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100% Homemade Latheby catwood on August 3, 2007

Table of Contents

License:   Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike (by-nc-sa) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Intro:   100% Homemade Lathe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

step 1:   Decisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

step 2:   The Bed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

step 3:   Bed Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

step 4:   Feet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

step 5:   Mounting the Bed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

step 6:   Tailstock Slide Pieces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

step 7:   Tailstock Base Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

step 8:   Headstock Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

step 9:   Headstock Alignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

step 10:   Securing the Shaft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

step 11:   Mounting the Motor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

step 12:   Power Transmission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

step 13:   Chuck Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

step 14:   Headstock Testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

step 15:   Tailstock Finishing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

step 16:   Tailstock Accessories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

step 17:   First Tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

step 18:   Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

step 19:   Lathe Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

step 20:   Further Turning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

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Intro:  100% Homemade LatheAlthough I know other people have built lathes themselves, after an enormous amount of looking on Google, I saw most homemade lathes involve casting and milling, aswell as using off the shelf components like chucks and tapers. Being only a high school student, I wanted to experiment with a lathe without having to spend hundreds ofdollars that I don't have. I ended up using almost all scrap materials from my basement, so there is no need to follow my materials choices. Because your design choiceswill vary, this article is more of a record of how I built this one, rather than a manual for building yours.

I managed to build this lathe in about a week, with not much more than a cordless drill, a drill press, a jigsaw, and assorted hand tools. I hope that I have documented myproject here in an understandable way.

Warning: This is a powerful device designed to spin stuff quickly. I take no responsibility for anything you do. Don't try this unless you have at least a little bit ofexperience with tools. And wear safety glasses when using it because particles fly around.

step 1: DecisionsSo, if you are reading this, you must be interested in building a homemade lathe. First, I would advise you to look at the diagram in the[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lathe_(tool) Wikipedia article] to learn the basic parts of a lathe.

The first thing you have to decide is what kind of lathe you want. Either to work with metal or wood. A wood lathe requires a less powerful motor and not as closetolerances. Also a wood lathe does not need the complicated tool rest that a metal lathe has. For the first version of my lathe, I decided to just stick with wood and see if Icould come up with something that actually worked.

The next thing to decide is size. I would highly recommend not going too overboard... tree size logs on a wood lathe and 50 pound steel bars on a metal lathe are best leftto professionals I think. I decided to try to make a wood lathe for pieces up to 4 inches in diameter and about 30 inches long, although I will not be trying something thatbig until I get more practice with small items, like tops, chess pieces, other little toys. But I figured that I had a pretty powerful motor sitting around, so I might as well makeit big enough to handle large salt shakers and chair legs so in the future I could do large things.

step 2: The BedAs you can see in the diagram mentioned in the previous step, the bed is kind of the frame of the lathe. Since I wanted to be able to handle pieces up to 30 inches long, Ineed 30 inches between the headstock and tailstock (reminder: see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lathe_(tool) diagram]). I figured I needed about 8 inches for theheadstock (basically a pulley for power from motor, supports, and a chuck to hold the work) and 4 inches for the tailstock (supports work on the other end), so I figuredthe bed should be about 40 inches long.

The bed needs to be very solid and not flexible or the material will wiggle all over as you are trying to work with it. I had an 8 foot long piece of 1/8" thick aluminum angle,1.5" x 1.5". Out of the 96", I cut two 40" pieces for the main rails. This design turned out to be slightly more wiggly than I had hoped, maybe for the second version I willuse steel.

The picture shows the two pieces on a stool in the orientation they will be in.

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step 3: Bed ConstructionI laid the two pieces back to back and lined them up very carefully. It is crucial that the tops of the two pieces are level and lined up. As in the picture, I used a strip ofUHMW on each end to separate the two aluminum pieces 3/8". This enables me to be able to use 3/8" diameter bolts to hold down the headstock and tailstock to thelathe bed. I used three smaller bolts rather than one large bolt through each piece of UHMW to prevent rotating.

I numbered each intersection of the base in case I ever need to take it apart, it would be easier to put back together.

The first picture is a close-up of one of the two UHMW pieces on the end. The second photo shows the bed being stood up by a clamp.

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step 4: FeetThese pieces are basically feet, but act as brackets to secure the bed of the lathe to whatever larger surface you will attach it to. I cut four 2" long pieces of the angle thatI used for the bed of the lathe, and faced them in opposite directions in pairs as shown in the photo. The pieces are attached with the same bolt configuration as thelonger pieces.

