100% Homemade Lathe

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.

Step 1: Decisions

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.

Comments

[NightCrawler626]

This is one of the best instructibles i've seen so far, and it's very impressive that you made all your own parts/tools from scratch as well. being in high school on top of that shows that you really paid a great deal of attention in school. way to go!!! i love the lathe and the items you made with it and i plan to build one myself soon using something very close to your design.

Thanks for the great details and pics you provided with this!

[catwood]

No problem. I am glad that I could provide some inspiration for you!

[jallenmorris]

I don't think this kid's ability to build this has anything to do with him paying attention in school. No American school teaches kids how to be creative and capable of building something like this. This kid has this ability regardless of school.

[AntMan232]

Well, as this shows, it's secondary school pupils who cana create some of the coolest projects...

[Scott Staunches]

You did all this, and your still in high school? You give me hope for the future. Well done!

[FriendOfHumanity]

Mucho respeto. This is an excellent Instructable.

[mapanlawin]

This is great! When I grow up I really wanna be just like you. I'm 29yrsold. c:

[shazni]

oh...and how do you do the captive ring? tutorial please :-D

[shazni]

would a sewing machine motor be powerful enough?
or should i like try and fit my angle grinder with a circular plate?

[spamsucks]

Good grief. I have been looking over lathe plans for a while, and it was way out of my league. This is an awsome project! Thank you so much for sharing it.

[hasan saputra]

great job!! I Like it!

[donmatos]

Parabéns pela construção do seu torno. Simples e de fácil compreensão. Acredito que muitas pessoas, assim como eu, tentarão construir um desses. Obrigado por compartilhar suas idéias. Boa sorte.

[taluntain]

virtual high five for this gentleman

[catwood]

Virtual high five back to you!

[Xthinker]

Awesome, I just bought an electric scooter( it's really small) at a swap meet for $15. Decently powerful motor if it can move me and my fatness :P !

[slylee]

Great simple design. Have you run into any speed bumps or problems thus far?

[profpat]

awesome!

[eric m]

He's using a treadmill motor with it's own powercontroller/speed controller.

Don't know why he doesn't mention this.

[catwood]

Its actually a motor that I had used in a fighting robot and I had the motor kind of sitting around afterwards. It doesnt appear to be listed on the NPC website anymore, but here's some information about it: http://mobile.robotmarketplace.com/NPC-1200.html

[eric m]

treadmill motor comes with speed controller.

[bobby sissom]

excellent job,you mono rail solved a problem for me i was having on another project,just goes to show the need to read all instructables ,even a small detail could be of importance to you

[catwood]

glad i could help you! what project was it for?

[bobby sissom]

sorry for the lag in reply instructables never let me know i had a response, i was making a chainsaw log slicer for making wooden boards from raw logs and was quite simply over thinking the problem of a fixed rail slide to guide the saw safely the length of the log and still have all my fingers and toes at the end

[Paul King]

Way to GO. Looks like you've done a excellent Joy!!! I'm an Old Coal Miner & you have a lot of Talent. Don't let it go to waist.
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

[catwood]

www.mcmaster.com has lots of various sizes of pieces including sheets and strips of specific widths.

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.

[abo alkader]

Thanksgiving is not enough
I will call you Lord luck

[cowscankill]

OMG! A must have for me! DO you know of an easy way to get a good motor? I can't scrap my weeder or mower (those motors are gas anyways). Maybe a HUMAN powered lathe! *gasp*! Yes! A HUMAN powered lathe! Possibly, attach to a bike and have the spinny part right in front of the rider, so that you can pedal and cut at the same time... Could work, But I prefer a motor. Could I use a light dimmer to change the power input to the motor? Thanks for posting, hope you can reply to me :D

[throbscottle]

I once made a lathe out of an old bicycle frame and some bits of scrap, which was human powered - it was driven by a treadle, which turned a modified bicycle wheel, and that turned the shaft, which I'd made from a bit of broom handle. Shows how simple a lathe can be to make (nb, I just came across this whilst looking for chuck designs, for a new lathe project...)

[makincoolstuff]

the easiest motor would be from an old power tool or an old car starter motor

[jack8559]

There is/was a show on tv that had a guy with all his tools powered by him, a lathe, hand drill, etc. His lathe ran by pumping a pedal and the wood spun forward then backwards, he was only cutting half the time, obviously... Really 'old school'!

[belgianphil]

You're probably talking about Roy Underhill's treadle lathe:
http://blog.woodworking-magazine.com/blog/content/binary/TreadleLathe.pdf

[jack8559]

You and ironman are exactly right, thanks for reminding me of his name.

[ironman0104]

Roy Underhill demostrated how woodworking was accomplished in areas of the United States that did not have water, wind or electric motors. Those people were craftsman and commited to the job. They did not have jobs outside of their wood working like I do as a hobby.

[carpe_noctem]

i saw an oldschool lathe at a museum about peter the great (i'm livin in russia right now). The whole thing was manual, and used this huge flywheel. So, its possible.

[JamesRPatrick]

I pulled a 120v motor from a vacuum cleaner that had a broken belt. The rubber belt caused the thing to smoke so they threw it out. It has super simple wiring with a scary amount of power, so if you try this, bolt it to something solid. It also has a nifty work light hooked up to it, all with clip-on connectors. It wouldn't be too difficult to put in a dimmer switch to tone down the crazy speed(it screams). Just make sure you insulate everything and remove the turbine before turning it in. The first time I turned it on, it was held against the plastic shell, which still had some parts in it. It sucked up four screws , which dented the metal blades. I had to rip off the prop with some pliers.

[JamesRPatrick]

Also, it was about the same size as the one here, and had a bracket for mounting.

[darkroommike]

In colonial times wood lathes were often human powered--they used a foot treadle and a spring pole, the lathe reverses direction on the "return" but it got the job done--no wonder our ancestors didn't need to go to the gym.

[0087adam]

lol

[smokehill]

Motors are not hard to scrounge around for -- lots of refrigerators, washers, dryers, etc. get scrapped for things that have nothing to do with the motor. Often you can see these things sitting out with the trash or waiting for a special trash pickup. Though in most places this makes them technically "abandoned," it's still smart to ask the homeowner if he minds, before you pull out some wrenches & screwdrivers and begin dismantling things. Junkyards often will let you scrounge for parts, especially if you slip the attendant a couple of bucks. Or just ask around among your friends. Chances are someone's parents have their used appliance sitting in the basement or garage and just haven't gotten around to hauling it to the dump yet. Just be careful to be polite and considerate, and not leave them a mess where they'll have fifty little pieces to pick up and throw away, instead of one hunk of metal. If you know someone with a pickup, you might offer to take the thing to the dump for them, in exchange for the motor. And while you're dismantling things, keep an eye out for other potentially useful things -- wire racks, or bins from refrigerators make good storage bins for your projects, too. The big steel rod I keep under my front seat (easier to swing than a tire iron) came from a washer I dismantled ... some part of the transmission, I think.

[skaar]

hmm, old post :P but, me, i'd take the rest of it to the scrapyard for some cash. pull it apart and put the bits on a wagon... even better, cut tabs and stuff off, to get a clean sheet of metal for making stuff.

[smokehill]

Yes, the sheet metal from washers & dryers is extremely useful, though it takes the right tools to get flat sheets out of them. After trimming some sheet metal from a washer & dryer I used them for dog house roofs. For larger buildings, like a shed, you could use them like shihgles. Since they're white they should reflect heat well, and that baked-on finish should be close to indesctructable for decades.

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.

[turnerfromdh]

how about a spring pole lathe?
http://www.instructables.com/id/A-modern-build-of-a-medieval-spring-pole-lathe/

[hms1018]

I like this kid!!!

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?

[a918bmxr]

absolutely genius!!!!

[Eirinn]

Would a power drill suffice as motor?

[catwood]

Yep you can use a drill as a lathe motor for doing fairly small pieces. I would recommend that you use a drill that plugs into the wall instead of a cordless drill because otherwise you are just draining your batteries a lot more than is necessary.

[nerd12]

what about a blender. the kitchen device in which you can make mincemeat out of any thing in a second. it is a bit high speed but seems to be powerful because it can chop up stuff easily.

