tool rest for south bend 9"

What HP rating is your motor and what speeds on your lathe Bridger ? My lathe is a 12by36 with a gap bed swing of 18" only good for platters.

What makes you think that ? I use a standard banjo if I turn small bowls, candle sticks or small boxes inboard on my lathe, the banjo rides and clamps down on top of the ways and not on the sides of them like the tool carriage, so no damage is being done to them.

What do you want to turn on your lathe, bowls or spindle work ? If you park the carriage al the way back, pull your tailstock off, and position it in front of your carriage, you can turn some bowls between centers and also do spindle work, and yes you loose some length that way, if you use a face plate you can use the 9" swing of your lathe if spindle work, only whatever room there is over your banjo or tool carriage. I wanted to turn mostly bigger bowls and did not like leaning over the lathe, that was the reason I build a outboard turning setup.

You have the means to turn metal and wood, and maybe even the means to build a wood turning only lathe,

Yes have fun and take care Leo Van Der Loo

Hi Bridger, First congratulations on owning a fine engine lathe that served hundreds of small shops and withstood attacks by pimple faced apprentices for many years BC (before CNC). As usual, Leo's 'interspersions' help and hit the mark. I'll just reinforce a couple of thoughts that you already know. Don't make any permanent changes that compromise the machining capabilities of your lathe, especially to the precious bed. It's a valuable machine in its own right, and wood lathes are less expensive and easier to find or make on your model A. I think SB made a woodturning tool rest for the 9in". I know Atlas did. You might find one on a metalwork newsgroup or in a defunct school shop. Have fun making swarf as well as chips 'n shavings. Arch

Fortiter,

IIRC it says 1/2 hp. remember though that this is a rating from the

20's. probably equivalent to a 1hp motor today.... 50 - 1270

why not for spindle work?

also, what make is your lathe?

these ways aren't flat on top. they have an inverted V profile that sits higher than the flat part. it makes for a nice solid setup for the cross slide, but difficulties setting up a banjo.

here's a picture that more or less shows it:

9" isn't a lot for a bowl lathe, and rotating the head isn't an option. if I get into big bowl stuff I'll need a different machine.

yep. time and money are the limiting factors....

thanks Bridger

thanks.

not to mention the historical value. this was my Grandfather's lathe, after all...

I have heard rumors of such a piece. I've never seen one in the wild, or even a picture of one. I'd sure like more info....

thanks Bridger

Bridger I had the same question/situation a few years ago. Here is how I solved it. I turned a little device, shaped to slide into the T slot that the lantern style tool post goes into. If you can imagine, this device looked like two stacked silver dollars with two quarters centered and stacked on top. I drilled a tapped a 5/6 x 18 hole in the center of it and slid it into the t slot. I got a piece of 1 1/2 angle iron about 5 inches long. I drilled a hole in one of the sides of the angle iron that a 5/16 bolt would fit through. I laid it on top of the compound rest, with the hole aligned with the tapped hole and slid a short bolt in and presto I had a tool rest that I could adjust around as needed and put my wood turning tools on it to turn wood. By the way Grizzly sells a number 3 morse taper spur center if you need to turn spindles. Of course you might have to adjust sizes to fit your needs. Beauty of it is, it is real fast to set up and take down, and also it rides on the existing carraige so your ways don't have some alien device on them, possible gurring them up. Drop me a line if you have any questions. Keep turning. Bob

Hi Bridger

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, well here's 14 thousand of them, , ok go to,

just made those pictures so you will have a better idea what I meant, if you are > >

Hello Bridger

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, well here's fourteen thousand of them, goto

will give you a better idea of what I have d> >

basically a Tslot nut? I have a mixed lot of misc Tslot nuts. hafta see if one might work.

this will probably be my first approach. I like that it involves the least amount of changing the current configuration. it has a couple of drawbacks that I can see- it eats up a couple of inches of swing (of which I have little to spare) and it leaves some easily removeable precision sliding parts in the waste stream of wood chips.

they als sell a #2MT cup center for the tailstock. Got 'em : ^ )

easy back and forth from wood to metal. nice.

this is a real concern.

thanks Bridger

...And another obvious thing you already know, Bridger. All the tooling, unique configuring, accessories and our advice aside; a major problem in dancing the tricky metal wood waltz will be the aggravation of keeping the one well oiled & greased and the other squeaky clean. LDD and wood sap are OK for wood & human hands, NG for metal lathes. Keep the ways and saddle covered as well as possible, but I'm betting you will soon be looking for a proper woodturning lathe.:) Arch

Fortiter,

Hi Arch

Yes you are right about the unique tooling, if this was woodworking one could go to just about any building supply center and buy a planer, table saw, jointer etc., as it is, the wood turning tools are almost a custom build item, ordered from specialty tool supply stores or imported from places like New Zealand, Australia, England, etc., with Prices to match. The nice thing about having a metal turning lathe is the possibility to make a lot of these tools and accessories yourself, yes you could make some of these things also without having a metal lathe.

Another thing is you have a machine that has a non flimsy body, spindle, head and tail stock etc., more and low turning speeds at full torque.

As for that what you call a major problem and aggravation, there is none, other than keeping things clean and as with any other woodworking machine, you have to do certain things to keep your jointer or table saw top from rusting, as well as a wood turning lathe.

LDD is not an issue with me, I don't use it (after having tried it),

After turning wet green wood, you dry things and clean up, if I want to turn metal some cleaning and lubrication is necessary, as would be the case in any shop before you start to turn, unless this is a 24 hr. a day ongoing job, where one would do this also ongoing.

If I had a production wood turning shop I would have wood turning lathes. As it is in my case (and with most of the posters here imho) I turn wood for fun and more often than metal, but still want to be able to turn metal, I also wanted to and do turn "larger bowls and platters", and if you look around, most anyone that does this has custom build equipment, and I don't like the price tags. Now if you like to turn small treen, smaller bowls etc. than you are probably right in thinking that one should go out and buy one of the better quality small lathes that are available today, then again if it was me, maybe not. I like what I have and am not about to change that, add to it? Who knows, maybe I'll win a million, come to think of it, I would have to buy a ticket first wouldn't I ?

Have fun and take care Leo Van Der Loo

Arch wrote:

Hi Bridger

Things are not the same anymore, thank the Lord, but when I started turning wood, late 50th early 60th, there was no one to ask how to, no tools to buy, etc. I used our big old engine lathe, German build in the 30th and had to figure out how to hold or fasten a block of wood, make a tool, sharpen it at what angle, or shape, turn at what speed, how to sand, what to finish with, etc. etc. I also tried a bar on the compound slide, its nice for using inside a box when using a scraper but there are problems with adjusting for center height, for inside turning you want to be above center, for outside, at or below, spacers don't improve tool rest stability, and if you use a bowl gauge rather than a scraper, the angle to use your gauge in will have your whole tool carridge in the way, that is why I use a banjo and tool rest, and after years of using that setup I have no damage to my Prism ways. So Bridger do as you please of course, I'd be the last one to tell you don't do this or that, but for what its worth, i've been there and done that. Hope this is of some help to you.

Have fun and take care Leo Van Der Loo

Bridger wrote: