Micro-Sized Miniature Lathe

by nepheron

23K13245

Intro: Micro-Sized Miniature Lathe

This is a tiny lathe I made last weekend. The motor is from a small hand vacuum motor and is directly attached to the chuck. It won't work with wood, but foam composite from a sign making shop works great.

The power supply is from an old mini radio TV. I believe it's 12 volts and .85 amps. The case is made from scrap Plexiglas, which I get for free from the same shop I get the sign composite from. The fancy on-off switch was attached to the motor when I got it.

Everything is stuck together with JB weld and Loctite super glue ( I swear by this stuff).

This whole project cost me nothing but time, a bit of solder, JB weld, and Loctite. All-in-all about $1.00 worth of bought materials.

It turns very fast. Great for making small wine glass shapes, chess pieces, and barrel shapes from foam composite.

I hope you enjoy the video and slides!

Centering

Finishing up


EDIT This project was so easy, I've decided to make an 'ible for this... I will be using a tape player motor because those are easy to get and will work better than anything of the same size.

45 Comments

playmoboy 13 years ago

Whens the 'ible comming?

nepheron 13 years ago

It already exists! :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK9iwXN-5AI

clusterflop 9 years ago

No actually, the tutorial on Youtube is for another type wood lathe with a much larger sewing machine motor, not this micro lathe.

Dumchicken 13 years ago

i was just wondering is your screwdriver grinded up?

nepheron 13 years ago

Nope, the screwdriver is fine :)

Dumchicken 13 years ago

o and the other cup fell over :) :) :) :) :) :)

omnibot 14 years ago

That's pretty cool. I've been considering a similar idea but with a cordless drill-motor, the motorcontrol is promising and the gearing should give more torque.

imthatguy1125 14 years ago

 This is awesome, do you think a rc car motor would work

nepheron 14 years ago

 It depends on the torque. Power it up, and see how much force it takes to stop the shaft from spinning. Try it!

imthatguy1125 14 years ago

 Tried it works ok but for some reason the foam wobbles really bad

nepheron 14 years ago

Hmmm...

Sounds like the foam is not anchored on the shaft properly. If it wobbles, then the foam is able to move. Your foam may be too long or not secured to the motor shaft enough.

imthatguy1125 14 years ago

 Well it was hot glued on and I was using blue insulation foam, I tried florist foam but it was soft and rotting, thats probally because it was 2 years old, the insulation foam stops the motor so I need a stronger motor, I might just buy a cheap drill off ebay though 

nepheron 14 years ago

Before you buy a drill, try using some new floral foam. Just to see if it works :)

imthatguy1125 14 years ago

 tried it, works better but the foam had tiny holes in it(they were there before I tested it) Ill post some pics later

lieuwe 14 years ago

i built one, but i couldn't get it to stay on there, so i used hot glue, works like a charm, but how do you get your foam so smooth? when i stop turning it has holes all over the place, might be my foam tho...

nepheron 14 years ago

Ok, rough foam is cuased by using a sharp tool. Are you using some kind of knife or blade? Foams gets smooth when the material is ground away. The very best tool that I have found for making smooth foam is a tiny flathead screwdriver.

Cutting tools will only lead to a "pocked" surface.
Blunt headed tools result in a smooth surface!

lieuwe 14 years ago

 i used the exact same flathead as you, could it be the turning direction? does it have to turn towards you or away from you? and getting the foam into a cylinder takes a long time... i might experiment with hot screwdrivers sometime soon...
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