[Eirinn]

I just bought a 710W corded power drill for another purpose, i might try this out.

[nerd12]

the chuck is tiny? it is safe to make it bigger?
also you will have to tighten the screws systematically which is hard

[Jimmy Proton]

I LOVE IT

[andyp675]

Hmm now im wondering if a router motor would be good for the side load i have a broken 1.75hp router well the base is brocken and i was thinking to make a height adjustable table router (there is a instructable for it here) but this seems way easier and more usefull for me i would love to start turning bowls and everything else.

[catwood]

The router motor should definitely be strong enough to power the lathe. However typical lathe speeds are much slower than a router. Routers are typically in the range of 10,000 and 20,000 rpm. Wood lathes shouldnt go beyond 2000 or 3000 for small pieces and 1000 rpm for larger bowl size pieces. I think that gearing down the motor enough to make it safe will be the hardest part. Good luck with your project!

[razor7177]

i was wondering whether a washing machine motor would do the job if i were to create a metal lathe

[skaar]

yes... they usually have decent bearings, which is important for high side loads.

[timothy demaegdt]

would a motor of a centrifugal sanding machine work ???

[skaar]

some motors aren't designed with bearings that can take much side load, but, can't hurt to try, and if the bearings are replaceable, you can fix it when/if it seizes.

[algval06]

Thanks Buddy. I can make one from your idea. I'm in modeling works airplane and boat.
this is a very handy tools for wheel making and ship accessories I can apply my knowledge as a high school graduate of trade and art school major in woodworking and metal shop.Your work is very inspiring, more power to you my friend.

[omkarkarve]

Hi... really brilliant ... any progress on the second version with the tool rest?

[kizmet]

I made a a lathe much simpler, using a 5 speed drill press. Obviously you need the bed and tailstock but if you dismantle the drill press, and use it as your head stock and even the top part of the bed, it works great, and you end up with 2 toys in 1. Happy creating all

[guatsamosa]

Just wondering, is the threaded rod actually screwed into the supports or is it a little loose? Also good pics to go with the instructable :)

[knotmuch]

This looks great!! Question about your motor or more motors in general: Where did you get your controller for your motor or did you make it? I have a 2hp DC motor that is variable speed based on the voltage supplied to it. Also on the label it has a rating of 14.3 amps. I'm not sure if this is the required amperage to operate or peak operating limits. Any cheap or nearly free ways that you think I can drive my motor?

[0087adam]

are you using an industrial motor?

[knotmuch]

it was off a treadmill, but I no longer have it.

[froggyman]

they might make AC to DC convertors, as for controlling the voltage to it you might be able to use a potientiometer (sometimes called a varible resistor). You could check at a store similar to Radio Shack, or other electronic hardware store.

[0087adam]

Could this work with a gas or diesel motor?

[John Smith]

When I first saw it, I thought, "Oh, thats cool....but I'll never make it.".
Just now I read it again, and saw the captive ring things, and that changed my whole view on this thing. I have most of the parts except for the motor and belt, which I can get from Graingers.

[catwood]

Haha it isn't too exciting when making tops although you should start with some simple things to get the hang of it. The real fun begins when making more complex shapes.

[John Smith]

Oh, and can you use a dimmer switch on a motor, to control it? Or would I need a fan controller switch-thing(low, medium, high)?

[catwood]

It sounds like you are using AC power, about which I know almost nothing. I think google might be able to help you though.

[John Smith]

? What are you using? DC? Like from a battery?

[catwood]

Yeah if you look at the main picture, you can see some black things with wires just to the right of the motor which are the batteries. But I used it just because i already had the motor. An AC motor should work fine.

[John Smith]

Yep, didn't even notice them before.

[jongscx]

BE REALLY CAREFUL... that's all I have to say about AC motors.

[John Smith]

Yeah, I'm kinda not wanting to use AC, but it's probably the way to go.

[jongscx]

Yeah, AC is better in many ways, but it's also a lot more complicated in some respects. -Speed control is hard to do (correctly) without specialized equipment, so you'd be better off with the cone pulleys. Don't make the assumption that putting a lamp dimmer in the circuit will be enough. Those things are only meant to work with dinky little light-bulbs, not 12amp vacuum cleaner motors... -Be very careful with your electrical connections! Make sure you cover the junctions with heat-shrink and use the proper gauge of wire. I'm not sure, but I think that AC has a higher propensity to arc than DC.

[0087adam]

my dimmer came from a bandsaw.

[drcrash]

Harbor Freight sells a router speed control that's rated for 15 amps. Regular price is something like $25, but it goes on sale every few weeks for $15, $12.50, or even $10. I'm not sure if it's the right thing for a lathe motor, but at least it's designed to handle fairly ampy motors. (Ideally you'd have a way of changing pulleys or gears to get the full torque at the lower speeds.)

[concretepaul]

Those Harber Freight speed controls are for motors with brushes only not inductive AC motors. The way to change speed using AC is with pulleys

[John Smith]

Oh.

[John Smith]

I also saw a 6" four jaw chuck there...oh here.

[drcrash]

That would be cheating for a "100 percent homemade" lathe.

(And it would be a slippery slope down to just buying one of these: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=38515 )

[John Smith]

Yeah....you are right, but they're so cheap.

[catwood]

But if you already have a motor, and some of the scrap materials, even having to buy rails for $10 means that you can save a lot by doing it yourself. And by doing it yourself, its much more fun anyways.

[John Smith]

You're right. I don't know where I'll find the motor, though. I don't have a job (I'm 13), and those motors are expensive.

[rallen71366]

Don't worry about a nice motor with a speed control. I have an old Craftsman woodlathe I picked up at an estate sale, with cutter gouges, for $20 USD. It uses a cheap washing machine motor mounted on a hinge to tighten the drive belt, and a light switch to power it on/off. But do hit a couple sites for beginning wood turners, or better yet, get a couple books from the library. There are some very good safety and setup tips that will help you.

[jongscx]

Actually, if you have a decent speed control, one that actually changes the frequency of the electricity or will pulse the power, you will get full torque. Cheap ones act like resistors, so you get a decrease in torque proportional to the decrease in speed... plus a lot of heat.

[John Smith]

Actually, would a vacuum cleaner motor work? What's the horsepower on those? We have a messed up Dyson that is pretty powerful.

[jongscx]

honestly, I wouldn't know... prolly 1/4 to 1/2, estimating from similarly sized industrial motors I never really built my lathe... yet... I was constantly in the planning stages

[John Smith]

Thanks, since I have a little furnace, and knowhow to cast metal in sand, and read about making pulleys that way, I might make my own aluminum step pulleys. My dad works on electrical motors at his job a lot (he's a dairyman, he works on feeders, augers, vacuum pumps, fans, milk pumps, etc.), so he should be able to help.

[catwood]

If you have metal casting ability, you should get the Gingery book about casting your own metal turning lathe.

[John Smith]

Well, I seriously thought about that, but it takes up alot of pace, and is more than I need. For most of my stuff, a wood lathe is all I need. I can cast aluminum, but my forge/furnace is actually smaller than the one I linked to, so making the larger parts is hard. Also, I haven't done more than 4 melts with my furnace...its so hot SCORCHING here (southern Florida), that having a near-2000 degree flame next to you is near-unbearable. Anyway....

[catwood]

Yeah if you make a basic wood lathe, you could always use the wood turnings to cast the real metal ones.

[John Smith]

Exactly what I was thinking...after I posted the other comment.

[jongscx]

I was about to say, I found a site where a guy was casting his components for the lathe... wax in sand I think... Anyway, he cast a cone-pulley first, then realized that he had a lathe, so he turned a new one afterwords.

[catwood]

I wish I had so many tools that I could forget about something as important as a lathe....

[blubrick]

He didn't actually forget he had a lathe - he was building one. It was just that he his incomplete project had become sufficiently complete to turn a few precision parts to replace some of the cruder parts he had previously cast.

[John Smith]

Right. Did you use regular taps to thread the holes in the chuck? I just threaded/tapped one using a regular bolt.

