost $35.00
mike

[echnidna]

I still have a homemade lathe made out of wood! Though its now sitting in my wood rack.
It was solid and worked well as a spindle and table leg lathe. If my shed was big enough I would set it up again for turning 8" legs.
It cost about $40 to make but I scrounged bits and pieces.

[jow104]

There you are then.
It just goes to show that those people who are DIYERS can produce something and that makes them happy. Sometimes I suspect you also can purchase manufactured items which are also cost effective.

[echnidna]

When your eyes are bigger than your belly (aka wallet) you are motivated to make things.
There's nothing wrong with timber framed machines - in fact there are many examples of high quality wooden machines in FWW.

[gatiep]

I cut my woodworking teeth on a bandsaw, lathe, tablesaw and spindle that my late father made............all bolted together as he didn't own a welder. We didn't have electricity on the farm in those days anyway. The holes were drilled with a hand drillpress....used to be bolted onto a pole in the shed and had a little ratchet thing that advanced the quill a little every few rotations of the chuck. Ooooohhhh and don't forget to squirt some oil on the drill regularly to stop the bit overheating! Every hole was a job of love and sweat.

I am sure that with some forethought quite useful machines can be made from hard wood. The original lathes, pole lathes and some treadle lathes were made from wood, I'm sure.Should be a lot easier to make nowadays as at least we can buy bolts of basically any length compared to what was available a few centuaries ago.

If you have an inventors mind/streak, go for it.....look at the solution and succesful end result, don't stare yourself blind against the possible problems and what others think.

Just Do It! The reward will be worth it.

:)

[jow104]

Yes we seem to forget that the cabinet makers in the 18/19th century didn't have electricity and not much steam about either, but look what they produced. We watch the Antiques Roadshow here in the U.K. (do you ever see that one in Oz?) and see some real pieces.

[gatiep]

Quote:We watch the Antiques Roadshow here in the U.K. (do you ever see that one in Oz?) and see some real pieces.


No we don't because in Australia we have been there and done that ourselves only last week......... so it's not antique here!

lol


:D

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[fxst]

Orange as a beginner (in your own words) u shouldnt jump in like that ...there are many wooden lathes around ..most of us were born b4 the throw away society existed and money was short (Raising family paying the mortage etc)
so a lot of stuff was made with materials at hand but safety was never compromised. You might note it was a dollmakers lathe so the pieces were prob not that big anyway. Stick around and you will learn quite a bit on the best WW forum in the world and as you have seen your questions will be answered.
Pete

[Darrell Feltmate]

Woody
I just happened on to this thread and have a few comments. First of all one of the woods recommended was yellow pine. Grown in the southern United States, this is a very stable and hard wood, not to be confused with ordinary red or white pine. Also, wooden bodied lathes have been around for a long time. They need to built out of fairly robust timber to withstand our usual faceplate turning, but it is certainly possible. When I was up at Maurice Gamblin's about 6 years ago, I worked on a four foot bowl on his wooden bowl lathe. We have since rebuilt it in 5" angle iron to accomodate the weight of the yellow birch burl for the 6 foot bowl he is now working on, but the wooden one handled up to five feet with no problem. The question as always when building a home made tool is, "is it worth it?" only you can answer that question. i use a commercial lathe but make most of my own tools, poartly to save money, but mostly because it is fun.

Darrell
www.aroundthewoods.com

[jow104]

Thank you Darrell for your encouragement and for the link to your interesting web site.

[SWR]

. The question as always when building a home made tool is, "is it worth it?" only you can answer that question. i use a commercial lathe but make most of my own tools, poartly to save money, but mostly because it is fun.

Darrell
www.aroundthewoods.com (http://www.aroundthewoods.com)
Darrell, not sure if anyone has welcomed you to the forum, so if they haven't - Welcome! I have only been using the forum for about six months but between all ofthe assembled brains there's not much that these guys can't lick.

As for the home-made toolsI couldn't agree with you more...using something you made yourself is a great source of satisfaction. I have made several woodturning tools from plans found on the web and I find the most useful one the Oland tool as described on your website - it's a real little humdinger (australian for terrific!) I made a hook tool for the deeper boring following your plans on your site and it works like a little ripper! I fall into the seriously sick category and also made my own table saw that I use weekly and is still working just like a bought one. I only wish more people would have a go at being a little more self-sufficient in the tools and workshop gear.

Hope to see you around the forum more and keep on turning....