The first photo is a close-up of one end. The second photo is the whole bed standing up by itself!

step 5: Mounting the BedI mounted the bed of the lathe now to make it less tippy. There are basically two options: mount it permanently onto a workbench, or mount it onto something else so itcan be stowed away when not in use. I mounted it onto two pieces of 2"x4" that I cut to the depth of the workbench so I could put it away if I needed the workbench. Iscrewed one wood screw through each foot into the 2"x4", and that seemed to make it sturdy enough.

The first photo is a picture of the bed mounted on top of my workbench. The second photo is a closeup of the feet mounted to the wood.

step 6: Tailstock Slide PiecesI went ahead and made this piece now because it would allow me to tell whether the whole base was actually straight and smooth enough to continue using. It shouldslide easily, while not having more than 1/16 wiggle room in any direction. I took smaller aluminum angle (1" x 1" with 1/8" walls) and cut two pieces 4 inches long. I had astrip of 3/4" thick UHMW that was 2" wide left over from another project, so i just used two pieces. UHMW is a good material for this piece because it slides easily on thealuminum bed of the lathe. The total width of my base is two pieces of 1.5" angle and the 3/8" space, so i cut the strips exactly 3 and 3/8" long.

The photo shows the pieces assembled, which is covered in the next step, but I did not want to take it apart again for a photo.

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step 7: Tailstock Base AssemblyTo assemble, I simply clamped the four pieces to the base and drilled through the angle into the UHMW with a small bit. I enlarged the holes in the angle to 1/4" andtapped the UHMW with a 1/4-20 thread. Screws through the alumnium into the UHMW hold it together. Now you need to test the sliding ability of it. Do not give upimmediately if it doesn't slide. I achieved an acceptable balance of slide/friction with the screws loosened by one turn to enable it to move when I push it with moderateforce (you won't need to move it all that much). Congratulations, you now have a very small monorail!

I drilled 4 holes into the top of the UHMW, all lined up very precisely with the gap between the rails. The one on each end are 3/8" diameter, to allow a bolt to accuratelytravel through the gap between the rails with a nut underneath for clamping the tailstock down to the bed.

The first picture shows it on the end of the lathe to show how it should fit the track upon completion. The second picture shows it right after assembly. The last photoshows your monorail in action!

Image Notes1. This side doesn't fit quite as well onto the bed as the other side, but it works ok.2. Screws through the aluminum angle into the UHMW.

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step 8: Headstock BasicsBecause I was not sure about the height that the spindle would be, I did not want to construct anymore of the tailstock yet, so I started on the headstock. The generalidea is to support a spinning shaft which has both the pulley and the chuck on it. I decided to use two UHMW supports, so I drilled a 3/8" hole near the top of each for themain shaft. (I decided to make the main shaft 3/8" because I had lots of 3/8" shaft and hardware around). Directly underneath the hole, I embedded a 3/8" threaded rod.This rod will go through the bed and be secured with a nut from the bottom.

I made two of the supports. The height of the main shaft above the bed determines the diameter of work that can be done on the lathe, so i added more UHMW piecesbeneath the shaft supports to raise the height of the actual supports. (whew lots of supports, but just look at the second picture in this step). I then tightened the nuts onthe bottom fairly tight to secure the two supports about 7 inches apart.

The first picture shows one of the completed supports. The second picture shows the supports mounted to the bed of the lathe.

Image Notes1. Tightening from underneath secures the shaft supports.2. Spacers to raise the height of the actual supports.

step 9: Headstock AlignmentNext I aligned the two supports I created. I pushed a long threaded rod through both of the supports, and fiddled until the rod lined up perfectly with the bed. I had toremake the supports several times until I got the shaft to line up nicely, but it is worth a little extra work to have a well aligned shaft. When you are happy with thealignment, tighten down the supports extremely tightly because they wont be moving.

The photo shows the shaft pretty well aligned with the bed.

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step 10: Securing the ShaftNow that the supports are tightened down, I secured the shaft in its place to prevent it from moving left or right as different pressures are applied to the workpiece. Istarted by putting three greased washers against each of the support pieces. Then I locked two nuts against the washers, so that both of the support pieces press slightlyaway from each other. The double nuts help to prevent loosening as the shaft is spinning. When both sets of nuts are in, any back and forth play should be eliminated inthe shaft. Looking at the picture will make it clearer.

Image Notes1. Two nuts are tightened against the greased washers.

step 11: Mounting the MotorI will not go into excessive detail here because everyone's motor setup will vary. The main thing is to make sure your motor can spin with both a lot of speed and a lot ofpower. For a wood lathe, a 1/2 horsepower motor should be enough. Mine is a 10 pound, 1.25 horsepower motor and it has never slowed down while I am turningsomething. I decided to use this motor because I had the motor and a fully variable speed controller just sitting around.

