This has been in the local classifieds for a while. At least a month. Any idea what it is? Is it a home brew or production?
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Any idea what this beast lathe is?
- Thread starter Nathan Roper
- Start date
Banjo welded in position and no tailstock. Short ways. Belt unprotected. No emblem. Really weird. Bet it’s home made. And not very functional. Now somebody will prove me wrong . . .
Gordon McMullen made a similar lathe in Bozeman, Mt. that I had the pleasure of learning on. It may be one of his. Looking at the banjo, it looks like the adjustment locking bolt is flush against the Wall of the lathe, underneath the headstock. Gordon's lathes were made to be filled with sand, and he had a tail stock attachment for the one I learned on.
I was actually looking for one of Gordon's lathes for myself, before I picked up a Vega 2600.
I was actually looking for one of Gordon's lathes for myself, before I picked up a Vega 2600.
john lucas
AAW Forum Expert
I'm guessing it's home built. I've seen a few over the years that had a similar look.
A bowl lathe. early ones had no tail stock provision because at the time, most bowls were turned only with face plates and glue blocks back in the day. The banjo is not welded in position, there is an adjustment bolt to move the banjo. The banjo is just fastened parallel to the ways so it appears that way. A similar one appeared on craigs list here about 3 years ago. It was described as "custom made" but I don't remember who they said was the maker.
Likely a homemade one off or attempt at limited production design. Back in the day if you needed large diameter wood turning there wasn't much available with hobby pricing. There were machines called T lathes for large diameters for metal working, fairly expensive even on the used market.
This design appears old given the capacitor start motor with stepped pulley speed adjustment. It may have had other uses than just turning with its massive indexing wheel and beefy indexing pin setup.
Lathes like this are simple machines to build. A local metal spinning shop had a couple similar shop built machines. I cobbled together one when we needed to turn 30" diameter dies to press form a jet dragster air intake.
Anybody on the forum use a homemade bowl lathe? I can only recall one time a poster making a comment about his home built lathe.
This design appears old given the capacitor start motor with stepped pulley speed adjustment. It may have had other uses than just turning with its massive indexing wheel and beefy indexing pin setup.
Lathes like this are simple machines to build. A local metal spinning shop had a couple similar shop built machines. I cobbled together one when we needed to turn 30" diameter dies to press form a jet dragster air intake.
Anybody on the forum use a homemade bowl lathe? I can only recall one time a poster making a comment about his home built lathe.
Not a "bowl lathe" but up until quite recently my only machine was homemade by my father in law. It has a 14" swing and can turn 44" between centers. It is by no means a precision instrument, but it gave me an excellent start. I just recently acquired a Rikon 70-3040 and am not sure what i'm going to do with this old homemade one.
The OP's lathe looks like more care was taken when building it than mine!
Attachments
My first thought was that it might be an old Nichols lathe. His were set up to turn spindles as well though. He was out of eastern Oregon. His did have DC motors on them.
robo hippy
robo hippy
I can't find my photo of one of Gordon's lathes, but they were all painted bright blue. The configuration of this lathe is similar, but Gordon was pretty good with the electronics, as well as the construction, and he typically would have used a VFD, I think. Maybe one of the earliest he made, though.
I couldn't find any good pictures of Gordons lathes but I did check.
Dave Landers
Beta Tester
Not a bowl lathe, but I turned on a homemade lathe for couple of decades.
And no need for dust collection as you roll through the countryside on the bed of that truck turning telephone poles.That's not a beast of a lathe. This 44 inch swing x 19ft wood lathe is a BEAST
I seriously doubt Nichols ever made a lathe that small. His machines were real beasts, this one is not in the same league. I bought one that was built from the plans in Fine Woodworking by Ed Moulthrop
I was thinking Grecian columns for museums, temples and southern plantation verandas
It's not that long, I think my architectural lathe get's closer.
