Carba-Tec HM-1A Mini Lathe Advice

[Morbius]

Good afternoon all!

I just picked up a Carba-Tec HM-1A Mini Lathe off eBay and am in the process of setting it up. I have it running, but there are a couple of options for how it can be permanently configured. I can set the motor on the bench behind the lathe, or I can set it under a table, beneath the lathe.

Has anyone else here got one of these little lathes, and if so, any pointers or advice?

Thanks,

Craig

[Paul39]

Craig,

I lean toward the motor under the lathe to have the lathe closer to the wall or open window with fan blowing out.

I like the lathe on a stand so that all the shavings fall to the floor and do not pile up on a bench. It is good to have a little slanted roof over the motor so that the shaving slide off and do not pile up on the motor.

[Morbius]

Thanks Paul,

That sounds like good advice!

Craig

[BobL]

Here's how I did mine.
http://www.woodworkforums.com/attachments/f245/217178d1343299213-bobls-shed-fit-nearlycomplete.jpg

More details http://www.woodworkforums.com/f245/bobls-shed-fit-134670/index21.htmlhttp://www.woodworkforums.com/f245/bobls-shed-fit-134670/index21.html.

[Morbius]

Bob,

Thanks for the picture and advice. How come you have a second motor mounted on the lathe?

FYI, attached is a picture of the type of lathe I nearly did buy instead. $40.00 only!

I will be putting the motor underneath now, and I'll be making a belt guard out of some sheet aluminum, to keep it all nice and safe.

Just looking for a decent plan I can hijack and call my own :) Probably something similar to this. (http://www.cranialstorage.com/Wood/lathe_stand.html) (BTW, love the use of the hinge to adjust the tension of the belt!)

Craig

[Paul39]

Craig,

Good that you did not buy the $40 lathe, likely you would hav outgrown it in a matter of days, if not hours.

Google is a wonderful resource, go to the Google page, click on "Images" on the top bar, put in "wood lathe bench plans".

You will get this:

https://www.google.com/search?num=10&hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1024&bih=607&q=wood+lathe+bench+plans&oq=wood+lathe+bench&gs_l=img.1.1.0i24l2.6460.11302.0.15536.16.13.0.3.3.0.191.1467.0j13.13.0...0.0...1ac.1.oNFVW7PRGDg

I prefer this style so that chips fall to the floor:

Google Image Result for http://ibuildit.ca/Woodworking%2520Projects/images/lathe-stand/WLS%2520(1).jpg (http://www.google.com/imgres?num=10&hl=en&tbo=d&biw=1024&bih=607&tbm=isch&tbnid=gPhVkFNzj9UIzM:&imgrefurl=http://ibuildit.ca/Woodworking%2520Projects/lathe-stand-1.html&docid=G5qrHWrELWP2IM&imgurl=http://ibuildit.ca/Woodworking%252520Projects/images/lathe-stand/WLS%252520%281%29.jpg&w=804&h=604&ei=ujaZUOfbA9GA0AH9qYDwAQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=466&vpy=302&dur=727&hovh=195&hovw=259&tx=149&ty=72&sig=113638148830367665896&page=1&tbnh=145&tbnw=193&start=0&ndsp=16&ved=1t:429,r:8,s:0,i:99)

Probably not as important for a mini lathe as for bowl makers, I make 95% bowls , my small lathe is 350mm swing, with 500mm & 700mm larger ones. I will make a pile of chips at my feet 300mm deep with one bowl.

The search option on this site will answer many questions that have been asked over and over by many new turners. I am amazed at the patience of the"old hands" in replying. I do because I have been greatly helped here. I co not consider myself an "old hand".

There are many raging discussions about sharpening, selection of chucks, selection of tools, lathes, etc. Lots of information to read and make your own choice.

I am a proponent of free timber and inexpensive but adequate tools and methods.

Once you get the lathe running, do some research about sharpening methods and equipment.

[Morbius]

Paul and everyone,

Thanks for the responses and all the terrific advice.