[catwood]

Using a bolt or machine screw to tap will not create nice threads in metal. Home depot sells a small selection of taps. I had 1/4-20 which i used for both screws in each of the angled pieces.

[John Smith]

What if you added a flywheel? Would it allow you to use less powerful motors?

[catwood]

I think a large flywheel would allow you to use a smaller motor, although, I think that would get annoying to have to wait for it to spin up for just a short amount of work time before having to let it spin up again. I am not sure how large of a flywheel you would need, but the difference in price between a large motor and a small motor with a massive metal flywheel might not turn out to be that much.

[John Smith]

Kinda what I figured. Do you know of any source of cheap 1/2 horse to 3/4 horsepower AC motors? I looked through Graingers, all but 2 were over $100, and they were $90 something dollars.

[catwood]

http://www.surpluscenter.com/ and http://www.harborfreight.com/ both have some motors that might be useful. Surplus Center sorts them a little strangely, but has a good selection I think.

[John Smith]

Thanks for the links and VERY quick response. I'll check them out.

[catwood]

No problem! I am just sitting here at my computer with not much to do.

[John Smith]

Hey-
I was looking at this, and noticed that it didn't look like it had a chuck. Then, I saw a 6" chuck on the side, listed as an accessory. So, do I need it for the lathe? What else do they not supply me with? I'm new to lathes, so most of the names are gibberish to me. What is that bar thing in the middle, a toolrest (?) And, what is a spur drive, face plate, and a miter gauge?
Like always, any help is appreciated.

[John Smith]

Oh, and do you think this is worth $200? I was going to make one, and I might still, but my mom has to approve it *sigh*. I have my workshop in our garage, and it takes up <20% of it, but somehow she thinks a garage should be spotless... so, it has to look decent (not to say yours looks bad).
It could come in handy, and it should get a fair amount of use, either way.

[catwood]

In response to your first post, I am not exactly sure what is needed for a more professional lathe; I figure out the basic theory to things and improvise. I think handy things would be a lathe, a spur drive, a chuck (3 jaw or 4 jaw), a live center, a drill chuck for drill bits, and wood lathe tools. A lathe book probably explains all the parts better than I could.

T o your second post: haha I definitely know the feeling. My shop area takes up the designated room and the entire bedroom next to it too! Little particles get tracked all over the basement and basement stairs. I didn't really tell my parents about this project until after it was done and I was like "look what I made on my lathe, which I also made!)
I am looking at getting a real wood lathe too. I have heard the JET mini is a lot more accurate/long lasting than the cheaper China models, like the harbor freight stuff and even Delta. (no personal experience here, but both from reading all the comments on amazon/other sites and from actual people i talked to.) (http://www.amazon.com/JET-1014I-Inch-Indexing-Lathe/dp/B000MIR9JA/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/102-9000329-7596922?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1192412361&sr=8-2)
I think getting the best tools that you can afford is important because they will last you longer and be more safer.

[catwood]

Here is the link that didn't really work well in the last post using the link tool... Jet Mini :)

[John Smith]

(in response to the post that (?) you deleted(?))

I would much rather use a lathe that I made, but it needs to look good, too. The JET mini looks good, but is a little smaller than what I had in mind. The RIKON mini lathe is a little bigger, at a 12" swing, and 19" between centers. I'm curious- how do you balance the stock on the lathe, so it doesn't shake like crazy? And, like, how old are you? Because, making a lathe from scratch is pretty impressive.
I was going to ask for the RIKON for Christmas, but I'm not sure yet. I might be the only 13 year old in history to ask for a lathe, drill press, and other shop tools for Christmas.

I definitely agree about getting the best tools available for safety and longevity, but seeing as I'm 13, and my primary source of income is mowing our lawn every Saturday ($20), my choices are limited.

[0087adam]

usually you get square stock, 2x2 is the most common, you draw lines from corner to corner to make an X, the center of the X, if you did it right, is the center of the workpiece. You can also go ahead and bevel the edges to reduce the amount of time it takes to rough it out. I'am 17, and i mow our lawn every week for a measly $10, and somehow i could afford 17 craftsmen power tools from our local sears. Don't give up, woodworking is a very rewarding trade.

[bandit01]

I'd like build one of the 100% Homemade lathe. Are they any measured drawings on this I could find?

[catwood]

There are no measured drawings. In fact I have no drawings at all for it. I had a rough idea of what I wanted to build in my head and just built it. The pieces of UHMW (the white plastic) were scrap of whatever size I had lying around. Use bearings though... I didn't put bearings in the UHMW and it got very hot/melty after running for a while.

[0087adam]

drill the hole slightly bigger and put some shaft bearings in there,

[dp mac]

one question could you take apart a high powered fan, mount the motor and use that instead of what you used?

[0087adam]

what kind of fan, is it a house fan, a vent fan, a livestock fan, livestock fans are excellent for this, vent fans are good too, if they are the industrial kind, but i wouldn't reccomend a house fan

[timd2]

no to little power

[catwood]

Sure I don't see why not. Only one way to find out... try it and see.

[Clayton H.]

I tried to make a cup with a captive ring but when i teied to cut the ring off it just buroke off. The wood was too soft. Now i just have a cup.

[0087adam]

be glad you got that far, i made the whole thing out of oak planks, and i can't keep lateral tension on the workpiece, i learned the hard way when i got smacked in the face with a 1x1

[pattermon]

whats that white stuff please tell me!!! I want to make one

[catwood]

the white plastic is UHMW

[pattermon]

Thank you! But were do I get it?

[0087adam]

http://www.onlinemetals.com/merchant.cfm?id=978&step=2&top_cat=181

[stoobers]

Go to the dollar store and find a plastic cutting board. :)

[Lateral Thinker]

Great thanks, I had wondered if it was the same material, seeing I have used cutting-board already for projects.

[catwood]

interstate plastics is the best price i have found after quite a bit of shopping around. http://www.interstateplastics.com/

[Lateral Thinker]

As you say, the main shaft (or mandrel) at 3/8 inch is too flexible. So how come you have not used a intermediate bearing on the mandrel, halfway between the two main headstock bearings? The fact that you placed the main drive pulley on the outer end of the mandrel, rather than between the main headstock bearings, is increasing the whipping of the 3/8 diameter shaft between the main headstock bearings, which is translating into whipping on the faceplate chuck. It appears you copied that layout from popular factory made small lathes, I note elsewhere you have not first read any books on wood turning, most books, in the first chapter, discuss such issues while recommending a choice of lathe to buy. What I would have done, was mount the motor end for end, and move the mandrel pulley to a location between the main headstock bearings, the best location for the pulley is to be as close as possible to the chuck, albeit, with the main head stock bearing in between. That would very likely eliminate the disadvantage of the main shaft or mandrel being only 3/8 diameter. I am not sure if your drive motor is reversal once its turned end for end, so either a longer belt enabling the motor to be further away from the chuck, or better still, add a secondary drive shaft leaving the motor where it is now. I note you say you have a electronic speed control, thus don't need stepped pulleys for speed control, but there, you are forgetting something, when you need a slow turning speed, doing it with the motor means the motor has less torque, I think you will find it really useful to have a double speed range by pulley, using the electronics for fine control. On a wood lathe, you do need power (torque) to cut fine shavings from your work piece, if you are constantly worrying about stalling the motor, you tend to be just scraping rather than cutting, scraping means you don't have a nice tool cut finish, and your cutting edge wears faster, and gets hot, also not having the power at low turning speed, is a safety issue, you tend to have dig ins, and sometimes that means your project heads towards the moon, that is, if it does not hit you first. Your project is very capable of being upgraded to my suggestions, I complement you for that. Once the outer pulley is moved to between the main headstock bearings, you can then enclose the space between the bearings with some kind of casing, both for safety, and to look EVEN more professional than it already is. A suggestion on what to do with the shaft end once the pulley is moved, you could fit a small sanding disk or drum, provided you remember that it rotates in a different manner, unscrewing any nut at that end, but maybe you would consider locating a hand held jigsaw sabre saw machine, stripping it down, and using a crank on the left hand end of the lathe mandrel, to drive the blade up and down, the saw table would be above the headstock, and when the lathe is being used for wood turning, either cover the saw blade or remove it.. A point about you not using a tool rest, how can you do fine work then? And if you lack proper support for your tool, you are heading for a dig in, either your work goes flying, the tool breaks, or you have a deep gouge in your project, very likely meaning your project is a write off. Your instructable has lots of useful ideas for me, while I wont be building a lathe, I have a wood turning lathe already, the ideas will be useful in a number of differnt areas, tool making, models, robots. However you would have been well advised to read books on wood turning first, before building your lathe, after all, designers, inventors, are known to be fully aware of what has been done before, and the mistakes that others have made, ONLY then do they create their master piece or work of art. Top marks. Now, who is going to add their instructable telling how to add a computer to the mix. suggestions, using a soft plastic type material for the work piece, using a high speed rotary tool on a machine tool type base, using parts from a ink jet printer, stepping motors, and print head drives, restrict yourself to the width of the paper the printer was build for. Small projects, 200 mm long, starting from material diameter of 50-mm, consider all the possibility for model making, eg, 50 miniature cannon. Then, at right angles, disks 150-mm, the patterns you can create on the face of disks, design them the pattern on the computer, send it out to the lathe. Nb, for this, you don't spin the lathe face place non-stop, but just slowly step it back and forth, with a larger stepping motor. I look forward to seeing the first instructable of many, along the lines i just suggested

