Hi all,
I decided a while back that I'd like a bowl lathe to accompany my powermatic 90. I did some searching, and decided that the available options were very nice and very expensive. Plus, I kinda wanted something that would look appropriate sitting next to my pm90.
So, I decided to build my own. It's taken me a few months, and I've had to pick up a few new skills along the way (e.g. welding), but the bowl lathe is now functional! It still needs a little prettying up (a guard for the jackshaft, the tailstock riser, and some repainting), but it's up and running, weighs more than I can lift, and is solid as a rock!
The lathe is built around a pm90 headstock that would otherwise have been scrapped. The bed ways were actually made by Jeff Nicol for a different project, and they sit 17" below the spindle for a 34" swing. The tailstock is from a sebastian metal lathe. The rest of the base, risers and banjo are all scrap metal welded together and painted an eye-popping powermatic green The legs are splayed at 45 degrees and the stance is 2 feet wide.
The motor is a 2hp 3ph TEFC explosion-proof number salvaged from the scrapyard for $12, and it's run by a 2hp VFD. At full speed, the big pulley on the jackshaft gives me 300rpm - 1200rpm using the reeves drive, and the small pulley gives me 700rpm - 2800rpm. The VFD brings the speed down to zero as needed.
I've attached a few pictures of the build, and links to a couple of youtube videos showing the first run. The test piece is a 13" maple platter blank, 3" thick. It's mounted a little off-centre, and wobbles a good bit. The second video shows it spinning at 2500rpm (not recommended!), and the lathe doesn't budge a bit. Happy!
I haven't mounted anything bigger, or actually turned anything on it yet - a crazy work schedule and a new baby have kept me busy the last few weeks! Looking forward to giving it a proper trial run
Sorry for the long post - hopefully some of you find this as interesting as I do
Edit: So, what should I call it? I'm thinking maybe "PM92" ?
Best,
Lee
I decided a while back that I'd like a bowl lathe to accompany my powermatic 90. I did some searching, and decided that the available options were very nice and very expensive. Plus, I kinda wanted something that would look appropriate sitting next to my pm90.
So, I decided to build my own. It's taken me a few months, and I've had to pick up a few new skills along the way (e.g. welding), but the bowl lathe is now functional! It still needs a little prettying up (a guard for the jackshaft, the tailstock riser, and some repainting), but it's up and running, weighs more than I can lift, and is solid as a rock!
The lathe is built around a pm90 headstock that would otherwise have been scrapped. The bed ways were actually made by Jeff Nicol for a different project, and they sit 17" below the spindle for a 34" swing. The tailstock is from a sebastian metal lathe. The rest of the base, risers and banjo are all scrap metal welded together and painted an eye-popping powermatic green The legs are splayed at 45 degrees and the stance is 2 feet wide.
The motor is a 2hp 3ph TEFC explosion-proof number salvaged from the scrapyard for $12, and it's run by a 2hp VFD. At full speed, the big pulley on the jackshaft gives me 300rpm - 1200rpm using the reeves drive, and the small pulley gives me 700rpm - 2800rpm. The VFD brings the speed down to zero as needed.
I've attached a few pictures of the build, and links to a couple of youtube videos showing the first run. The test piece is a 13" maple platter blank, 3" thick. It's mounted a little off-centre, and wobbles a good bit. The second video shows it spinning at 2500rpm (not recommended!), and the lathe doesn't budge a bit. Happy!
I haven't mounted anything bigger, or actually turned anything on it yet - a crazy work schedule and a new baby have kept me busy the last few weeks! Looking forward to giving it a proper trial run
Sorry for the long post - hopefully some of you find this as interesting as I do
Edit: So, what should I call it? I'm thinking maybe "PM92" ?
Best,
Lee
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