I've got a plan in mind for the lathe bench and will start building that this weekend
The headstock spindle is a 3/4" 16 tpi job and I am looking at replacing that with a Gen 3 GPW100 chuck from Gary Pye Woodworking, but my only concern with that is that it might be too heavy for a poor old 1937 era 1/2 hp hoover electric motor. I'm fairly certain this poor old motor was used by McArthur to do his socks and jocks - that's how old this thing is.

Anyone here got a clue if the GPW100 is too heavy for a 1/2 hp motor?

Thanks,

Craig

[RETIRED]

It will be plenty powerful enough if it was made in 1937. They used real Clydesdales then not Taiwanese pit ponies.:wink:

[BobL]

Bob,

Thanks for the picture and advice. How come you have a second motor mounted on the lathe?


The motor immediately underneath the lathe is the original 1/2HP, 1Ph motor - I just haven't removed it yet..
The one underneath the bench is a 1HP - 3Ph.
The grey box on the yellow pole above the lathe is the VSD for the 3Ph motor.

[Morbius]

Huon at GPW got back to me this morning. They have one of these little lathes in their test workshop. They are going to test it out and see if the chuck will do the job!

How is that for service?

Craig

[Morbius]

Well,

As promised, I started work on a design for a bench, "inspired" by the best features of a few different benches I have seen on the net. In essence, I nicked a few ideas and this is how it is looking so far.

I want to build a quality bench, cheaply so I can spend more money on a GPW chuck and some better chisels. Here's a rundown of my plan and progress so far.

The bench legs are made out of biscuit jointed oregon, recycled from an old car port. I have clad them in 3mm mdf, since the timber was solid, but ugly. The top is off an old solid core door, which I have rebated to insert the bench legs. Basically, the bench is held together by big mortise and tenon joints :)

The design includes a set of drawers, as well as a sliding rack for my chisels, similar to one of Bill Hylton's router tables (storing chisels, rather than router bits).

I am planning on painting the whole thing either black or green, with the only visible wood being the edging that I'll run around the top and the edges of the legs. I've got some Blue Gum that'll do nicely for that.

I loved the idea of a hinge to help raise and lower the motor when changing belt speeds, but wanted to take the idea a little further. I don't want to keep needing to bend over to raise and lower the motor, so am using a car jack, mounted to the underside of the table top on a sliding rail. The car jack cost me $3.00 at the Revolve Recycling Centre. The jack is suitable for an SUV, it should stand up to the rigors of lifting a small electric motor for a few years at least. The difficult part has been finding a reasonably priced cast iron handwheel ("reasonably" varies from person to person - I'm looking around the $50 mark, tops).

Since I am deliberately going overboard on the engineering, I figured that I would keep the motor and lift visible to give the bench a bit of character :)

After work this week, I'll be installing the legs, the motor and lift kit. Next weekend I hope to do the drawers :)

245815

I am deliberately leaving room at the end of the bench so I can mount a sanding disk and a dedicated work light. I just need to find out how to remove the wheel that is there at present. I've also left room at the rear for mounting a slightly modified Carba-Tec dust catcher.

245819
(Picture courtesy of Carba-Tec)

Assembling this bench for this little lathe has been a hoot so far. While I can't wait to put it to use, the experience of researching, designing and building the bench itself has been a heap of fun so far. As has been the treasure hunt for parts that will do what I want :)

Craig

[Paul39]

Morbius,

See this for hand wheels:

http://www.woodworkforums.com/f8/changing-guard-115302/index5.html

If someone makes a faceplate of the right diameter that would screw on to the left end of the spindle you are half way there.

Below are photos of a knob for tightening the banjo bolt on the tool rest and a hand wheel from a child's electric powered car.

I turned the knob with a hole just slightly undersized for the long nut and drove it in with the tail stock ram. I had roughed up the nut where it went into the wood and then drizzled epoxy glue into the spaces next to the flats and then packed in fine sanding dust. The nut is made to join long pieces of allthread rod.

If you can find a nut to fit the left end of the spindle this might adapt.

The inside of the toy steering wheel hub was a bit larger than the 33mm thread of the lathe. A few turns of duct tape around the spindle and forcing the hub on makes it work. It is a bit wobblely but has served the purpose for about 9 months.

