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Homegrown Bowl Lathe

D

Devin Howard

Joined
Aug 4, 2008
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Hello, I've been turning since Easter and Im starting to get the itch to turn something big. I own a rigid with a 12" swing so Im pretty limited. I was wondering if I could build a bowl lathe at home.... Any ideas would be great!!

I was thinking some heavy duty bearings and a precision ground shaft along with a step pulley and motor.


Thank, Devin
 
Deven Do a google search for homemade lathes. There are a lot out there and it depends on your capabilities and tools as to which direction to go when building one. I have friends who built them out of wood with large pillow block bearings and friends who have built them out of I beams welded together. It's not that difficult to do.
 
Devin...welcome to the "downward spiral" that is woodturning! It definitely sounds like you've been bitten by the bug.

I built my first heavy duty bowl lathe in 86' using scrap metal I-beams, cdx plywood, and cement.

As you can see from the picture, the primary shaft was heavy duty...2" steel, 11" long, with 1 1/2" x 8 tpi on the nose. It rode in 2 pillow blocks that were bolted to a horizontal I-beam, which in turn was welded to a vertical I-beam embedded in concrete. An 11" pulley at the back of the shaft.

If you look closely at the back of the lathe, next to the Baldor 1 1/2hp farm duty motor is a "jack shaft" arrangement which gave speeds of 100rpm at low end and 600rpm for high end...plenty fast for the 30" capacity for this beast.

I had a welder fabricate the metal table and had him drill a series of holes in it for the tool rest which I obtained from Vega.

If you need any further info or have questions, don't hesitate to drop me an e-mail at woodturner5@verizon.net.
Be glad to help out any way I can.

Ed
 

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Ed... the bug didnt just bite.... it infected me with radioactive turning impulses!! Did you use cold rolled for you drive shaft? Where did you get the threads cut? The lathe looks great.
 
Devin Howard said:
Ed... the bug didnt just bite.... it infected me with radioactive turning impulses!! Did you use cold rolled for you drive shaft? Where did you get the threads cut? The lathe looks great.
Click to expand...

I really don't know the composition of the drive shaft...had a machinist get it for me. I do know that it's a heavy duty sucker! The same machinist did the thread cutting.

So, Devin....ready to post some pics of your work yet? or are you waiting for that first monster bowl?😀
 
I'm impressed!

Yep, blown away by those Prosperpine Woodturners! Sometimes I just gotta shake my head...fabulous!
 
Last edited:
Devin Howard said:
Hello, I've been turning since Easter and Im starting to get the itch to turn something big. I own a rigid with a 12" swing so Im pretty limited. I was wondering if I could build a bowl lathe at home.... Any ideas would be great!!

I was thinking some heavy duty bearings and a precision ground shaft along with a step pulley and motor.


Thank, Devin
Click to expand...

I haven't built a lathe but have to wonder if you will save any money. If your interest is lathe building rather than turning, by all means have a go at it but there are second hand lathes out there.

Malcolm Smith.
 
Devin Howard said:
Hello, I've been turning since Easter and Im starting to get the itch to turn something big. I own a rigid with a 12" swing so Im pretty limited. I was wondering if I could build a bowl lathe at home.... Any ideas would be great!!

I was thinking some heavy duty bearings and a precision ground shaft along with a step pulley and motor.


Thank, Devin
Click to expand...

Another thought. You would do well to experience turning on some of the larger high end lathes before building your own. The differences are not obvious but they are considerable. Perhaps your ambition could be brought up at a turning group in your area. It's likely that turners you meet would be happy to show you the differences with a hands experience.

Malcolm Smith.
 
[FONT="Century Gothic"]I've seen all kind of lathes out there that need a new home but I havent seen any that my wife likes enough to crack open the kids college fund for...😎 Not really interested in building lathes for a living but building one for myself seems like my only option right now.[/FONT]
 
$$$$

The lathe I built ran somewhere in the neighberhood of $250 bucks....thats a far cry from the 3, 5, and 7 grand jobs out there commercially.

So, instead of taking out a loan to buy a piece of machinery, the $ saved is spent on turning blanks...works for me!
 
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