I secured a large aluminum plate to one of the shaft supports and mounted the motor to the plate. Before mounting the motor, you should take into consideration thelength of the belt you will use to transfer the power. When the motor is mounted, the shaft of the motor and the main lathe shaft should be parallel. An alternative wouldbe to mount the motor to the 2"x4" base, which would take the weight of the motor off of the lathe bed.

The picture shows the motor mounted.

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Image Notes1. Scrap of wood to support the weight of the 10 pound motor.2. Motor.3. Motor controller in back.

step 12: Power TransmissionBecause I have a fully adjustable speed controller for the motor, I only needed one set of pulleys and I could adjust speed electronically. However, if you only have anon/off motor, a set of cone pulleys would be a good investment so you can adjust the speed by simply changing the pulley ratio.

The gray colored iron pulley on the motor I had kicking around, but I needed a pulley for the lathe shaft. I made one by cutting three circles out of MDF and gluing themtogether. I found these pretty awesome pieces at Home Depot called tee nuts (see third picture). These are basically threaded inserts for wood, so I imbedded one ofthese into the center of the pulley. Once I had the two pulleys properly aligned, I tightened the setscrew on the iron pulley to secure it. Because of the tee nut, the woodenpulley acts like a nut, so to secure it in position, I simply tightened another nut against it.

The first two pictures are two views of the completed belt drive. The third picture is a tee nut.

Image Notes1. Nut tightened against pulley.2. Suprisingly good tension on the belt!

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Image Notes1. Sharp prongs dig into the wood.2. Threads inside.3. This shaft goes into the hole in the middle of the pulley.

step 13: Chuck ConstructionBecause I like to do things the hard way, I made a chuck from scratch instead of buying one from Amazon. This chuck looks like a really nice one, but I couldn't justify the$170 dollars when I thought I could do it for under $2.

The basic idea of the chuck is to hold the work. I chose to make a 4 jaw chuck because I can hold square things as well as round things. I started by cutting a 5" circle outof some thick MDF to the best of my ability with a jigsaw and then drilled a hole in the middle. I fitted the hole in the middle with a tee nut. Using the same method as thepulley, I threaded this piece onto the shaft and secured it with a nut. Using a very steady file and a moderate speed, I smoothed out the edge of the disc to make ituniform. By holding a pencil up to the disc, you can draw circles on the disc, so I made one near the outside edge.

Next I drilled and tapped carefully lined up holes in aluminum angle. I secured the four pieces of angle evenly spaced around the circle I drew. Through the other hole ineach piece of angle, I put a screw. Look at the first photo to see the completed chuck. Basically a piece of wood can be secured in the center of the four jaws by uniformlytightening the four screw, kind of like a Christmas tree stand.

The first picture shows the finished chuck. The second picture shows a side view to show how the shaft needs to end inside the chuck. The third view shows the mountedchuck from an angle.

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step 14: Headstock TestingAt this point, you should be able to turn on the motor and have the chuck spin reliably. Start at a low speed and ensure the chuck is balanced and that everything issecure. Now is a better time to find any problems with things before you start spinning chunks of wood.

The photo shows the completed headstock.

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step 15: Tailstock FinishingIt is a good idea to use the finished headstock to help finish the tailstock. I removed the chuck, so the end of the shaft was now exposed again. On the tailstock, Imounted two pieces of UHMW vertically. Two pieces because they should keep whatever tailstock accessory aligned better than just one piece.

I tightened the tailstock down so it was just barely movable, but not wiggly. By pushing the tailstock against the headstock while the empty shaft is spinning, I made animprint of exactly where the hole should be drilled so it lines up with the headstock shaft. Then I used the drill press to drill the hole precisely, but accidently drilled theholes 5/8" instead of 1/2" so I fitted some bronze bushings into the holes to reduce the diameter. Double check that the main lathe shaft is correctly lined up with the newholes, and then reattach the chuck to the shaft.

The picture shows the completed tailstock.

Image Notes1. Holes line up!

step 16: Tailstock AccessoriesThe first thing I made was a center to support the work. Originally it was supposed to be a live center, but its too heavy or too much friction to rotate easily, so it is actuallya dead center, but works pretty well still. I took a 1/2" diameter (to match the hole in the tailstock) threaded rod and stuck it in my drill press. After a few minutes with a fileand sandpaper, it was sharpened to a deadly point.

I had a broken cordless drill kicking around, so I took it apart to see if I could get the chuck out of it. Lucky for me, it had a 1/2" diameter shaft too, so I now have a chuckto hold drill bits and accessories in.

The first photo is of the dead center in the tailstock. The second photo is the cordless drill chuck in the tailstock.