Someone here was concerned about getting fingers in the spokes. I have done that once when I did not reach far enough to the left. No harm done.

[Morbius]

Paul,

Thanks for the idea!

I contacted a number of companies and only one got back to me - Ian from Hercus in South Australia.


Hi Craig
Thanks for the enquiry regarding Handwheels
We have available
p/no HWCI/0100 - 100mm dia handwheel at $13.80 ea plus gst
p/no GRIP/0006 - Handle at $6.10 ea plus gst
Dimension sheet attached

245896

The cast iron look of the Hercus handwheel is in line with the style I want to achieve for the bench, but I love the idea of making one like the one you have pointed out Paul.

Craig

[Morbius]

Well, as promised, I've included pictures.

Today the handwheel arrived and I am very happy with the quality of it :)

247914
247915
247916

I have yet to install the lift mechanism, and build the set of drawers, but as you can see - plenty of room for both! :)

Craig

[Morbius]

Okay,

I've had a bit of a go at the lathe and it works a treat :)

I am going to go to Sydney next month and pick up a new chuck from GPW, but am very unhappy with the tool rest. The shaft of the tool rest is 1/2 an inch and the width of the rest is 2 inches. Can anyone suggest where I could find a suitable, longer tool rest, perhaps around 4 inches or so?

Happy to buy new or second hand, just no idea where to find one.

Thanks,

Craig

[Morbius]

Well,

As promised, here are the photos of the prototype lift mechanism for the motor:

248486
248487

I will have to fine-tune the angle of the blocks used to ensure the electric motor is raised far enough for all settings, but I am pretty happy with it for now. The top runner should probably be twice as long, to get the full lift. I'll rebuild the mechanism out of better quality wood (not scraps, like this time) and use a little UHMWP to keep the movement smooth and minimise the need for lubrication when I get around to making the drawers and cabinet. The height of the handwheel worked out well for me, as I can change the belt and adjust the height without any fooling around :)

I like this design as there's little that can get mucked up by sawdust.

I have also decided to build my own tool rest. I've got some angle iron and a 1/2" bolt. All I need do is drill a suitable hole into the angle iron, epoxy the bolt in place and put in a bit of timber backing to help dampen vibration and I think I'll be in business.

Craig

[Paul39]

Very slick motor adjuster.:2tsup::2tsup:

I don't think epoxy will hold for your tool rest. It would be best to bite the bullet and buy a proper one. Ask here, someone may have a used one.

The forces at the joint of the upright and cross piece are quite heavy, especially if you have a catch. If the top were to come off and get flung into the turning, a bowl especially, you might find yourself with a mouth full of angle iron.

Check here for sizes and see if one is sold in AU:

Packard Woodworks: The Woodturner's Source: Tool Rests (http://www.packardwoodworks.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=packard&Category_Code=lathes-acc-toolrst)

Having one welded up is a possibility.

[Morbius]

Very slick motor adjuster.:2tsup::2tsup:

I don't think epoxy will hold for your tool rest. It would be best to bite the bullet and buy a proper one. Ask here, someone may have a used one.

The forces at the joint of the upright and cross piece are quite heavy, especially if you have a catch. If the top were to come off and get flung into the turning, a bowl especially, you might find yourself with a mouth full of angle iron.

Thanks for the warning. I had not even considered that as a possibility!

Craig

[Paul39]

Thanks for the warning. I had not even considered that as a possibility!

Craig

See my addition to my above post.

[Morbius]

Thanks for that link. I hadn't seen those before :)

There's some very nice tool rests there. It seems that 1/2" shafts on tool rests are kind of rare.

Craig

[Morbius]

I haven't even done my first turning job and discovered that my lathe is about an inch too short for it!

I am about to build a custom extension for the bed. Luckily I left plenty of room on that tabletop!

I have some inch thick MDF and some aluminum flat bar that is the right size for the job. So it looks like I'll be posting some more pictures over the coming week or so. I may have to be careful or this mini-lathe may no longer qualify as "mini" any more!

