Thread: home built woodworking lathe

Originally Posted by Darrell Feltmate

. 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

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)

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.

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... )

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,

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.

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!

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.

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.

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

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.