[0087adam]

i eliminated the pulleys altogether and put a dimmer switch on it.

[0087adam]

what did you use as a tool rest?

[0087adam]

i had an original on/off motor, but i hooked it up to a dimmer switch that they use on fans, and that is an easy conversion to a variable speed controller.

[0087adam]

Is there a specific reason why no one ever mounts the chuck directly on the motor? I love your method for making a chuck, i just had an old weedeater head with drywall screws, it didn't hold very long. I am going to try this tommorrow, i revamped your design in Google SketchUp® to accomodate the oak 1x2s I have out in the tractor barn.

[ilikechemicals]

i was wondering where the threaded rod goes through the uhmw head stock piece is it just greased or is there something in between the rod and plastic oh and you did a great job with the tops and stuff you did congrats

[towers]

Quite nice! have you had issues with the star*board overheating?

[YupHio]

awesome!

[steliart]

If you need something more strong and sturdy that can turns bigger work-pieces and made out of wood.
Check these plans out

http://www.instructables.com/id/Bench-Lathe-3-in-1-Lathe-Sander-GrinderSharp/

[lenny25]

I really like this intructable, I admire your DIY attitude.I would like to make something like this as well, so thanks for all the great ideas. But i'm also going t be honest with you and say that chuck looks verrry dangerous, To me it just does'nt seem solid enough. I've been hit in the face with a piece of wood that shot off a circular saw, it missed my eye by a centimeter. It was not a fun experience, certainly one i never want to repeat.

[msil3070]

I agree. This is a great Instructable. I am making a wood lathe for my son and will use this chuck design.. I think it would be ok very very slow speed turning of soft materials... But I would stongly suggest that the body of the chuck be made of steel and permanent screws be loc-tighted in place.   I know this makes manufacture a  little more complex.. but that is what our creativity is for.. Thanks for the great Ideas.

[steliart]

You have some very good points on your design (even though it needs improvement) but I have the feeling that the construction is week in various places, maybe it's ok for small softwood turnings. I would suggest stronger materials that will not flex. Some protection on the motor belt to avoid accidents. A better chuck that will at least look safe to work with. And definitely the use proper lathe chisels and not home made ones will make a big difference. I understand that you wanted to build it from what you have without any expenses, but on the other hand it’s no good to construct something and have a medium workability.

As an effort I think you did a good job.

[korkarn]

I will try to make it work with metal.
Thank you.

[dpsilver]

try to make a live center with the drill chuck and some bearings i am currently working on that and i am going to have to improve my power transmission system 

[thingy]

Nice instructable. I think I would use boxed steel for the bed and a thicker main shaft but you used what you had and I salute you.

[poolcuemaster]

Great job and I own three lathes 1 wood 1 metal and 1 cuelathe made for building pool cues and this looks like a great sanding and finishing lathe for 29 inch cue halves. Please tell me what the motor came from and is it DC  or AC since you noted it was variable speed ready. A cheap $15 import livecenter in the drill chuck and you are in buisness.--Leonard Holmes

[dpsilver]

 he never need to state anything really since i can see batteries in the back ground in the conclusion picture

[catwood]

Its actually a motor i had from one of my fighting robots. Any DC motor should work for variable speed; my first lathe was just a 7.2 volt cordless drill motor. Heck if you were really going cheap, pick up a cheap corded drill from harbor freight and have a velcro strap that you can tighten around the trigger to keep it spinning!

[mclelm]

I was very impressed that you as a high school student worked your way through the design process and made the parts from basic items for this lathe.  Your resourcefullness was incredible.  I've got a pretty crammed basement and garage of "stuff" and I don't have the things you found.  This was basically your prototype.  Of course, there are things you'd rethink, change and rebuild; that's typical of any R&D project.  Well done.

[atomicturkey27]

 How thick are the pieces of UHMW that you used?

[ewfw]

just thinking here.  A hub and axle from a bike wheel could make a good live tail stock.

[KnexFreek]

 SWEET !!!!!! NICE JOB!!

[m5industriesinc]

PUT A VIDEO IN HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[DELETED_madscientist167]

(removed by author or community request)

[m5industriesinc]

yeah your right seriously

[Jodex]

Thank you! This gave me a lot of ideas, for example making a lathe : D

[charles61]

Good try....but for light work only . Please, if you realy like turning: buy (or "do yourself") a "good" lathe (can be found at 300 to 400 USD for a three feet lengt) with roller bearing, variable speed, tool rest, etc...and good (but even ordinary) tools 'well sharpened and...you shall immediately appreciate the difference.
That's to say, comfortable use, no vibrations, safety of use, efficiency and reliability. Per sure, yours work "well" (so believe you) and you are proud of but ..
such a tool must be heavily build in order to give (very) good results. I must say you have made a good beginning, own to be continued. Congratulations.

[Lateral Thinker]

Motors Start collecting power tools, for example, a electronic speed controlled electric drill. Remove the noise making speed reduction gear box, but ensue you retain the cooling fan, or replace it with other means of cooling. Without the noisy gearbox, use a pulley system to reduce the motor speed, and increase torque. I did this once on an older B&D, by cutting off the front casing of the drill, keeping the handle part and motor casing. The trigger on/off/speed-control became just a speed control, I wired in a separate switch. But always remember, this modification destroys the safety of Double Insulation, so find a way to add a earthing wire, and use the motor with a RCD safety device I used this drive motor, and various pulley system, to test home built odd ball generators for wind power. Use such such a motor for a SMALL lathe, such as for ornamental pen making, and dolls house furniture. Somebody, Anybody, Everybody, please feel free to create an instructable on such a motor. Try finding a way for universal mounting, so it applies to lots of different projects, with a very versatile speed/torque range.

[_soapy_]

A few things:

Someone already said there should be a guard on this, to stop you losing your scalp when a bit of hair gets pulled into the pulley (or loose sleeves, etc.) Yes, good practise is to tie everything back, tuck everything in, etc. but better safe than sorry! And for the "price" of a cardboard box!

You could stiffen the entire lathe really easily by getting a board and screwing the two legs to that. Even better would be tapping it to a second bit of aluminium bar stock, as that would be more dimensionally stable. No way the legs could flex in or out, and the twisting would be lowered.

I can't help thinking that the bearing for the chuck is rather a long way from the chuck. The closer the better, there, as you don't want pressure on the work to flex things.