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step 17: First TestsFor the first pieces, I decided to try making tops. I started with a piece of pine 2"x2" about 5 inches long. I tightened it in very tight (the screws on the chuck need to diginto the wood to hold it well), and supported it by the center. After roughing out the circular shape from the square wood, I removed the center and shaped that end into apoint. Then I shaped the shaft and lightly sanded before cutting it off from the chunk still in the chuck.

After a few tops, I tried to make a chess king, but after the crown broke off, it became a queen. I made this in a similar way; supporting both ends of the piece until therough shaping was completed, then sanding.

The first picture shows the wood blank ready to go. The second picture shows the queen being carved. The third picture shows the remains after the queen is done. Thelast picture is 3 of the 4 tops and the chess queen (my dog ate one of the tops).

Image Notes1. Plastic piece for inspiration

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step 18: ConclusionIn conclusion, it is definitely possible to build a fairly accurate lathe from scrap materials, for not too much money. In fact I spent a grand total of $0, yes $0. Everythingwas scrounged from my basement. I expect that someone could build a similar lathe for around $100, most of that cost being a good motor.

Most of the design specifications were met. Because the headstock and tailstock are bigger than I originally planned, there is only about 24 inches between the chuckand the center, but that is still a respectable length. I can turn the pieces of aluminum angle around on the chuck to be able to handle up to around 4 inch diameterblanks.

If I make a second version, I would use a thicker main shaft because the 3/8" rod can flex a little bit. I would extend the bed at least another foot, so that I could do tablelegs. For tops and chess pieces, I have not found the need for a tool rest, however, I imagine it would be helpful when turning larger pieces, so version 2 wouldincorporate a tool rest.

step 19: Lathe ToolsI have used no commercial lathe tools, rather I made my own. The first picture is the cut off tool. It is basically a piece of steel mounted in a plastic handle that cutsstraight into the wood for cutting the work off and making deep grooves. The second is a hook shaped tool I made for cutting the captive rings on the later projects.

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step 20: Further TurningTwo more things I turned.

The first is a very small cup with a captive ring, meaning that the cup is one piece and the ring was cut from the middle of the stem of the cup. About 3" tall.

The second picture is a much longer thing (12") I made to test turning long items; it is basically a bar with 4 captive rings. Captive rings really freak people out when theyrealize the rings don't come off.

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Comments50 comments Add Comment view all 211 comments

 atomicturkey27 says:  Jan 1, 2010. 1:44 PM  REPLY How thick are the pieces of UHMW that you used?

 ewfw says:  Nov 24, 2009. 1:32 PM  REPLYjust thinking here.  A hub and axle from a bike wheel could make a good live tail stock.

 madscientist167 says:  Oct 22, 2009. 5:03 PM  REPLYstop writting so much

 coolstuff100 says:  Nov 22, 2009. 4:49 PM  REPLYyeah your right seriously

 madscientist167 says:  Nov 24, 2009. 12:25 PM  REPLYthank you

 kNeXFreek says:  Nov 23, 2009. 6:28 PM  REPLY SWEET !!!!!! NICE JOB!!

 coolstuff100 says:  Nov 22, 2009. 4:50 PM  REPLYPUT A VIDEO IN HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

 Jodex says:  Nov 20, 2009. 1:31 PM  REPLYThank you! This gave me a lot of ideas, for example making a lathe : D

 charles61 says:  Sep 11, 2009. 7:46 AM  REPLYGood try....but for light work only . Please, if you realy like turning: buy (or "do yourself") a "good" lathe (can be found at 300 to 400 USD for a threefeet lengt) with roller bearing, variable speed, tool rest, etc...and good (but even ordinary) tools 'well sharpened and...you shall immediatelyappreciate the difference. That's to say, comfortable use, no vibrations, safety of use, efficiency and reliability. Per sure, yours work "well" (so believe you) and you are proud of but ..such a tool must be heavily build in order to give (very) good results. I must say you have made a good beginning, own to be continued. Congratulations.

http://www.instructables.com/id/100-Homemade-Lathe/

 Lateral Thinker says:  Aug 6, 2009. 1:38 AM  REPLYMotors Start collecting power tools, for example, a electronic speed controlled electric drill. Remove the noise making speed reduction gear box, but ensueyou retain the cooling fan, or replace it with other means of cooling. Without the noisy gearbox, use a pulley system to reduce the motor speed, and increasetorque. I did this once on an older B&D, by cutting off the front casing of the drill, keeping the handle part and motor casing. The trigger on/off/speed-controlbecame just a speed control, I wired in a separate switch. But always remember, this modification destroys the safety of Double Insulation, so find a way toadd a earthing wire, and use the motor with a RCD safety device I used this drive motor, and various pulley system, to test home built odd ball generators forwind power. Use such such a motor for a SMALL lathe, such as for ornamental pen making, and dolls house furniture. Somebody, Anybody, Everybody,please feel free to create an instructable on such a motor. Try finding a way for universal mounting, so it applies to lots of different projects, with a veryversatile speed/torque range.

