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Small DIY Bowl Lathe

hughie

hughie

Joined
Oct 1, 2008
Messages
846
Likes
1,315
Location
Sydney Australia
I designed this and built this about 12 months ago and is an all welded construction.

It has no tailstock and most likely I wont be making one. As I have in mind to use it for bowls only.Due a change in residence it has yet to be tested 🙁 But that should be recitfied at Christmas...yay! 😀

specs:-

Currently it has a 2hp motor, 1440rpm, 240v single phase,4 speed 700 to 2200 stepped pulley setup. Belt adjustment is via a couple of butt hinges welded to 2"sq tube

I intend to repace it with a 1hp same rpm and use the bigger motor on another larger lathe I am building

Headstock is from 5" sq tube 3/16 wall thickness, 30mm dia headstock shaft with sq flange bearing housing fitted with self aligning bearings. I have used 30mm shaft and bearings so as to have a long life.

Bed is from 4x2" parallel channel approx 18" long, Banjo is 2x3/8 flat bar 12" long, Banjo post 3" sq tube 3/16 wall thickness

Max turning dia is around 27" and locking is by cam locks. The small grey area to the l/h side under the headstock is to mount a short aux. bed to gain access to the rear of a bowl. The Banjo set up will simply slide on, although most of the rear of the bowl could be covered from the mian bed via the long Banjo and tool rest.

The chuck is a SN2 with step jaws and the inspector is my grandson. 😀
 

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Excellent job. I'm slowly but surely building up my shop equipment to be able to do that sort of thing. Of course I also have to build my skills. I turned up a new horizontal bandsaw this weekend. It still needs a little more work but it cuts a 1 1/2" bar and is off only .010". I have no idea how old the blade is and that could be part of the error.
I have a new welder but have to run another 220 to get enough amperage out to the shop for that. I bought a used Smithy lathe/mill/drill and have slowly been learning to tune it up and get the necessary tooling to be able to make the parts.
I'll probably never give up my Powermatic but I would like to build a lathe some day.
 
Looks grand.

Two things of concern. The first is no cover for the belt. I noticed the curious youth and hope he never got too curios while it was running. The second is that a minimum speed of 700 for a piece of 26 inches is quite fast. Might want it to go a bit slower.

Still a great bit of work.

Aaron
 
Is 700 rpm your lowest speed? Do you have variable speed? Awful fast for anything over about 10 inches in diameter that isn't balanced perfectly. 27 inches max at that speed is scary to me.
robo hippy
 
Thanks for the comments.

No guard, at the moment as its still a work in progress, also as noted the lower end speed is to high. This may well effect the final size and shape of the guard.

Primarily it is for the finishing of dried rough outs and finishing the bottoms of bowls with my Longworth chuck which has a dia of 24"
 

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That is a very admirable job, hughie......

You could easily convert it to a variable speed......I did that with my Woodfast lathe.

Also, you may want to consider splaying the mounts out to the sides a little further. You might have some problems with the very narrow mounts using any wood that is out of balance.......

Really, that's one of the nicest jobs of a home-built lathe I've seen. :cool2:

otis of cologne
 
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You could easily convert it to a variable speed......I did that with my Woodfast lathe.
Click to expand...


I have a el cheepo not unlike the grizzly that I converted to a variable speed. I thought about it, maybe later



Also, you may want to consider splaying the mounts out to the sides a little further. You might have some problems with the very narrow mounts using any wood that is out of balance.......
Click to expand...

This comes from a change in design mid construction. It started out as a light weight portable, some thing I could throw in the trunk of the car. Then I thought "who are you kidding your not gonna lug this around" 😀

To get around this I have an additional flat plate at the tailstock end to spread the load.Bolted onto hard wood. As I mentioned as a finishing lathe it should not have a lot of vibration.

The next generation is much heavier, with two 5" sq tubes welded together and unequeal angle 6x3x3/8. Much longer bed and will have a tailstock. The feet are around 10" wide to improve the stability.
 

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hughie said:
I have a el cheepo not unlike the grizzly that I converted to a variable speed. I thought about it, maybe later





This comes from a change in design mid construction. It started out as a light weight portable, some thing I could throw in the trunk of the car. Then I thought "who are you kidding your not gonna lug this around" 😀

To get around this I have an additional flat plate at the tailstock end to spread the load.Bolted onto hard wood. As I mentioned as a finishing lathe it should not have a lot of vibration.

The next generation is much heavier, with two 5" sq tubes welded together and unequeal angle 6x3x3/8. Much longer bed and will have a tailstock. The feet are around 10" wide to improve the stability.
Click to expand...

Well......It looks like you've got those bases covered, hughie.......

Good luck with the "next generation", and be sure to show us how it turns out.

Looks like the "first generation" might be suitable for the trunk after all! Ha!

Very nice work!

otis of cologne.
 
weight a minute..

How much does it weigh? My experience is that the bigger turnings require a great deal more weight to keep the lathe stable. A piece only SLIGHTLY out of balance will walk the lathe across the room if it's 27" Dia. Also, have you made a stand, or is this beast benchtop?
 
You've done a great job on that. My only comments, in case you're asking, are that:You may want to work out a removable tail stock idea if you're going to be chucking up heavy blanks of 27" diameters. Having a tail stock to stabilize things keeps bonking at bay - to misquote Bill Grumbine. Also, you may want to consider pouring some cement into the headstock pillar. It will add weight and help deaden vibration.
 
How much does it weigh? My experience is that the bigger turnings require a great deal more weight to keep the lathe stable. A piece only SLIGHTLY out of balance will walk the lathe across the room if it's 27" Dia. Also, have you made a stand, or is this beast benchtop?
Click to expand...

Not sure of the weight some where around 100lb and it will be on a stand which will be easier to anchor.
But as I intend to use it for finishing dried rough outs I am not expecting any radical out of balance problems.



you may want to consider pouring some cement into the headstock pillar. It will add weight and help deaden vibration.
Click to expand...

Have considered that and will look into it later when its up and running on its own stand.
 
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