The chuck.
Yes, it's a nicely make bit of kit, but I think it is dangerous. If any one of those screws or side brackets fail, the work will fly away rapidly, and the design is rather weak.
The way you have tapped the bolts into the aluminium is asking for disaster, since you probably only have a few turns of the bolt in there, and aluminium is very soft. Over even a fairly short time the bolts grabbing into the work will distort these threads, and they will soon fail. This is likely to happen under load, and then you are in trouble!
Make it safer in ten seconds, by adding a nut on top of each of the 4 through bolts in the face of the chuck.
I should also point out for others, that you used MDF (I think) rather than "wood". Anyone using wood could be in big trouble, as the grain of the wood means that in one axis the chuck would be very weak.
Add four nuts to the prongs as well, on the inside of the brackets, and, once the screws are bitten into the wood, tighten the nuts back against the brackets. This will add support, and reduce the odds of the bolt loosening with vibration.
I'd strongly recommend not using wood for the face of it, and use four (steel) nuts on the 4 chuck bolts, and attach (weld) those onto the brackets, and uprate them to steel, too, if you are planning to do big turning jobs.

I also second the safety stop switch, and would recommend using an RCD just in case, if you are using mains power.

Oh, and please add a thing to suggest getting a good book on wood turning, and some goggles and dust extraction, or a filtered face mask.

Please don't take this the wrong way, your Instructable is great!

[drcrash]

I'd be worried about using MDF for the chuck. MDF is not as strong as it appears to be. The outsides are denser and harder than the core; in the middle it's pretty fluffy and weak. That was brought home to me in a couple of ways recently. I chiseled a groove in piece of MDF, and after I got through the outer 1/16" or so, it was easy---too easy. I also saw some pieces of MDF in the rack at Home Depot that had split right down the middle, so that 1/2" MDF turned into 1/4" MDF that was smooth on one side and rough on the other. The rough side was easy to abrade with my thumbnail. If you're going to go with a wood product, I'd think that good plywood would better than MDF. There are also stronger grades of MDF-like materials than MDF. ("Hardboard," etc.)

[_soapy_]

You aren't wrong. The outer of hardboard and MDF are rock hard. I tend to use a drill to break through the outer shell to get started.

[Lateral Thinker]

I use MDF a lot. MDF has a very hard face (not edge) surface only from being pressed during manufacturer. Inside it is not so hard. Screw holding is not too good, lots better to use small nuts and bolts passing thru. MDF as well as being fibre, is made as multiple layers of fibres, or mats, and even after the MDF is finished, these layers split apart very easy. Screwing in on the edges, is rarely successful. If I had concerns, I would insure I had the correct screws, coress rather than fine thread, my info folder on MDF mentions a two start wood screw (double thread in engineering terms) with no shank, or reduced diameter from the threaded portion shank, the threaded part of the screw must be parallel, that is, not be tapered like a normal screw, just the end has a short taper, Use proper pilot and clearance drills, don't over tighten. I tend to put a drop of PVA glue onto the threads, this will help solidify the fibres around the threads. Don't reply on just screws, use glue between surfaces, and try and design in, back up holding power, or support. The biggest draw back on my use of MDF for toys, is its ability to suck in moisture from the air and begin expanding and thus distorting, so it needs to be well sealed when finished, a good coat of varnish or paint. Saying that, MDF is now become the preferred material (rather than plywood) by production engineers designing jigs and patterns, provided they are well sealed from moisture, MDF is now the most stable material you can readily obtain, more like plastic than wood. (after all, its remanufactured wood where ply is not) I tend to think of it as plastic, and most of my use of MDF is because how well it can be machined with a router. Apart from the drawback of lack of screw holding ability, you can think of MDF as being metal, and the wood router as being a metal milling machine. One thing to remember, once your cut or remove that hard outer surface, you are stick with the softer fibre and that will never take the fine finish that the outer surface was capable of. However, often crafsman refuse to use MDF on the lathe, for faceplate or jigs, their concern being that at high rotation speed, the layers of fibre might split apart.

[catwood]

I definitely agree with the addition of a pulley guard. I think a shoebox would fit nicely over that side of the lathe. The lathe actually doesn't really need to be stiffened - the motor mount enables the heavy motor to act as a weight to keep the lathe from wobbling. The chuck in the picture is actually not the most current chuck design. The new one has two layers of MDF, and uses thicker aluminum angle pieces. The screws grip 4-5 threads in the aluminum angle now. I agree MDF is not as good as a steel plate would be, but it is a lot easier to work with. I used MDF to eliminate the grain of wood problem because MDF is an engineered wood and does not have a grain to split along easily. There actually is a remote switch that is not pictured to the right of the lathe, which allows me to turn it off without having to reach near the work or the motor. Lastly I am not so sure I agree with your suggestions. Goggles and some kind of mask is a must. But I do not have a book about turning, have never been taught how to use a lathe, nor do I have any lathe tools except for the ones I made myself.

[drcrash]

I think reading up on wood turning before actually doing it is a good idea.

You can put your eye out with that thing, if you don't know the proper technique. (No, really. When it comes to lathes, mom's right.)

This site has links to some useful info on woodturning:

http://www.laymar-crafts.co.uk/linkt.htm

There's an into to wood turning and a free e-book on woodturning (from Project Gutenberg), among other things.

There may be better sites out there, but that was one I stumbled on. (Any experienced wood turners have other suggestions?)

[_soapy_]

About the book, that's cool, you can teach yourself a lot on your own. Just don't forget that there are guys out there who have learned from masters who learned from masters, and they know tricks I'd never thought of. It's not essential, it's just really useful. Plus, if you've never worked with big scary powertools like this before, they tend to have a load of guidance so you don't gouge the work and throw the tool across the room, or saw off your thumb. Glad you improved the chuck, that was the biggest concern for me. (I know of a guy that got hit by a chuck key, on an industrial metal lathe. Nearly killed him.)

[rimar2000]

Here it is mine: http://www.instructables.com/id/Torno-del-pobre-poor-man-lathe/

[lompocus]

3d model in sketchup if anyone's interested, just note that the measurements on the tailstock are off for the ROD only. I added a nice little way to move the tooltip. Commented to all hell.

http://www.filefront.com/14036381/Lathe_Josh.7z

[bobtannica]

Amazingly versatile and useful tool you have made. Congrats. You're a HS'er now. Wow! If you don't become an inventor as your vocation then it would be an injustice. Thanks.

[kurth92]

hay i wasn't sure so u didn't use bearings in the headstock?? if not how dose it go with heating up and wearing out???

[kurth92]

i really appreciate people like you well done and as u say version two will Incorporated a tool rest it would be very easy to make a too rest for your original aswell i might copy this maybe even smaller i have nice timber lying around i would like to do some pen turning

[airsoftsniper12]

I have a motor from a broken table saw. Will that work?

[sharlston]

yes

[Phred1701]

Nice Work. However, you should consider a tool rest an ESSENTIAL part of this tool, even turning something as small as 2x2's. As a somewhat experienced woodturner, I would never even consider turning without a tool rest. The whole idea is to provide mechanical advantage. Look at a wood turning gouge, the distance from the tool rest to the end of the handle is ten or more times the distance from the tool rest to the work. This enables much greater control. And ALWAYS use eye protection! A face shield is best, but goggles or safety glasses are a minimum.

[The Red Button]

yeah i have used lathes and i can imagine it would be very hard to do this without a tool rest. my shop teacher liked to tell stories about ppl getting their scalps ripped off because their hair gets caught in a lathe. o_0

[sharlston]

my dad once had a allen key through his lip when something went wrong at work

[silencekilla]

(removed by author or community request)

[The Red Button]

haha nice. Heard any stories about skinning your hands on a vertical belt sander yet? Those are always fun.

[phish814]

I had a buddy in a high school shop class sand off his middle and ring fingers to the first knuckle on a vertical belt sander. It was a bad day for him.

[catwood]

I have definitely skinned some fingers on my belt sander, but that's not really as much fun as the pain some other tools can bring.

[biolethal]

Like a hand caught in the rough side of a 12in bench grinder... not very healthy...

[JJKierstyn]

I was grinding down a pencil with a bench grinder for some reason. The pencil slipped and I was putting too much pressure on the pencil so my finger nicked the grinder and my skin was ground off almost to the bone instantly. It didn't hurt that bad, but it sure is worse then a paper cut. Now it's just a scar.

[coolguy]

I have shaved many finger tips off on vertical belt sanders. That's practically a requirement for learning to use it. It's like learning how to weld and expecting to never get burned.