 Lateral Thinker says:  Aug 6, 2009. 1:09 AM  REPLYAs you say, the main shaft (or mandrel) at 3/8 inch is too flexible. So how come you have not used a intermediate bearing on the mandrel, halfway betweenthe two main headstock bearings? The fact that you placed the main drive pulley on the outer end of the mandrel, rather than between the main headstockbearings, is increasing the whipping of the 3/8 diameter shaft between the main headstock bearings, which is translating into whipping on the faceplatechuck. It appears you copied that layout from popular factory made small lathes, I note elsewhere you have not first read any books on wood turning, mostbooks, in the first chapter, discuss such issues while recommending a choice of lathe to buy. What I would have done, was mount the motor end for end, andmove the mandrel pulley to a location between the main headstock bearings, the best location for the pulley is to be as close as possible to the chuck, albeit,with the main head stock bearing in between. That would very likely eliminate the disadvantage of the main shaft or mandrel being only 3/8 diameter. I amnot sure if your drive motor is reversal once its turned end for end, so either a longer belt enabling the motor to be further away from the chuck, or better still,add a secondary drive shaft leaving the motor where it is now. I note you say you have a electronic speed control, thus don't need stepped pulleys for speedcontrol, but there, you are forgetting something, when you need a slow turning speed, doing it with the motor means the motor has less torque, I think youwill find it really useful to have a double speed range by pulley, using the electronics for fine control. On a wood lathe, you do need power (torque) to cut fineshavings from your work piece, if you are constantly worrying about stalling the motor, you tend to be just scraping rather than cutting, scraping means youdon't have a nice tool cut finish, and your cutting edge wears faster, and gets hot, also not having the power at low turning speed, is a safety issue, you tendto have dig ins, and sometimes that means your project heads towards the moon, that is, if it does not hit you first. Your project is very capable of beingupgraded to my suggestions, I complement you for that. Once the outer pulley is moved to between the main headstock bearings, you can then enclose thespace between the bearings with some kind of casing, both for safety, and to look EVEN more professional than it already is. A suggestion on what to dowith the shaft end once the pulley is moved, you could fit a small sanding disk or drum, provided you remember that it rotates in a different manner,unscrewing any nut at that end, but maybe you would consider locating a hand held jigsaw sabre saw machine, stripping it down, and using a crank on theleft hand end of the lathe mandrel, to drive the blade up and down, the saw table would be above the headstock, and when the lathe is being used for woodturning, either cover the saw blade or remove it.. A point about you not using a tool rest, how can you do fine work then? And if you lack proper support foryour tool, you are heading for a dig in, either your work goes flying, the tool breaks, or you have a deep gouge in your project, very likely meaning yourproject is a write off. Your instructable has lots of useful ideas for me, while I wont be building a lathe, I have a wood turning lathe already, the ideas will beuseful in a number of differnt areas, tool making, models, robots. However you would have been well advised to read books on wood turning first, beforebuilding your lathe, after all, designers, inventors, are known to be fully aware of what has been done before, and the mistakes that others have made, ONLYthen do they create their master piece or work of art. Top marks. Now, who is going to add their instructable telling how to add a computer to the mix.suggestions, using a soft plastic type material for the work piece, using a high speed rotary tool on a machine tool type base, using parts from a ink jetprinter, stepping motors, and print head drives, restrict yourself to the width of the paper the printer was build for. Small projects, 200 mm long, starting frommaterial diameter of 50-mm, consider all the possibility for model making, eg, 50 miniature cannon. Then, at right angles, disks 150-mm, the patterns youcan create on the face of disks, design them the pattern on the computer, send it out to the lathe. Nb, for this, you don't spin the lathe face place non-stop,but just slowly step it back and forth, with a larger stepping motor. I look forward to seeing the first instructable of many, along the lines i just suggested

 _soapy_ says:  Sep 22, 2007. 4:04 PM  REPLYA few things:

Someone already said there should be a guard on this, to stop you losing your scalp when a bit of hair gets pulled into the pulley (or loose sleeves, etc.) Yes,good practise is to tie everything back, tuck everything in, etc. but better safe than sorry! And for the "price" of a cardboard box!

You could stiffen the entire lathe really easily by getting a board and screwing the two legs to that. Even better would be tapping it to a second bit ofaluminium bar stock, as that would be more dimensionally stable. No way the legs could flex in or out, and the twisting would be lowered.

