Print PDF
Favorite
Email
Although I know other people have built lathes themselves, after an enormous amount of looking on Google, I saw most homemade lathes involve casting and milling, as well as using off the shelf components like chucks and tapers. Being only a high school student, I wanted to experiment with a lathe without having to spend hundreds of dollars that I don't have. I ended up using almost all scrap materials from my basement, so there is no need to follow my materials choices. Because your design choices will vary, this article is more of a record of how I built this one, rather than a manual for building yours.
I managed to build this lathe in about a week, with not much more than a cordless drill, a drill press, a jigsaw, and assorted hand tools. I hope that I have documented my project here in an understandable way.
Warning: This is a powerful device designed to spin stuff quickly. I take no responsibility for anything you do. Don't try this unless you have at least a little bit of experience with tools. And wear safety glasses when using it because particles fly around.
I managed to build this lathe in about a week, with not much more than a cordless drill, a drill press, a jigsaw, and assorted hand tools. I hope that I have documented my project here in an understandable way.
Warning: This is a powerful device designed to spin stuff quickly. I take no responsibility for anything you do. Don't try this unless you have at least a little bit of experience with tools. And wear safety glasses when using it because particles fly around.
Remove these ads by
Signing UpStep 1Decisions
So, if you are reading this, you must be interested in building a homemade lathe. First, I would advise you to look at the diagram in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lathe_(tool) Wikipedia article] to learn the basic parts of a lathe.
The first thing you have to decide is what kind of lathe you want. Either to work with metal or wood. A wood lathe requires a less powerful motor and not as close tolerances. Also a wood lathe does not need the complicated tool rest that a metal lathe has. For the first version of my lathe, I decided to just stick with wood and see if I could come up with something that actually worked.
The next thing to decide is size. I would highly recommend not going too overboard... tree size logs on a wood lathe and 50 pound steel bars on a metal lathe are best left to professionals I think. I decided to try to make a wood lathe for pieces up to 4 inches in diameter and about 30 inches long, although I will not be trying something that big until I get more practice with small items, like tops, chess pieces, other little toys. But I figured that I had a pretty powerful motor sitting around, so I might as well make it big enough to handle large salt shakers and chair legs so in the future I could do large things.
The first thing you have to decide is what kind of lathe you want. Either to work with metal or wood. A wood lathe requires a less powerful motor and not as close tolerances. Also a wood lathe does not need the complicated tool rest that a metal lathe has. For the first version of my lathe, I decided to just stick with wood and see if I could come up with something that actually worked.
The next thing to decide is size. I would highly recommend not going too overboard... tree size logs on a wood lathe and 50 pound steel bars on a metal lathe are best left to professionals I think. I decided to try to make a wood lathe for pieces up to 4 inches in diameter and about 30 inches long, although I will not be trying something that big until I get more practice with small items, like tops, chess pieces, other little toys. But I figured that I had a pretty powerful motor sitting around, so I might as well make it big enough to handle large salt shakers and chair legs so in the future I could do large things.
| « Previous Step | Download PDFView All Steps | Next Step » |
Thanks for the great details and pics you provided with this!
I'm going to build a Lathe for Metal work. Where does one get a good Deal on UHMW? I might have to use different types of materials for metal working.
I appreciate your work and the way you presented it.
Thank You for Shearing your work with us .
PS: Where is the best place to get UHMW?
Paul King
I usually buy large sheets from interstateplastics.com though because I think it is cheaper per square foot and then I just cut up the pieces that I need.
I will call you Lord luck
http://blog.woodworking-magazine.com/blog/content/binary/TreadleLathe.pdf
Their only drawback might be that their baked-on finish would probably crack if you tried to use a bending brake on them. However, if neatness isn't critical you could cover the bent corners with white Rustoleum or something similar.
I used to get cheap sheets of steel from a door factory nearby. They would sell the "seconds" of their metal door skins to the local scrap yars & we'd buy them by the pound, with that tough painted finish already applied. I shingled a couple of sheds with those, but for some reason they stopped selling their rejects for scrap. Nice stuff while it lasted, about 38" x 70" or so.
Fortunately there is no shortage of scrap appliances for sheet metal projects.
http://www.instructables.com/id/A-modern-build-of-a-medieval-spring-pole-lathe/
You are a very bright young man. I have never used a lathe before, but I would like to know what is it you use to shape the wood you were working on, And if you thought about adding an attachment that would do the shaping?
also you will have to tighten the screws systematically which is hard