[NCchance]

I went through three of my Uncle's finger nails with a Forstner bit (brand new) when I spun out of the hole I was drilling. He was THRILLED!!!! Its been three months and they still haven't completely healed. Word to the wise: NEVER, EVER start drilling before you've completely seated the bit in the hole you've already started drilling.

[sharlston]

any plans on making a 22 ton metal working lathe in the future? only joking i made a lathe once but i used a drill as the motor it worked good but i had to charge the battery up every 15 mins i like yours its well good

[frankenboom]

four questions..... how can you make this into a metal lathe (it doesnt have to be perfect) and will a vacuum motor work...... or a miter saw motor? the miter saw motor is obviously way more powerful and easier to mount, but its really scary and it would be harder to attach to a belt or pulley. the vacuum motor is much smaller, but it seems to be faster at 30,000 rpm and would be easier to attach to the pulley. Which one should i use if either one will work? if neither of those motors work, where could you get the motor in the instructable, cheaply? where did you get yours? finally, where can you get a speed controller for the two motors i have if they'll work? (A.C.) awesome instructable!!!

[frankenboom]

i just found a treadmill with 2.25 hp continuos duty motor, with a power source, belts and pulleys and speed controller. that would be a better setup, right?

[tbenefi33]

HI just curious could dremel tool be good to use for the motor ?

[biolethal]

probably way too high speed, but no torque, unless you are making a tiny lathe.

[coolguy]

I can't tell from the pics but, do you have ball bearings where the rod spins? The speed of the turning combined with metal on plastic is sure to wear down quickly over time. I also second the tool rest comment. It's a real pain to work without one. You might also look up what wood lathe tools look like. On a lathe, the technique is all about sharp sturdy tools and how you use them.

[NCchance]

Define "wear doen quickly over time."

[catwood]

Not ball bearings, but bushings because those are what i had lying around Basically sleeves of brass that are self lubricating. Look on Mcmaster-Carr. (they are also much cheaper, 50 cents vs several dollars each).

[tbenefi33]

Coul you please make a video of it in use ? Very nice job on that and if that could be cnc that would be awsome.

[Asmodeo]

I can't say less than SUPERB! I've been fiddling with the idea of making myself a wood lathe, and began with an old electric hand drill mounted on a piece of laminated wood But the illumination about how to make a bed+tailstock slide was avoiding my brain.... Now, thanks to You, I have a clear way to go. Thanks a lot!!!

[T3h_Muffinator]

Hey! I saw this a while and thought it'd be cool to make a captive ring out of metal. 6061 Al on my high school's metal lathe:

[coolguy]

I made a minature cannon barrel out of brass in metals class. Also, I used to play with making tops. I got one to spin for a minute 40 seconds. They look like they are just standing perfectly centered on point when they spin.

[catwood]

Wow that is really awesome. what tooling did you use to cut in to separate the ring?

[T3h_Muffinator]

Nothing special, I just came in at a sharp angle with an angled bit (I don't know bit names), working my way just a little bit closer each pass.

[mg0930mg]

SWEET!!!!!!!!!

[Tazo]

Really nice instructable, im definetly building one for myself and i will follow your last recomendations and will also use steel.

[Phred1701]

You may want to consider steel angles. A real good source for those would be an old metal bed frame. They are very heavy steel and designed to support a lot of weight across their span, come about 6' long and usually 2 per bed. Just my tuppence...

[stoobers]

Yes, bed frames. I use them for all sorts of projects. They are hot rolled steel, which means the surface is sometimes a little rough. They also have carbon in them, so they can be hardened. Which means, when drilling, if it over heats, it turns purple and you can't drill anymore. Bed frames are very "overlooked" for home projects.

[red_metallic]

Overall, great job! There is one thing though that really scares me from a safety issue and that is the chuck. MDF is not very strong and you have holes drilled through it right near the edge where yours "jaws" mount. I cacn see one of them cracking and letting go. The loss of contact on the piece you are turning might cause it to fly out at high speed. My experience with woodworking has been when wood flies out of a machine it almost always hits you in the face or crotch. You might want to build a faceplate and dog and use those instead for turning. A bit more flexible than a chuck and easy to make from metal.

[smokehill]

I agree that this area might need a bit more "overbuilding," just in case. Materials at high speed are somehow magically attracted to the most delicate human tissue available. I've never had a bad accident from flying wood or metal, but on more than one occasion I've been left cringing in terror and had to change my underwear ... Even "facing" both sides of the MDF with some sheet steel would make this a lot safer, I think. I'm also more of a believer in the whole-face shields, rather than just eye protection. Plastic surgery is a lot more expensive than they are,

[Einsteins Circuitry]

Besides a more powerful motor, what else can I do to make this a metal lathe?

Very nice instructable! +1 and favorited

[Steamdnt]

you wont save money making a metal lathe, you can just buy a Japanese one for 1000 dollars. metal lathes have to be so exact plus the linear bearings its a giant headache. youd be better off buying one, That is unless you really really want to build one.

[Wyle_E]

For anyone considering building a metal lathe from scratch: Google "Gingery lathe." Start with the Instructables search function; I've seen several articles about this project.

[catwood]

for metal you have to have a carriage to hold the bit, so as you turn the wheels the bit moves. for metal the bit needs to be precisely held in position close to the metal and perpendicular to it for it to cut efficiently.

[threesixesinarow]

The bed of my grandfather's lathe, which is an old one like this, is also built up from several pieces, it's the opposite way, though, with the corners at the outside. There are spacers underneath at intervals along its length that keep the sides vertical and the center channel consistent enough to register the headstock and tailstock, they're short to make clearance for the clamping plates but those are as wide as the parts on top so the whole thing is quite stiff for its light weight, and gains even more when it's bolted to a heavy table.

[altomic]

absolutely fantastic instructable. thank you very much. another excuse to spend copious amounts of time down in the workshed.

[catwood]

haha i am glad my project gets to occupy some of your time.

[kaptaink_cg]

Ingenious!

[pattermon]

i don't get the cative ring how can it freak people out

[pattermon]

I have viewed this like 8 times today and it is so cool but i need help with the uhmw stuff

[catwood]

what help do you need?

[yeagerxp]

The only thing I can say is EXCELENT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[dunnos]

a very nice project, some questions though 1. would i be able to use my rotary tool as a motor? 2. the cup is a mystery for me bcuz at the top there is a weird square thing holder and at the bottom a point so the question is: how do you get the hole in the top of the cup? that it

[ramses]

most rotary tools have little to no torque, especially the "high speed" ones like a dremel.

[CementTruck]

If it is a small rotary tool I would scale these plans down to fit your needs. The rotary tool you own may not have the torque necessary for this sized project.

[shortman]

Use 4X4 mounted for supports and use pillar block bearings for long life

[MadScience#1]

is there any way you could make a large cup?

[catwood]

Yeah, if I had used a larger block of wood. The blocks I were using were kinda small to start with.

[kd0afk]

How do you handle the vibration that a light weight lathe produces?

[catwood]

the metal brackets on the bottom of the lathe were screwed to the 2x4s; the 2x4s were clamped to the workbench.

[kd0afk]

Well, if you are getting no vibrations that is good. I have used many lathes and if they don't have a heavy metal base/rail system even if you secure them to the workbench they suffer from harmonics. Great instructable by the way.

[sumrall72830]

Seeing articles like this from high school students, gives me faith in the up coming generation. Great work. You are only limited by what you can imagian.

[afguru]

I am an engineer and I could not think of a cheap way to make my own lathe.......very cool!! very good job! Tell you parents they should be be proud.....you should consider a video for youtube!! thank you very much.

[ryan11007]

you should of added a tools list and material list if any 1 ever wants to build it.

[Basta]

Incredible--very simple design, and I'm amazed that you did it on zero budget. I'll have to get myself some angle stock and try my hand at it! Nice turnings--it looks like they're all pine. Do you think the lathe would still function with hardwood, like oak, maple etc? I've wanted to make small turnings like pens in hardwood, and this gives me a cheap way to try. It might be possible to make a live center for the tailstock with a bearing--that would raise the budget a little, but not by much.

[killerjackalope]

nice one, I'm currently working on a lathe myself, not as good as this, only sugestion would be to turn the metal right angles on the chuck outwards and use longer bolts...