I can't help thinking that the bearing for the chuck is rather a long way from the chuck. The closer the better, there, as you don't want pressure on the work toflex things.

The chuck.Yes, it's a nicely make bit of kit, but I think it is dangerous. If any one of those screws or side brackets fail, the work will fly away rapidly, and the design israther weak.The way you have tapped the bolts into the aluminium is asking for disaster, since you probably only have a few turns of the bolt in there, and aluminium isvery soft. Over even a fairly short time the bolts grabbing into the work will distort these threads, and they will soon fail. This is likely to happen under load,and then you are in trouble!Make it safer in ten seconds, by adding a nut on top of each of the 4 through bolts in the face of the chuck.I should also point out for others, that you used MDF (I think) rather than "wood". Anyone using wood could be in big trouble, as the grain of the wood meansthat in one axis the chuck would be very weak.Add four nuts to the prongs as well, on the inside of the brackets, and, once the screws are bitten into the wood, tighten the nuts back against the brackets.This will add support, and reduce the odds of the bolt loosening with vibration.I'd strongly recommend not using wood for the face of it, and use four (steel) nuts on the 4 chuck bolts, and attach (weld) those onto the brackets, and upratethem to steel, too, if you are planning to do big turning jobs.

I also second the safety stop switch, and would recommend using an RCD just in case, if you are using mains power.

Oh, and please add a thing to suggest getting a good book on wood turning, and some goggles and dust extraction, or a filtered face mask.

Please don't take this the wrong way, your Instructable is great!

http://www.instructables.com/id/100-Homemade-Lathe/

 drcrash says:  Sep 28, 2007. 5:21 AM  REPLYI'd be worried about using MDF for the chuck. MDF is not as strong as it appears to be. The outsides are denser and harder than the core; in the middleit's pretty fluffy and weak. That was brought home to me in a couple of ways recently. I chiseled a groove in piece of MDF, and after I got through theouter 1/16" or so, it was easy---too easy. I also saw some pieces of MDF in the rack at Home Depot that had split right down the middle, so that 1/2"MDF turned into 1/4" MDF that was smooth on one side and rough on the other. The rough side was easy to abrade with my thumbnail. If you're going togo with a wood product, I'd think that good plywood would better than MDF. There are also stronger grades of MDF-like materials than MDF.("Hardboard," etc.)

 _soapy_ says:  Sep 30, 2007. 3:46 PM  REPLYYou aren't wrong. The outer of hardboard and MDF are rock hard. I tend to use a drill to break through the outer shell to get started.

 Lateral Thinker says:  Aug 5, 2009. 11:35 PM  REPLYI use MDF a lot. MDF has a very hard face (not edge) surface only from being pressed during manufacturer. Inside it is not so hard. Screwholding is not too good, lots better to use small nuts and bolts passing thru. MDF as well as being fibre, is made as multiple layers of fibres, ormats, and even after the MDF is finished, these layers split apart very easy. Screwing in on the edges, is rarely successful. If I had concerns, Iwould insure I had the correct screws, coress rather than fine thread, my info folder on MDF mentions a two start wood screw (double thread inengineering terms) with no shank, or reduced diameter from the threaded portion shank, the threaded part of the screw must be parallel, that is,not be tapered like a normal screw, just the end has a short taper, Use proper pilot and clearance drills, don't over tighten. I tend to put a drop ofPVA glue onto the threads, this will help solidify the fibres around the threads. Don't reply on just screws, use glue between surfaces, and try anddesign in, back up holding power, or support. The biggest draw back on my use of MDF for toys, is its ability to suck in moisture from the air andbegin expanding and thus distorting, so it needs to be well sealed when finished, a good coat of varnish or paint. Saying that, MDF is nowbecome the preferred material (rather than plywood) by production engineers designing jigs and patterns, provided they are well sealed frommoisture, MDF is now the most stable material you can readily obtain, more like plastic than wood. (after all, its remanufactured wood where plyis not) I tend to think of it as plastic, and most of my use of MDF is because how well it can be machined with a router. Apart from the drawback oflack of screw holding ability, you can think of MDF as being metal, and the wood router as being a metal milling machine. One thing to remember,once your cut or remove that hard outer surface, you are stick with the softer fibre and that will never take the fine finish that the outer surfacewas capable of. However, often crafsman refuse to use MDF on the lathe, for faceplate or jigs, their concern being that at high rotation speed, thelayers of fibre might split apart.

