Adventures with the $10 lathe

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smallboat

smallboat
Corporate Member
One thing about woodworking on a budget, you have to be patient.
Patient and imaginative.
OK, patient, imaginative and lucky.

My luck started a while back when Mike Davis gave me an old Central Machines lathe.
There was no motor but hey the price was right.

Then a couple months ago I was in a local surplus store and found someone's home made sharpening system, complete with 1/2 HP motor- $10.

Now all I needed was tools.
A trip to HF and a look at the scratch and dent shelf yielded an incomplete and thoroughly abused set of HS steel turning tools.
Not free but the best I was likely to find. I heard somewhere I should plan to spend at least as much on tools than on the lathe.

Along about this point I attended a Train the Trainer event and under Fred's watchful eye took a few tentative passes at a spindle.

Here goes nothing


P1060951.JPG

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The spindles are chunks of 2x from the BORG.
The one oak spindle and the plate are from an experiment in resawing some firewood I did last year.
Finally, the beetle. A chunk of black locust from out back.

Oh yeah, that's the home made face plate I cooked up to do the plate (imaginative part)

Don't know what I'm doing but sure is fun.

Thanks to Mike and Fred for leading me astray.
 

FredP

Fred
Corporate Member
ur welcome......:gar-Bi I may have a spare faceplate out there somewhere. If I find it I'll let you know. you can always come by on a weekend for some refresher courses as needed.
 

smallboat

smallboat
Corporate Member
Thanks Fred- if your spare faceplate fits I'll put it to good use.
the headstock thread is 3/4-10, not real common.
Except in the fastener aisle.

I got a bunch of nuts just in case. Figure I can make custom face plates to fit whatever I'm working on.
 

smallboat

smallboat
Corporate Member
Mark- the beetle was an adventure.
Once I got it round It calmed down a lot.

Finished Dims are 5 1/2" x 11" the working end is 5 1/2" x 6"
about 4 lbs but who's counting
 

Mike Davis

Mike
Corporate Member
Wow, you're doing great work on that lathe. Much better than I ever did. No telling what you might do on something equal to your talent.

i may have the faceplate somewhere or maybe I gave it away. :dontknow:

Don't have any more of that locust do you?
 

smallboat

smallboat
Corporate Member
Thanks Mike
I have a bunch of the locust.
The trunk is all in firewood lengths but there are some good sized limbs, that's where the beetle came from.
I thought it would be poetic to use the beetle to split the logs

What would you like
 

smallboat

smallboat
Corporate Member
Guess it depends on how big you like your bowls!
Definitely some firewood lengths that aren't yet split.
 

Bill Clemmons

Bill
Corporate Member
Oh Steve, just when I thought you were going to be a real woodworker, you go and start turning. First Scott Smith, and now you. What is this world coming to? :rotflm:

Seriously, if that is what you can do w/ low end equipment, I'd like to see what you do w/ some high quality tools. :icon_thum

Bill
 

Mike Davis

Mike
Corporate Member
IIRC that lathe came with a 1/5 HP motor which I burned up turning bed posts for my daughters American Girls Doll.

DollHeadboard.jpg
 

smallboat

smallboat
Corporate Member
THanks for the vote of confidence Bill.

Mike, that's a cool bed.
I can't imagine using this lathe with even less power that I have.
I haven't approached the limits of its swing as it is and don't think I want to.

Been wondering if it would make sense to mount a flywheel like a treadle or springpole lathe.
Before I do that I want to add / change some pulleys to slow it down.

As it stands now I can get a nice cut from center out to about a 2" radius, beyond that I think the work is moving too fast.
I'll need to look at my pulley set up and figure the rpms.
 

smallboat

smallboat
Corporate Member
If I can figure out how to make my own chuck I'll be in great shape.
I'm sure I can make a "grippy" faceplate with jaws, but self centering would be a challenge
hmm...

Otherwise I could blow the budget in one fell swoop.
 

Rick M

New User
Rick
Sounds like my adventure getting the Goodell Pratt up and running. I'm only running a 1/3HP motor on it right now. I was going to use a 3 speed 1/4HP motor but after some time on the 1/3 I'm pretty sure the 1/4 will be too wimpy. It has oddball sized everything, parts are hard to find and expensive when you do find them. I don't think I ever posted it here.

TGnWml.jpg
 

FredP

Fred
Corporate Member
If I can figure out how to make my own chuck I'll be in great shape.
I'm sure I can make a "grippy" faceplate with jaws, but self centering would be a challenge
hmm...

Otherwise I could blow the budget in one fell swoop.

A chuck is a luxury. NOT a necessity. you can make use of homemade faceplates and jamb chucks. all kinds of accessories can be hand made for little or no cost. I read it on the innernet so it MUST be true.....:gar-La;
 

planecrazy

New User
Holland
Hey smallboat,

nice job on the turning! I have duplicate turning tools and accessories (I inherited my father's tools recently). If you'd like to experiment with different tools, I'd be glad to lend them out to you.

Give me a shout if you're interested; I live over by West Forsyth HS in Clemmons.

Holland
336.624.7314
 

smallboat

smallboat
Corporate Member
Rick- that lathe is a beauty. My "Black Beauty" is more from the square tube and sheet metal school of design.
My only serious complaint is the tail stock alignment. Its pretty loosey goosey. it made that plate a little challenging.
The center moved on me when I flipped it around, and again while I was finishing the bottom.
And BTW your posts about froes inspired the beetle experiment!

Fred- well I don't know about the interwebs but if it came from you who am I to question!
Where's a good source for info on jam chucks? I was looking at the videos chessspy posted and they look like just what I need to do.

Holland- thanks! I'm down by poindexter lumber. I'll give you a call when I'm out and about.
We'll meet up one of these days .
 
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