Cheap Bowl Lathe

Hi Steven, Hadn't realized that "Raphael" was Scottish. :) You might find some cheap and dirty accessories to go with your lathe in my recent post on depression proofing turner's wallets.

Unless you have a machine shop, You might want to just true up whatever you screw on the face plates instead of spending time trueing the faceplates themselves. They will probably hold the work better if you leave the faces a bit rough or at least not a mirror finish. Even rusted isn't as bad as it looks. Sort of like an ugly woman with a sweet personality.

Tip for flattening the faces of small metal discs, washers etc. without scraping: Flat three of them by rubbing together two of the three faces randomly with abrasive paste between them. Probably works the same way that three people can settle an argument that two people can't. I once made three decent surface plates this way.

You likely know all these things, but someone here might not. Enjoy your "new" lathe .....and your savings!

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter

How well does the treadmill motor do?

I have a treadmill that the rollers gave up on and was wondering what use I might get out of the motor and electronics..

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

hmm... I guess on mine I could get someone more math orientated than me to figure out what rpm it's turning to do say 3 mph and go from there..

I guess if it can hold me up it could turn wood over..

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

Steven,

I have a friend that makes his own faceplates and they are the ugliest things you have ever seen and not one is close to running true, but that does not matter once you true up the wooden blank that is attached to the faceplate. He makes his living with these crappy faceplates a, $25.00 grinder with cheap gray wheels, and a ugly home built wood lathe.

cm

Steven,

Here is a link to Eric's work turned out by his cheap home made tools. Click on any picture and check out the dimensions of the vessels.