 catwood says:  Sep 22, 2007. 4:54 PM  REPLYI definitely agree with the addition of a pulley guard. I think a shoebox would fit nicely over that side of the lathe. The lathe actually doesn't really need tobe stiffened - the motor mount enables the heavy motor to act as a weight to keep the lathe from wobbling. The chuck in the picture is actually not themost current chuck design. The new one has two layers of MDF, and uses thicker aluminum angle pieces. The screws grip 4-5 threads in the aluminumangle now. I agree MDF is not as good as a steel plate would be, but it is a lot easier to work with. I used MDF to eliminate the grain of wood problembecause MDF is an engineered wood and does not have a grain to split along easily. There actually is a remote switch that is not pictured to the right ofthe lathe, which allows me to turn it off without having to reach near the work or the motor. Lastly I am not so sure I agree with your suggestions. Gogglesand some kind of mask is a must. But I do not have a book about turning, have never been taught how to use a lathe, nor do I have any lathe toolsexcept for the ones I made myself.

 drcrash says:  Oct 11, 2007. 7:08 AM  REPLYI think reading up on wood turning before actually doing it is a good idea.

You can put your eye out with that thing, if you don't know the proper technique. (No, really. When it comes to lathes, mom's right.)

This site has links to some useful info on woodturning:

http://www.laymar-crafts.co.uk/linkt.htm

There's an into to wood turning and a free e-book on woodturning (from Project Gutenberg), among other things.

There may be better sites out there, but that was one I stumbled on. (Any experienced wood turners have other suggestions?)

 _soapy_ says:  Sep 25, 2007. 10:08 AM  REPLYAbout the book, that's cool, you can teach yourself a lot on your own. Just don't forget that there are guys out there who have learned from masterswho learned from masters, and they know tricks I'd never thought of. It's not essential, it's just really useful. Plus, if you've never worked with bigscary powertools like this before, they tend to have a load of guidance so you don't gouge the work and throw the tool across the room, or saw offyour thumb. Glad you improved the chuck, that was the biggest concern for me. (I know of a guy that got hit by a chuck key, on an industrial metallathe. Nearly killed him.)

 pattermon says:  Jul 24, 2008. 6:19 PM  REPLYwhats that white stuff please tell me!!! I want to make one

 catwood says:  Jul 24, 2008. 7:21 PM  REPLYthe white plastic is UHMW

http://www.instructables.com/id/100-Homemade-Lathe/

 pattermon says:  Jul 24, 2008. 9:04 PM  REPLYThank you! But were do I get it?

 stoobers says:  Jan 16, 2009. 9:57 AM  REPLYGo to the dollar store and find a plastic cutting board. :)

 Lateral Thinker says:  Aug 5, 2009. 10:10 PM  REPLYGreat thanks, I had wondered if it was the same material, seeing I have used cutting-board already for projects.

 catwood says:  Jul 24, 2008. 9:15 PM  REPLYinterstate plastics is the best price i have found after quite a bit of shopping around. http://www.interstateplastics.com/

 rimar2000 says:  Aug 2, 2009. 2:49 PM  REPLYHere it is mine: http://www.instructables.com/id/Torno-del-pobre-poor-man-lathe/

 lompocus says:  Jul 13, 2009. 7:04 PM  REPLY3d model in sketchup if anyone's interested, just note that the measurements on the tailstock are off for the ROD only. I added a nice little way to move thetooltip. Commented to all hell.

http://www.filefront.com/14036381/Lathe_Josh.7z

 bobtannica says:  Jun 24, 2009. 7:29 PM  REPLYAmazingly versatile and useful tool you have made. Congrats. You're a HS'er now. Wow! If you don't become an inventor as your vocation then it would bean injustice. Thanks.

 kurth92 says:  Jun 23, 2009. 5:01 AM  REPLYhay i wasn't sure so u didn't use bearings in the headstock?? if not how dose it go with heating up and wearing out???

 kurth92 says:  Jun 20, 2009. 10:45 PM  REPLYi really appreciate people like you well done and as u say version two will Incorporated a tool rest it would be very easy to make a too rest for your originalaswell i might copy this maybe even smaller i have nice timber lying around i would like to do some pen turning

 airsoftsniper12 says:  May 14, 2009. 12:51 PM  REPLYI have a motor from a broken table saw. Will that work?

 sharlston says:  Jun 14, 2009. 3:56 AM  REPLYyes

 Phred1701 says:  Dec 15, 2008. 1:13 PM  REPLYNice Work. However, you should consider a tool rest an ESSENTIAL part of this tool, even turning something as small as 2x2's. As a somewhat experiencedwoodturner, I would never even consider turning without a tool rest. The whole idea is to provide mechanical advantage. Look at a wood turning gouge, thedistance from the tool rest to the end of the handle is ten or more times the distance from the tool rest to the work. This enables much greater control. AndALWAYS use eye protection! A face shield is best, but goggles or safety glasses are a minimum.