I have also been fortunate in that my tool rest problem has been solved (Thanks DJ's Timber!) by another forum member.

Craig

[Morbius]

Tomorrow, I pick up two lengths of steel that a local engineering firm have cut to size for me to create the bed extension. I decided to go with steel to add a little weight and strength. I will have to reshape it with a few mill files to match the profile of the original, but I am a patient fellow :)

I am only extending the bed by 40cms, but that will really increase the capacity of the lathe, without causing too many problems with torque.

I am ready to cut the template out for the stand, so that I can route out the 28 pieces I need to glue together to make the support for the rails. I'll post more pictures as I make progress. I won't get to the routing until the weekend at this stage.

I know that there are other people who have the same model lathe, so I'll make the plans and instructions (if you can call them that) available for others once I am done.

Craig

[Morbius]

Well,

It's been a rough month or so since I managed to do anything serious regarding the extension of the lathe.
I've busted some ribs and cut the tendon on my thumb, so progress has been a little slow. :C What I am doing is taking photos along the way to document progress, mistakes and how difficult or easy this is to do.

Anyway,

Here's how things are going:

Picture of the lathe - unmodified from the front 255428

Picture of the lathe - unmodified from the side 255429

Picture of the lathe - unmodified from the front with rough components 255430

Picture of the lathe - unmodified from the front with shaped components 255433

More to come in the next post...

[Morbius]

A few more pictures...

Picture of the shaped components with template 255436

Picture of the template 255437

Picture of the lathe - unmodified from the front with shaped components in place 255438

Picture of the lathe - unmodified from the side with shaped components in place 255439

I still have about a dozen more pieces to route out on my table (pictures to follow) to fill in the gap, and then drill and countersink holes in the steel to secure the steel rails to the MDF base. This will be a study extension for the lathe when I am done :)

Of course, I have yet to build the cabinet and drawers for storage, rebuild the lift, now the prototype has proven itself as a concept and then trim and paint the bench. I suspect it is going to take me longer to finish the lathe than anything I will ever create on it :)

Craig

[Morbius]

This is the hardest part of this project so far. Waiting for the glue to dry...

Here's how it looks at the moment... 255954

After this, it's a quick sanding job, a bit of routing and drilling so the gutter doesn't fill with sawdust continually and a quick coat of black paint and it'll be ready for the rails to be added :)

Of course I have picked a day when traditional Canberra weather has struck and it might be days before the glue is dry enough for any of this.

BTW, I have kept the template for making this and am happy to share it with others who may possess this model of lathe. Just PM me and let me know.

Craig

[Morbius]

As luck would have it, I can't find the can of black spray paint :)

However, I wasn't about to let that ruin my plans to get this thing up and running...

Angled view of lathe with bed mounted. 257467

Close up of DJ's Timber's custom tool rest. 257468

Side view of lathe with extension. 257469

Angled view of lathe partway through doing a handle for a tool. 257470

Yet another gratuitous angled shot of the lathe and tools. 257471

I've still got some fine tuning to do and also to find a can of black spray paint...

Craig

[Morbius]

Once I've fine tuned this set up, the next job is the storage cabinet underneath, lighting and dust collection.
Lighting is a bigger issue than I first expected when I started a topic about it a week or so ago. Lots of good avice to consider and see what is possible to put in place.

Dust collection is simple. It'll be the Carba-tec unit as already decided :)

Craig

[Morbius]

Here we go:

The prototype lift mechanism:

328153

The final version, in progress (needs paint and tarting up):

328154
328155

As you can see (compared to the picture at the top of this post) the mechanism has been modified and simplified to minimise the chance of sawdust getting stuck in it. I've got the whole mechanism sliding along an aluminium rail, and with the UHMWP, there's not too much requiring any oil at all.

328156

The action on the lift is fairly smooth and solid, so that if the belt breaks due to age, no damage will occur. All I have to do now is decorative and I've got a functional lathe once again. I've already got the Carba-tec dust hood to mount, once this is done, and to add a light. I also want to add decent drawer fronts and some trimming to finish this thing off.

Craig