100% Homemade Lathe

Step 8: Headstock Basics

Because I was not sure about the height that the spindle would be, I did not want to construct anymore of the tailstock yet, so I started on the headstock. The general idea is to support a spinning shaft which has both the pulley and the chuck on it. I decided to use two UHMW supports, so I drilled a 3/8" hole near the top of each for the main shaft. (I decided to make the main shaft 3/8" because I had lots of 3/8" shaft and hardware around). Directly underneath the hole, I embedded a 3/8" threaded rod. This rod will go through the bed and be secured with a nut from the bottom.

I made two of the supports. The height of the main shaft above the bed determines the diameter of work that can be done on the lathe, so i added more UHMW pieces beneath the shaft supports to raise the height of the actual supports. (whew lots of supports, but just look at the second picture in this step). I then tightened the nuts on the bottom fairly tight to secure the two supports about 7 inches apart.

The first picture shows one of the completed supports. The second picture shows the supports mounted to the bed of the lathe.