Lathe Upgrades. 2 axis vice and rotozip - Mill perfect plywood disks.

THIS INSTRUCTABLE HAS POTENTIAL FOR INJURY MUTILATION OR IN THE WORST CASE DEATH,  I WILL NOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY SUCH INJURIES, IF YOU DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS YOU DO SO AT YOUR OWN RISK.


Project:  To add my 2 axis 6" vice to the bed of my wood lathe so could turn perfect disk's from plywood.

I had bought the 2 axis vice at the same time as my wood lathe with plans to build a milling machine. I will post an Instructable on this when it happens.

I often use plywood disks in my projects but find them awkward to cut perfectly round, and I have found that plywood is one of the nastiest things to turn on a wood lathe as it tends to catch very easy and blunts the tools very quickly.

I had planned to make a tool holder to take my wood chisels but found that they where not suitable and downright dangerous when used with the 2 axis vice.

By shear chance I found that my Rotozip was perfectly aligned with the center height of the lathe when fitted into the vice. so I decided to use that to make a simple milling attachment.  I bought the Rotozip about a year ago and had never found a good use for it until now.

Sorry this is not a cheap Instructable the cost of the lathe vice and Rotozip fall in at not shy of £500.  It is just to show how tools you may already have in your workshop may be combined to make a cheap alternative to expensive machinery.

THIS IS NOT DESIGNED TO BE USED WITH A SPINNING LATHE JUST TO HOLD THE ROTOZIP IN PLACE AND ALLOW YOU TO MAKE A MORE CONTROLLED CUT.  I WILL NOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR YOU GETTING HURT IF YOU DO SOMETHING STUPID WITH A SETUP LIKE THIS.

Thanks for looking, I hope my idea gives you inspiration.

Andy

Step 1 Attaching the vice to the lathe bed.

To attach the vice to the lathe bed i needed to make a plate that would fit snugly into the recess between the milled rails of the lathe bed and allow me to clamp the vice to the bed from underneath.

To make this place i cut a piece of 6mm plywood 300mm long and 40mm wide and sanded it down on the sanding table until it was a perfect sliding fit to space between the 2 rails.

I then cut a piece of 3/4" plywood 300mm long and about 60mm wide it was sanded down so it would not snag on the underside of the lathe bed.

The 2 pieces where glued and screwed together as show in the pictures using Gorilla glue  (gloves and old clothes are best worn when using this glue)

15mm hole where drilled in the plate to suit the vice, i used 15mm holes to make it easy to fit the 12mm bolts when attaching to the lathe bed.

12mm bolts are used with wing nuts and 40mm repair washers to make it very easy to fix the vice at the desired place along the lathe bed.

Comments

[kcedgerton]

This looks like a great addition to a wood lathe, I bet that it would make some of my projects easier, especially the wooden ball bearing... I just need to get one of those vices. does it need to be a 6" or will a smaller one work?

[Dr Qui]

the vices come in 4" and 6" it would depend on the type of rotary cutting tool you have, the things i just happened to have just happen to to suite each other, this was not planned before purchase. The setup works better on hard woods and has only been used to mill plywood disks so far.

[luvit]

i own power tools, too. show me howz to pimp my bench vise.