 The Red Button says:  Dec 25, 2008. 8:56 AM  REPLYyeah i have used lathes and i can imagine it would be very hard to do this without a tool rest. my shop teacher liked to tell stories about ppl getting theirscalps ripped off because their hair gets caught in a lathe. o_0

 sharlston says:  Jun 14, 2009. 3:55 AM  REPLYmy dad once had a allen key through his lip when something went wrong at work

http://www.instructables.com/id/100-Homemade-Lathe/

 silencekilla says:  Jan 5, 2009. 10:26 AM (removed by author or community request)

 The Red Button says:  Jan 5, 2009. 6:07 PM  REPLYhaha nice. Heard any stories about skinning your hands on a vertical belt sander yet? Those are always fun.

 catwood says:  Jan 31, 2009. 5:06 PM  REPLYI have definitely skinned some fingers on my belt sander, but that's not really as much fun as the pain some other tools can bring.

 biolethal says:  Mar 17, 2009. 4:04 PM  REPLYLike a hand caught in the rough side of a 12in bench grinder... not very healthy...

 JJKierstyn says:  May 22, 2009. 3:37 PM  REPLYI was grinding down a pencil with a bench grinder for some reason. The pencil slipped and I was putting too much pressure on thepencil so my finger nicked the grinder and my skin was ground off almost to the bone instantly. It didn't hurt that bad, but it sure isworse then a paper cut. Now it's just a scar.

 coolguy says:  Jan 29, 2009. 7:50 PM  REPLYI have shaved many finger tips off on vertical belt sanders. That's practically a requirement for learning to use it. It's like learning how to weldand expecting to never get burned.

 NCchance says:  Apr 7, 2009. 6:33 AM  REPLYI went through three of my Uncle's finger nails with a Forstner bit (brand new) when I spun out of the hole I was drilling. He wasTHRILLED!!!! Its been three months and they still haven't completely healed. Word to the wise: NEVER, EVER start drilling before you'vecompletely seated the bit in the hole you've already started drilling.

 sharlston says:  Jun 14, 2009. 3:54 AM  REPLYany plans on making a 22 ton metal working lathe in the future? only joking i made a lathe once but i used a drill as the motor it worked good but i had tocharge the battery up every 15 mins i like yours its well good

 frankenboom says:  May 15, 2009. 5:45 PM  REPLYfour questions..... how can you make this into a metal lathe (it doesnt have to be perfect) and will a vacuum motor work...... or a miter saw motor? the mitersaw motor is obviously way more powerful and easier to mount, but its really scary and it would be harder to attach to a belt or pulley. the vacuum motor ismuch smaller, but it seems to be faster at 30,000 rpm and would be easier to attach to the pulley. Which one should i use if either one will work? if neither ofthose motors work, where could you get the motor in the instructable, cheaply? where did you get yours? finally, where can you get a speed controller for thetwo motors i have if they'll work? (A.C.) awesome instructable!!!

 frankenboom says:  May 28, 2009. 1:44 PM  REPLYi just found a treadmill with 2.25 hp continuos duty motor, with a power source, belts and pulleys and speed controller. that would be a better setup, right?

 lenny25 says:  May 25, 2009. 12:35 PM  REPLYI really like this intructable, I admire your DIY attitude.I would like to make something like this as well, so thanks for all the great ideas. But i'm also going t behonest with you and say that chuck looks verrry dangerous, To me it just does'nt seem solid enough. I've been hit in the face with a piece of wood that shotoff a circular saw, it missed my eye by a centimeter. It was not a fun experience, certainly one i never want to repeat.

 tbenefi33 says:  May 7, 2009. 9:59 PM  REPLYHI just curious could dremel tool be good to use for the motor ?

 biolethal says:  May 23, 2009. 11:08 PM  REPLYprobably way too high speed, but no torque, unless you are making a tiny lathe.

 coolguy says:  Jan 29, 2009. 7:57 PM  REPLYI can't tell from the pics but, do you have ball bearings where the rod spins? The speed of the turning combined with metal on plastic is sure to wear downquickly over time. I also second the tool rest comment. It's a real pain to work without one. You might also look up what wood lathe tools look like. On a lathe,the technique is all about sharp sturdy tools and how you use them.

http://www.instructables.com/id/100-Homemade-Lathe/

 NCchance says:  Apr 7, 2009. 6:36 AM  REPLYDefine "wear doen quickly over time."

 catwood says:  Jan 31, 2009. 5:07 PM  REPLYNot ball bearings, but bushings because those are what i had lying around Basically sleeves of brass that are self lubricating. Look on Mcmaster-Carr.(they are also much cheaper, 50 cents vs several dollars each).

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