[catwood]

for larger things, thats what i can do. for smaller things though, that increases the diameter of the chuck, which means it is easier to knick your hand against. trust me, a sharp corner of a piece of metal spinning at 2000 rpm hitting your finger isnt very nice.

[killerjackalope]

Yeah i remember the pain, all I was doing was putting a little set of ribs in to a grip on the drill with a hacksaw blade, a burr formed, slid the blade out of my hand and sliced my finger open, the little bit of metal was tiny but razor sharp because I was doing the rough cuts with a hacksaw blade (far quicker) At the minute I'm trying to make an all in one kind of lathe, powered by a 600W drill that can be taken out as and when needed, eventually it'll get a proper motor but the drill will do for starters, considering it's stopped by nothing in it's path... So far the biggest danger with lathes i've found is knots and burrs shooting the tool away at incredible speed, that and don't wear a long sleeved t-shirt, my friend has a set of scars right the way up his arm from doing that.

[triumphman]

Nice job! I have one suggestion- your chuck can only take a piece of wood stock the size shown between each angle of metal. I was thinking if you drilled their holes shaped like a capsule (about 3 or 4 drill holes long) if it fits, maybe smaller. The bolts could be moved in or out to take different size pieces of stock. Or cut a slot in the metal(even better) to allow the L shaped holders to move in and out to do the same thing! Utilizing bolts and nuts under the circle chuck to allow for adjustments. It would only mean loosening and tightening of four bolts.Whatever way works without the chuck brackets getting loose.Allowing the wood stock to fly out. Ouch!!! But hey thats what makes woodworking fun. Right? Do it yourself is very rewarding (to a point). Let me know what you think! Also what is that white plastic stuff and where can I buy it? Thanks. As ever Triumphman

[catwood]

well the way it is now, it can fit 2x2s. If i need to hold smaller things, i could use longer screws to reach farther in. If i need to hold larger things, i could reverse the angle to make them a wider diameter. Just having one precise hole means its easier to get the piece centered too; just count how many turns the screw goes in. The white stuff is UHMW. I buy mine at Interstate Plastics, but its expensive. Some other material would probably work just as well.

[bandit01]

What is length and width of the UHMW here in the photo? and the UHMW pieces on top of the lathe used for the rod holder what's sizes are all of those? Thanks, Mike

[ry25920]

would this work for soft plastics? Like milk jug kind of plastic.

[Charles IV]

How exactly do you make those captive rings?

[logic bomb]

Excellent job!!!! How much do you think you have in it money wise?

[catwood]

I think I would price everything but the motor, controller, and batteries at about $50, broken down into $20 for the aluminum rails, $10 for the UHMW, $10 for the pulley/chuck wood and belt, and $10 for all of the hardware. The motor and controller on mine were way more than you need to spend for a powerful motor; I just used them because I had them sitting around and didn't want to spend another $50-$100 for a new motor, or spend time scrounging.

[rushenroulette]

Free AC motors can be found on garbage day if you keep an eye out. Look for old washing machines, clothes dryers, furnace blowers, and the most common...exercise treadmills. They all have 1/4 to 1/2 hp motors. The fastest way to get a free motor is to find your local heating and cooling company and ask if you can recycle one or two of the motors from an old furnace they were going to throw away. I have done this and have more motors than I know what to do with - I just hate to see good stuff thrown away.

[John Smith]

I'll check there...can't believe I didn't think of that.

[catwood]

I haven't looked into those as sources yet, although it sounds like it could be good. It might take some poking around to find one with a suitable shaft, mounting pattern, and wiring hookup, but its hard to beat free motors.

[Bongmaster]

I have an electrical dump nearby and am always seeing ac motors there.. i cant believe i keep leaving them! i'll have to grab one next time i pass.. and chance of a mini metal working version? small scale metal work that is..

[whiteoakart]

This is great, catwood. It is simple and effective. Bravo!

[rallen71366]

Did you model your lathe after the Gingery design? The use of a 4-jaw chuck is normal for metal working, but woodworking normally uses a drive mandrel with 4 teeth ground into the end to stab into your stock and transfer torque. The tailstock you used (a spike shape) is also more common to metal working. You might try making another one with a small central spike surrounded by a washer to carry pressure. Trying to tighten the current tailstock can cause you to split your stock, maybe when it's at speed. When you first start your lathe with your stock mounted, please stand to the side, not in front of it! If it happens to split and fly apart, you could have a bad day. Please remember that when running small diameter stock, use a higher rpm to get the correct surface speed. Bigger items need a slower rpm. It also reduces the centrifugal forces trying to pull your stock apart. This is a great introduction to lathe work! I've been trained in metal and wood work and just happened to notice the differences.

[catwood]

There were a few reasons for the three jaw chuck: 1) my plan for it did not seem too involved for making, while still having accuracy 2) centering pieces seemed easier because adjustments could be made on the major axis, rather than trying to adjust screws at 120 degrees apart 3) i knew the first things i would make out of pine 2"x2" square, meaning either a 4 jaw chuck or drive mandrel 4) without a welder to wend on spikes, i could not see how i was going to make a drive mandrel from scratch. I do like your suggestion for the spike though about the washer to relieve pressure. The spike I have right now tends to burn into the wood and get very hot.

[red_metallic]

Why did you use UHMW as the upright between the bed and the mounting brackets? Seems like you could get some flex front to back. That is not a criticism, just curiousity. Overall, great job!

[catwood]

I used it because I had a 3/8" thickness available to match the 3/8" rods through the center. steel would have been better, but I would have had to wait for it to ship. There is actually not much back to front flex though, because the 10 pound motor wieighs down on the back keeping it on the back motor rest.

[static]

In my shop is a wood lathe my dad dropped off. an auction special, I suppose, as I never found out where he got it. The "bed of the lathe is square metal tubing. Everything else that attaches to or slides on the bed use square tubing size that that slips over the tube used for the bed. I mention this because I have to think square or rectangular tubing has to be the best base to start a home shop built lathe on. Inexpensive and it starts out straight and squared.

[christophor]

This is why I love this site! This is a great idea. I'm going to build one of these! My mind is about to burst with all the stuff I'll be able to finish at my house. Also Seeing how you did it solves some design problems I was having on another project. Thanks for posting this.

[catwood]

If you dont mind me asking, what is your other project that this was applicable for?

[christophor]

I'm building a CNC machine. Some aspects of your work inspired me to make some changes on my design.

[nedfunnell]

Do you build combat robots?

[catwood]

Yes, I have gone to Rochester Robot Rampage in 2005, Motorama the last 2 years, and Robogames this past summer (third place with Whammo in 30 pound class). Do you build them too and if so, what robots are yours?

[nedfunnell]

I haven't built a bot in a while- I competed in high school, but I'm 3 years into college and haven't competed in a long time. I still tinker, though. My most notable(and not very notable) bot is a beetle, Nebula.

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Phasmatis_nox/neb.jpg

[Silvester10528]

Very interesting!! Similar to commercial plans for wood turning lathes I have seen elsewhere. I agree with the safety concerns about shrouding the pully and belt drive. I think you should consider bearings on the headstock/chuck. That all-thread is going to chew through the plastic pretty quick. That said, I like this design and might try something similar to turn some plastic for a model plane I'm building from scratch.

[Kirtai]

I really like this, I've been wanting a lathe for a long time and now I believe I'll get one :)

BTW readers, if you've never used a lathe before, go to a college course and learn the safety rules. These tools are much more dangerous than they look and have odd safety rules. (e.g. Did you know that you're not allowed to wear gloves when using one?)

[catwood]

Well a lot of it is just common sense. With a little thinking about it, I figured out how to be safe enough to survive. (only injury so far was nicking my finger on the chuck, but thats a problem with real lathes too, and I was just trying to cut too close to the chuck jaws.)

[Kirtai]

I'm not saying they're "make out your will before touching one" dangerous, just that you need to be very careful. They have this unfortunate habit of grabbing hold of things like gloves and dragging your hand in. Most of my experience is with metal working lathes though.

