Shopsmith Forums

Some of you will remember that I rescued a 10 ER last Christmas here on Vancouver Island and among the bits and pieces in the accompanying "treasure chest" I found what I identified, with the help of forum members, as a shop made copy lathe. https://forum.shopsmith.com/viewtopic.php?t=4889
At that time I didn't have a drive spur or the time to play with it so it sat unconfirmed.

Today I went out and with the help of a spare drive spur from my AZ 510 checked it out. All I got done today was a confirmation that it in fact works as a lathe tool. What I did was as follows.
1) Removed the "pattern follower"
2) Set up a bit of 1 1/2 square stock in the 10 ER lathe
3) Set the cutter for about a 1/4" cut and tightened all the locks
4) Started the machine
5) pushed the carriage from left to right

After a few passes the result was a perfect cylinder. When I say "perfect" I mean within what could be expected from soft wood after 1/4" passes with a cutter that I haven't sharpened.

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I hope to confirm the pattern following capabilities shortly..... But it is good sailing weather and then here's golf. This retirement stuff is hard. Never have any spare time any more.

Paul M

Nice addition to all your other cool toys Paul. You could get a portable generator and cart your ER onto the boat and do a little turning as you sail. Bring your golf clubs, blast a bucket of balls off the bow and you've got all your vises covered.

Cool, Paul!

mickyd wrote:Nice addition to all your other cool toys Paul. You could get a portable generator and cart your ER onto the boat and do a little turning as you sail. Bring your golf clubs, blast a bucket of balls off the bow and you've got all your vises covered.

My shop needs a clean-up Mike. All my vises are already covered.... with dust. To make matters worse my boat is too small to accommodate all my vices in the manner to which you refer.

Paul M

I finally got around to trying the setup with a pattern today. It is amazing! It is much easier to use than I had imagined and follows the pattern very closely. I sharpened the cutter this time and the cut improved. Although I would not expect a single tiny scraping cutter to do a finish job it certainly did a good enough job that a quick finish up with real chisels is all that is necessary. I now have even more respect for the anonymous former owner who devised / built this elegant little rig.

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Paul M

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It would be fairly easy stuff with a metal lathe, Dave. Let me know if you want some detailed photos. And there is no "better" just different.

Paul M

Paul,

Great gadget, thanks for posting the extra photos, they have answered the questions I was going to ask.

Food for thought.

Troy

judaspre1982 wrote:Very cool Paul!!
I have to make sure my good friend doesn't see your post.
He is a metal worker / machinist and I am a wannabe woodworker.
We are always going back and forth on which craft is better.
This would give him some ammo:D
We have fun with it. On second thought , maybe I should show it to him and get him to design me one of those jigs.
Dave

Dave,

You should bet him that he couldn't make one of these based on the photos and a few measurements from your Shopsmith.

A lot of overlap between working wood and working metal. I like both and couldn't imagine limiting myself to only one.

Troy