Regards,


Scott in Peakhurst (Sydney suburb)

[tashammer]

i reckon that if you are young enough that maybe you could consider making a treadle-powered lathe. Now i reckon that would build yer legs up. Hmm, find a treadle singer sewing machine and fit it out to make pens and lace bobbins. And, if you are a true DIYer you ought to be able to make several pairs of jeans whilst you complete some bowls.

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

An old treadly sewing machine isn't the best start to base a lathe around. :( The wheel doesn't really carry enough weight to act as a good flywheel and is on the wrong sideunless you want to place the headstock on the right, in which case you'd have to customise all the fittings to take LH thread. (No point in starting turning, just to have the chuck come unscrewed, hmmm? ;) ) By the time you've made all the mods to bring it up to spec, you would've been better off building something more appropriate from scratch. [shrug]

This is not to say it can't or hasn't been done, mind! I gave it some serious thought for a while there at my "beginnings" and have seen some amazing home-built jobbies.

Now, if someone wants to build a serious kickarse machine, I reckon a good start would be using an old 4 cyl. engine block with original crank and flywheel... (Like I said, I gave this a lot of thought, once upon a time... :rolleyes: )

[Andy Mac]

That's not so bad a looking machine really! And considering he's making toys, its probably very suitable.
I learnt turning on a homemade wooden lathe, bought from an old guy who made it and the set of turning tools to go with it...I thought it was a bargain at $80. It was well used before I got it, and didn't miss a beat. Very simple, with little welding or real machining. Things like a 1" bolt ground to a point for tailstock, located with nuts either side of a movable wooden upright. It was powered by a washing machine motor, and there was no dramas about the frame falling apart, but had to be used within its limits.

Treadle lathes can be made in timber or metal as well. Here are a couple of links, the first to a simple wooden version, the second to a once popular cast iron version (Barnes). http://www.americanartifacts.com/smma/advert/ay83.htm
http://www.lathes.co.uk/barnes/page2.html

I think the point has to be made that timber framing was used in many older machines, from industrial weaving looms to cars. Its just a matter of selecting the right type, and joining it according to expected stresses.
The making of your own tools and machines, be that from timber or metal, is a personal choice, which depends on finances, spare time, and a desire to see if can make something that works.:)

Cheers,

[tashammer]

yes, all you really need to think of are the old chairnakers and their sapling powered lathes (and the very little they got paid for all the work they did). Same with the Lancashire clogmakers - lots of hard work and little pay. My Uncle Harry used to wear clogs to work and they were not like the Dutch clogs. They were made out of wood, leather over the toes and he had horshoe on the bottom. Made a fair din when he was walking. Harry was a farm labourer in Lancashire.

[PommiePete]

I inherited a home made lathe from an old guy who made it as an apprenticeship project in his days in the NZ Railways. It's basic but solid made of two steel channels with an old washing machine motor to drive it.
If you're going to make one - at least make the base frame of steel. You need that stability!

[Gil Jones]

Ernie Conover sold cast iron headstocks (with DC, variable speed motors), tailstocks, and leg sets for years. All one had to do was build the ways from wood. See pic.

[Rookie]

Andy Mac said it. The guy makes dolls. I guess he's not turning huge platters on the thing so if it works for him, then why the heck not. It's his fourth so I guess he wouldn't persist if they didn't work. Then again, it's his fourth, so what happened to the other three. :cool:

Gotta remember his requirement though, is dolls, not 's lamp posts

[tashammer]

Just outside Melbourne is a place called Eltham and, at Eltham is a place called Montsalvat which is open to the public. They have a huge wooden framed lathe there tucked away.

I recall seeing an American guy who made lathes out of truck parts and they were monsters of things that you would have no problem turning massive table tops on.

Some folks are very, very inventive. And, as someone has already said, it can be fun and challenging to make your own stuff. I had this homemade table saw which used a school desk, top and legs, as its basis; i always felt quite chuffed when i look at something i had made coming, in part, from a thing like that. Same with the circular sander and table, brought to you via Hoover and school desk. I won't admit to once owning a B&D drill powered lathe - very annoying little thing. And the old home-made lathe i had, weighed a ton and rock solid (i didn't make that one).

This may sound trite but, more often than not, it is the getting there that is the best part.

P.S. i do like the look of Ernie Conover's lathe. It would be nice if someone still did that - a cast iron kit. Sounds like a Gingery Boys plan - now there were/are clever blokes.