Buliding a woodlathe

[ausdag]

Hi John,

Thanks for the info. If I cant put one together myself I might go with the Carbatech one for beginning. My friend’s brother-in-law owns one of the franchises so he said he could probably do me a bit of a deal (on exotic wood too!!)

@J-dub

Problems with this type of set up (and wood lathes in general).

1. Slowest speed (~500 rpm) is too fast for accuarte boring; I had a REAL hard time doing this on my lathe and so did a friend of mine on his wood lathe. But it can be done with patience.
   .

A local pipemaker is going to show me a way of setting up the D-drill in a power drill so that it also spin, but in the opposite direction and at a slower speed which he says effectively causes the D Drill to self centre much more accurately. Might be able to do this to enhance accuracy myself.

@J-dub

2. You will need to purchase a chuck for holding the work while boring, they are not cheap.

I saw plans for making up one of these out of ply-wood and roller-blade bearings. Could be good.

@J-dub

The metal lathe has the advantage that you can also make your own cuting tools like tapered reamers, mandrels etc.

When I become more knowledgable and proficient at basic turning skills, I’ll invest in a better set up including a metal lathe.

@J-dub

Another option is to find used head and tail stocks, then make your own bed from angle iron and fix the whole thing to a very stable bench.

That’s what I also had in mind. I have a very solid bench I made out of half-logs - very sturdy. I used to use it for my Bonsai collection. But I think it would make a good lathe bench. If I go the Carbatech lathe I may even take it off the stand (looks kind of flimsy) and mount it on this bench.

@J-dub

(and do seek advice from Australian pipe and flute makers, I am sure that somebody might be able to hook you up with something)

I’m getting valuable advice from a coupe of makers here in Brisbane.

Thanks for the advice and information.

I’ll let you know what happens,

Cheers,

DavidG


John.[/quote]

[Islandpiper]

I own one ot these, exactly like this one…http://www.lathes.co.uk/goodell-pratt/img17.gif . Best wishes trying to do ANYTHING with it…and I have many hours on a semi-modern Craftsman wood lathe as experience. I really think that if you want a treadle lathe, you should walk to my shop from wherever you are, packing your gear on your back and try this lathe…don’t drive or fly, just walk or ride a horse likek the guys who used this lathe…a sort of Zen re-inactment of the life style..heh heh heh…to really appreciate it as a working tool…

Ya, sure.


Break down and buy teh best tools you can possible afford and go to work. islandpiper