[vrogy]

For the record, some of the ones with casting and milling you saw can do metal. Also, as other have mentioned, there are a lot of flaws here, it could be build much more durably. All that aside, good job. Very, very accessible.

[catwood]

Yeah the Gingery one is designed for metal. The problem is that I do not have the ability to cast or mill and I am not particularly eager to play with 2000 degree aluminum anyways. This was mainly a "see if I can do it with what I have lying around", so the materials could definitely be upgraded. On a side note, do you build fighting robots? Your username sounds familiar...

[vrogy]

Yeah, I was one of the SECR-FL guys.
I wondered if you were a botbuilder, with the NPC, aluminum extrusion, and UHMW.

Also, I've been doing metal casting lately, up to aluminum so far.
http://flickr.com/photos/vrogy/sets/72157601413375208/

[Kentosaur]

Very impressive for the material used and the outcome! Seems a tool rest should be hugely valuable as your expertise increases. A gouge would also make quick work of getting the stock down to the finished size. Your Instructable makes me want to get my old home-made lathe tuned up and running. All I lack is the proper motor.

[Sharn]

I would really suggest adding real bearings... Setting a spinning bolt on the plastic directly like that will wear it out really rather fast. You should be able to pick up 4 3/8 ID bearings for relatively cheap and it would make it much more accurate and reliable. Otherwise - awesome project. I'm definitely going to look into making me one, just with more steel and less wood and plastic. :)

[catwood]

Yes real bearings would be very helpful. The plastic has a tendency to heat up and smell horrible, although it does not wear out (hole is still the same size).

[Austringer]

Sweet lathe dude! One of the coolest professional shops I've been in was a full time turners. His lathe had a 6 foot bed and maybe a foot of swing. Except for the moving parts and the ways everything was made of wood. I might not use MDF for Mark II (I'd steer towards Baltic Birch Plywood) but if this lathe is the most dangerous thing you are doing in your life you probably don' have that much to worry about. I've seen a pretty simple home built spur chuck out there which looked pretty easy to do, but I can't for the life of me remember how they did it or where I saw it.

[jolshefsky]

Excellent Instructable! I think you can alleviate a lot of your safety concerns with the wood parts breaking by using a lower-power motor. The smaller the motor, the smaller the cuts you can take, but it also reduces the torque on all the parts.

[catwood]

I would be a lot more concerned if it was spinning faster too. The way I have it set up, I would estimate the maximum at about 2000 rpm. There is enough torque in this motor to actually build a small electric vehicle, so I just keep the speed lower (usually 1500ish). By having slower speed and lots of torque, the motor does not slow down on large cuts, rather, the material keeps spinning at a steady rate.

[Vendigroth]

you using hardened tool steel for those tools, or just filed-to-shape mild steel?

[catwood]

mild steel... the pine i was cutting was not as dense as like cherry so mild steel worked ok.

[catwood]

I added two steps to the end to show two of the lathe tools I made and two more things I turned.

[trebuchet03]

Awesome!

I've added angle iron to my "things to find" shopping list :) Additionally, I have a cutting board that has slowly lost chunks of surface as it gets re purposed for other projects :P

I've already got a motor (two in fact) - but it's got a sprocket for a chain... I'll either have to go chain driven, or make some sort of pulley and a way to mount it....

The only thing I'd have to actually buy is... fasteners - and perhaps some MDF.

Question... Where did you get/how did you make that pointed spindle for your tail stock? or did I miss that somewhere?

[jtobako]

For cheap angle iron, think "bed frames."

[catwood]

I would worry about chain drive. Maybe initially you could use it and the first thing to make on the lathe would be pulleys, but I think a belt is a lot safer than a chain. If your arm gets stuck between the bed and the piece you are working on, a belt can slip, whereas a chain won't slip. The pointed piece on the end is a piece of 1/2" threaded rod that I put in my drill press and used a file to taper to a point. It took forever but finished with the point in the middle as compared to trying to do it by hand on a bench grinder or something.

[jongscx]

I've been thinking about this for a while too... If you could incorporate a bike deraileur to the design (maybe build it into a metal box so that it would be safe even if it blew up) would you be able to effectively change the gearing on the fly? Secondly, would a bike be able to withstand the stresses of a lathe? Maybe you could isolate it with a belt, so that if something were to happen the the piece, the belt would slip so that your chain wouldn't be ruined...

[IlluminatedAntichrist]

Awesome instructable! Really! It is! This is probably going to be one of my most favorite ever!

[jongscx]

One chuck/drive design that I had always pondered about was to use a 1/2" pipe for the drive, and find (It was hard, but I was able to secure all the required pieces) a large bell-adapter (basically, it has female threads on both ends and tapers from one radius to another.
http://www.plumbingsupply.com/galvanizedfittings.html
[scroll down to "Bell Reducer"]

I had it set up with a 2-1/2" to 1" then a 1" to 3/4" bushing. I was going to do the same thing, but have an odd number of screws tightening(3 or 5). The reason I picked that size pipe was because home depot also had bearings with that ID.
I was going to run it from an old vacuum cleaner motor, but I never got around to making it at all.

On the other side, I put a floor flange, so that I could screw wood to that and do bowls...

[joemonkey]

i have an old boreem scooter, and the batteries are bad, its skrewed. anyway would that motor work? with a 200 pound dad on it it it goes about 15-20 mph.

[catwood]

I would think that a scooter motor should work as long as the gearing ratio is right, but unless you want to do the math, you can try it and upgrade the motor later if it isnt powerful enough.

[JamesRPatrick]

Nice. I might consider building a metal lathe for airguns and relating things.

[catwood]

Yeah metal would be nice to be able to do. I am currently thinking about what would be involved in making one for metal, and its not looking very easy. But, what the heck, no one said I could make the wood lathe.

[frazeeg]

Regardless of what type of piece you're making, you should ALWAYS use a tool rest. Not only will it give you more consistent results, but it's much safer. Instead of having to concentrate on keeping your tool steady at the right height, you can just set your rest and lean your gouge on it, making nice, easy passes. You could probably make a sliding track along the bottom for the tool rest, but be sure to make it adjustable in all directions. Other than that, this is a quite ingenious build. While I know you were doing this on the cheap, I would steer away from wood parts because 1.) they warp more readily than metal, and 2.) they break more easily as well. The comment made about guarding the belt drive is another good safety consideration. Nice job overall.

[catwood]

Well the only wooden parts are the pulley and the chuck. The pulley I would have had to go out and buy so a wood pulley saved money. The chuck was wood because its easy to work with (the chuck documented was actually the third one that I made; the others had issues).

[ve2vfd]

I am seriously impressed! Talk about making something out of nothing... wow. How stable is it to use? Do you have a seperate toolrest for it?

[catwood]

Yes, there is a piece of 2"x8" pine about 20" long that i stand up in front of the lathe (8" dimension vertical, 20" parallel to the bed of the lathe) that has worked well so far.

[phooddaniel]

These are the type of projects I love to see here. Nice going!!

[ll.13]

Great Instructable.

[dentsinger]

Nice setup. I have an old blower with a nice sized AC motor, belt assembly and all. I've been thinking about repurposing it.

[uguy]

Excellent instructable project. I love the 4 jaw chuck. But I wonder why you made the pedestal so thin. Overall I really like it.

[rimar2000]

It's beautiful! I envy you (healthily). ;) That is a project that it has been returned by my head for years, but I have never made myself time to sum up it. I liked specially the idea of the chuck with four screws. Rotating 180 degrees each support you can hold quite big pieces. I have used with relative success a combination of drill (as motor) and grinder (as cut tool). But it is a little dangerous, in fact a day the piece was uncentered, it began to quake and the grinder was escaped from the hands. For luck I injured superficially. Forgive my English, I speak Spanish.

[Patrick Pending]

I like it, very good instructable. In the interests of safety there should be an emergency stop switch and a guard over the belt drive. Cheers, Pat. Pending

[advoo]

That was a great project. Thanks.

[thewoodcarver]

Very nice job , I have a full size lathe it is a pain to set up for pens and other small projects ...this will save me some $$$ on replaceing my old dremel lathe for small projects

[trebuchet03]

Totally awesome project :)