How to make a wood lathe

reible · Post by **reible** » Thu Jan 25, 2007 1:03 am

"Second the head stock will be the motor spindle ,i was able to find a 3750 rpm motor with a 5/8 spindle,so i can mount a chuck to it."

How do you slow this down to bowl turning speed?

Ed

ironworker2134 · Post by **ironworker2134** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 11:38 pm

No name wrote:My question is does anybody know of any website,book,plans,etc.that i could buy or view to make my own wood lathe?i would prefer it be a mini lathe but any size will do.Thanks

shopnoters magizine had a artical on making a lathe about two years ago. They sell back issues.

ironworker2134 · Post by **ironworker2134** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 11:52 pm

reible wrote:"Second the head stock will be the motor spindle ,i was able to find a 3750 rpm motor with a 5/8 spindle,so i can mount a chuck to it."

How do you slow this down to bowl turning speed?

Ed

if you apply presure on the bearings of the motor you might dammage them. you might be able to use a router speed controler on it to slow it down some motors won't work with it.

s.henderson · Post by **s.henderson** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 5:03 pm

I am new to the turning aspect of woodworking. But it seems to me that the arbor or shaft of the motor turning at 3750 RPM could be a little dangerous if not impractical. And of course you will be limited to what you can do for projects. Should you not have the lathe center driven by a shaft running through a pillow block bearing with step down pullies driven with a belt comeing from another stepdown pully on the motor's shaft?
The dangerous aspect would be when the lathe tool catches a high spot in a rough piece of wood. A belt driven lathe center would have some give to it and forgive you, but the block of wood attached directly to the motor will not lose energy and may fly off of the chuck or the spur. This is one reason maney "wood" turners prefer a belt driven chuck as apposed to a gear box style of lathe.

Good luck and happy building. I envy one who can build his tools. I wish I were that talented.

Regards; Scott

james.miller · Post by **james.miller** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 5:45 pm

If you are turning bowls you probably want the spindle speed between 600 to 1200 RPMs, and possibly a lot slower for larger or heavier out of ballance stock. The speed controllers only work on router/drill type motors (they usually have brushes that can be changed externally) and not the larger ones that usually have pulleys on them, you will need to check with the motor manufacturer or a local motor rebuilder to find out.

Jim in Tucson

s.henderson · Post by **s.henderson** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 6:55 pm

James.Miller is correct about the type of motor to use with the electric speed reducers. I have made enquiries to the distributors of these items and they are designed to work with the motors with brushes such as router or drill motors.

Regards; Scott

berry · Post by **berry** » Thu Feb 22, 2007 8:52 am

Here are a couple of interesting articles on building lathes.
http://www.vintageprojects.com/machine- ... -lathe.pdf
http://home.woh.rr.com/wrought/woodlathe.htm

No name · Post by **No name** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 5:06 am

Forgive me for being so vage.I will use a router speed control the motor i found will accept one. And whoever asked about my name just call me Allen. And like i said these are ROUGH plans. So far all i have managed to build is the base.Between putting down laminate floor and painting the house i havent had much time to concentrate on building anything.Be patient with me and i promise one day i will have it up and running.Thanks Allen.

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