anyone MADE a lathe?

I am teasing with making a lathe, got a machine shop available, so thats not a problem, but was wondering if anyone here has made one that can handle, say a 24" diameter blank a foot deep, a

12" swing, with a 6 foot bed? how big should the head shaft be? Machinist is telling me a bearing that will take the speed is a problem, he is wanting a 1 1/4" diameter shaft for the head shaft

thoughts?

thanks

--Shiva--

Reply to
--Shiva--
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This guy extended a lathe. Not the same thing but you may get some ideas.

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-- Mark

Reply to
Mark Jerde

I'd go bigger than that. Probably 2" or larger shaft, cut down to 1-1/2" threads or the largest common size of metric thread for wood lathe accessories (don't recall what that is) depending on the metric/non-metric nature of your immediate area, if you want easy use of standard accessories. If you're willing to put up with making your own,

2" or 3" threads, or a modern machine-lathe cam-lock system are quite nice.

I have a homemade (by the guy I bought it from) lathe with 1" shaft and

1"x8 threads - the shaft is too whippy, so the work moves as the shaft flexes between the pillow blocks. It would be a lot better if the shaft was thicker, even if the end was cut down to 1"x8. I'll rebuild it one of these days, perhaps. I have 2 120 year old lathes with 2" and 2-1/2" threads, which can't use off the rack new chucks, but which work quite well.
Reply to
Ecnerwal

hmm... ok... 2" would be OK, drill it hollow and stick a #2 or 3 Morse taper inside it... thread the OS for 'something' and have him make me a couple of faceplates, a 6" and maybe a 12/16" or such, to fit the threads...thats no problem to do..

mucho thanks...

--Shiva--

Reply to
--Shiva--

for what he's turning, looks great... I need a bigger capacity for a short distance, and AFAIK, there is no demand around here for wood columns anymore, so dont need that length. interesting bed tho,,,gives one something to think about.

--Shiva--

Reply to
--Shiva--

If I recall, somewhere in my collection of Fine Woodworking there's an article about a homemade lathe. I recall the guy sitting on it, turning a bowl or platter about 4 feet in diameter. The frame was hollow steel tubing appx 12" x 16" and six or eight feet long, which he filled with water for weight. I think the tag line was "3000 pound homebuilt lathe" or something like that. I have no idea of the headstock requirements but it might give you upper-limit specs.

Leo

Reply to
LeoLiondog

was at my local woodworking tool place and he had a bunch of used magazines on a table, buck each, and grabbed all the fine ww he had got the one that SHOWED that lathe...huge baby...

1500# of sand for ballast... lathe tools were (guessing) 4 FEET long... $5 grand for it if I remember right, back then. weighed 3k or such.. could turn a flat, or a spindle... 10? HP motor- 0 to 1k rpm if i remember right.

--Shiva--

Reply to
--Shiva--

Reply to
Leo Van Der Loo

go here,

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, click on James JohnsonGallery, then click on "to see the lathe" near the bottom of theintroductory Text. Regards, Lewis

Reply to
Lewis Dodd

He's right, a 2" shaft is about right for a 24" bowl lathe. Go with the #3 Morse taper. Or, just leave the shaft solid and have the machinist make a screw on drive spur. eBay is a great place to find bearings.

I would use a Dodge type 'K' double tapered roller pillow block (or flange) bearing as my main bearing:

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You willneed something to apply thrust from the shaft to the bearing. The easy way is a2" snap ring. Use a Dodge type 'SC' for the rear bearing if you don't plan on doing any outboard turning, otherwise, use a second type 'K'.
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is my lathe. It is still under construction after 2 years. That's one ofthe problems with building your own, it doesn't arrive next week. Dan
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Reply to
Dan Bollinger

thanks all for the sites and info... got some reading and figuring to do now, much appreciated...

--Shiva--

Reply to
--Shiva--

Ken Bullock of

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(a Canadian turner who is probably in the S. US on vacation now) has a large bowl lathe with 1 1/8" threads and about a 1 1/2" diameter spindle (same diameter the whole length). He has turned thousands of bowls up through 44" or so on this lathe. He makes a decent income, all on his lathe made by a welder friend. He uses fairly standard pillow block bearings. I would say you would be best not to go with too big a shaft at the bearings. If you are not satisfied with 1 1/2" for a spindle with 1 1/4"-8 threads, threads, consider a 1 1/2" bearing ID and a 1-3/4" or 2" shaft, then you can have excellent stiffness between bearings and still have a low enough bearing speed.

Strength goes up by the cube of diameter, so a 1" shaft has a strength of x, a 1 1/4" has a strength of 1.95x, a 1 1/2" : 3.375x, a 1 3/4" : 5.36x and a

2" : 8x. Deflection decreases by the fourth power of the diameter, so a 1 1/2" shaft has 1/5 the deflection of a 1" shaft and 1/2 the deflection of a 1 1/4" shaft. Of course if the shaft has a hole through the center of a given size, the larger shafts are all proportionately stronger than the smaller.

Derek

Reply to
Derek Hartzell

Now that is a lathe-and-a-half!

Tim

Lewis Dodd wrote:

Reply to
The Guy

For what it is worth, this months Shopnotes builds a mini lathe and extention. Tonight when I get home I will put a copy of the cover on abpwt. I probably got the acronim screwed up. The place you can post wood pictures.

Bruce

Reply to
R. Bruce Ferguson

saw that... interesting, baltic birch plywood, few pieces of metal, etc... looked really neat and would make a good small lathe.... but, wonder about the head and tail stock, when you make it over a foot above the bed way.

--Shiva--

Reply to
--Shiva--

ok, considering I am wanting a dual purpose, wonder how the thrust load would be, when turning something long? will look into this tho

--Shiva--

Reply to
--Shiva--

Good grab at a buck a piece - they're always worth reading -that's why I have a collection that I re-read from time to time.

For those who like FWW, (and Lee Valley) they currently have a sale CAD$8.95 on a "best of" FWW book which I picked up today. It has some turning projects in it. But of course you knew that if you get their flyers... ;>)

Leo

Reply to
LeoLiondog

When your part or chuck is not true to center of rotation, it's called "throw". But sway works.

Reply to
Rick Samuel

WELL I never really MADE a Lathe but I have converted and old (("VERY OLD") more than a 120 years old) Metal lathe 42"swing over 120 inches between centers (it weighs in at just over 15,000 LBS 7-1/2 Tons) I could go on but I do some really odd work with this LITTLE Toy of Mine (LOL) it is just over 17 feet over all and four feet depth and six feet high. NOW then with all that said, you need to understand a bit about "statics" and what the physics are of what you PLAN on turning and HOW FAST you plan on Spinning that object. Wood is NOT Concentrically BALANCED in any stretch of the word. it has a tendancy to fly apart in MANY directions with out notice to those standing with in strikeing distanc of those flying objects so to speak. Those Objects do not care what they hit or penetrate either. In other words a two hundred pound log does WAY more damage to your enviroment then a 1 pound stick. I lifted the Roof from a permanent foundation and no need to say what a wall looked like after that happened And just after "cleaning out the shorts" (really full of real vial material I did not know I had in me) I had to really rethink what it is I just exactly wated to accomplish here. I have a real heavy Bearing (very Pricy) and a three inch Shaft and a 600 pound face plate with MANY 5/8 X 6 Lage bolts and I now stand behind and work though a Cage that resembles a tire cage a your local Tractor tire repair center. Lose an arm is one thing loseing your LIFE ain't worth it!!!! I Laugh about it now but at the time it took a week to clean those shorts!!!! LOL Lessons can be learned here for sure! Ain't Adventure FUN!

Have a great day all and Keep on turning there!

--Shiva-- wrote:

Reply to
Byron

No instructions on how to build the the thing but here's a site with a few pics on turning LARGE diameter pieces.

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Reply to
Kevin

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