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Brian's Lathe Build

Brian Rutter

Apprentice Member
Joined
Oct 12, 2020
Posts
42
Location
North Yorkshire
First Name
Brian
Dear All,

The first memory I have of my father is 65 years ago and I was 5 years old when I helped him make his shed. He bought an old watchman's cabin from the iron works where he worked, the story goes that he paid £0-3s-6d for it, and it was very old then.

This story occurred long before the working man had cars or much money, so my Dad hired a two wheeled cart sat me on the top and set off. He loaded all the panels of the shed onto the cart, tied them down, sat me on the top and pushed the cart the 3 miles back to our home.

I do not know why but I have vivid memories of sitting on the roof of the newly erected shed and passing dad felting screws one by one which he hammered home. I can also remember being angry because he would not let me use the hammer.

During the course of its life the shed has been, a car workshop, a woodwork shop, a brewery, a photographic dark room, a distillery and an electronics workshop to name but a few. To my knowledge it has had 3 roofs and 2 sets of walls and been refelted numerous time but it is still Dad's shed.

Dad died many years ago and I have been keeping an eye on Mum who is now 97 years young, blind and in need of a lot of care.

Recently I have moved back to the old family house to look after Mum, My caring duties leave a fair bit of free time and once more I have access to Dad's shed. I have been looking for another project and have settled on making a few pens, so I am now fitting Dad's shed out for the purpose.

I do not have a large budget and going and buying a lathe is no fun whatsoever, I want the entertainment of building a lathe and tools.

I hope to document my build here, I am sure I will make mistakes - if you see any please shout and let me know, and if you have any advise I will appreciate hearing it, I might not take it, particularly if it involves spending money.

It will take me a few days to get organised with pictures and the like, I hope someone gets some ideas, I think I will enjoy it I hope you will.
 

Penpal

Grand Master
Joined
May 26, 2013
Posts
25,340
Location
Canberra AUSTRALIA
First Name
Peter
Pillow block bearings ,a suitable main shaft,a second hand 1/2 hp motor,some means of holding on or in the shaft ie a suggested no 2 morse taper. Timber for a base the shaft height from the floor the crook of your elbow. A three step pulley on the motor shaft and the main shaft.

Peter.
 

Brian Rutter

Apprentice Member
Joined
Oct 12, 2020
Posts
42
Location
North Yorkshire
First Name
Brian
Peter,

Thanks for the advice.

Have you seen how much pillow blocks cost? Currently I am planning to mount my bearings in 10mm plate with cheek plates to hold them in position, costs nothing only time, and if that is not a success then that is the time to consider a flanged pillow block. Coincidentally my bearings are scheduled to arrive today £2.00 each or buy 3 and get one free.

I have just ordered a 200w DC permant magnet motor. I have been looking at them for a few weeks on ebay and they are usually in the £45.00 range. One popped up yesterday, as "last one offer" for "£20.00 so I went for it. I intend to install the motor so that it can easily be replaced should I need a stronger one. I am happy to invest the £20.00 to prove the concept of this project, I have other plans where I will be able to reuse it. Motor arrives on Saturday.

I am only intending using a 50mm chuck, the one I have been looking at has a M12x1 thread. I was thinking simple 12mm bar with a thread at both ends, one for the chuck one to clamp the pulley in postion. The motor has a D shaft.

Question Any preference for belt types? Timing? / Vee? / Round?

Yipee:banana::banana: I got something right. I spent a lot of time setting the hieght - I have a dodgy back - and if I bend over for any length of time I cannot stand up. The lathe will be bench mounted and have made some feet that bring it up to the hieght you mention.

I will be adding a variable speed controller which I believe make the gears redundant.

Everything is basically proof of concept at the moment, but I am pleased with the progress so far. Sorry for the lack of pictures I am currently moving my PC from my house to Mum's.

Once again thanks for the response it is much appreciated.:thumbs::thumbs:
 

Penpal

Grand Master
Joined
May 26, 2013
Posts
25,340
Location
Canberra AUSTRALIA
First Name
Peter
So sorry mate I have a complete headstock , separate tailstock from a class metal lathe,motors etc I would have given you in my downsizing pillow bearings about six etc ,ps I am a hoarder of pen lathe stuff for the last forty years,a former sparky I built up a collection of motors etc. Never mind I have a home I think for them.The best thing to do is join a Wood Turning group ,wonderful experience made some sterling friends over the years.Just gave a mate most of 1000 pen blanks all cut. For a few of the early years my wife remarked how as I bought broken,old restored so much gear she thought I would miss all that and the thrill of the chase. I had an ancient band saw with C Frame and 3 foot wheels,a band saw 1/2 ton from a Butchers shop and so on.In some ways you brought back the nostalga of those early years from age 50,s to my present 86 yrs.Have fun mate.

Peter.
 

Curly

Graduate Member
Joined
Nov 3, 2019
Posts
420
Location
RM of Aberdeen, Saskatchewan, Canada
First Name
Peter
I would select a belt/pulley type based on what you can most easily find. In order of power transmission I believe round, "V", then timing with round being the weakest. Probably why they aren't seen on much anymore.

While the M12x1 size would be considered too small for most lathes, it is going to be enough to make pens and other little goodies with. It does limit you as far as putting standard wood chucks and accessories on it but your next lathe can be bigger. ;)

What are you planning to make the lathe bed from?

Pete
 

Brian Rutter

Apprentice Member
Joined
Oct 12, 2020
Posts
42
Location
North Yorkshire
First Name
Brian
OK - some pictures of the progress to date to let you know where I am going.

When you realise where I am going then please let me know, I get lost regularly.:wink:

Overall 2.jpg

Overall 1.jpg

Headstock 1.jpg

Tailstock 1.jpg
 

Brian Rutter

Apprentice Member
Joined
Oct 12, 2020
Posts
42
Location
North Yorkshire
First Name
Brian
I would select a belt/pulley type based on what you can most easily find. In order of power transmission I believe round, "V", then timing with round being the weakest. Probably why they aren't seen on much anymore.

While the M12x1 size would be considered too small for most lathes, it is going to be enough to make pens and other little goodies with. It does limit you as far as putting standard wood chucks and accessories on it but your next lathe can be bigger. ;)

What are you planning to make the lathe bed from?

Pete

Pete,

Thanks for the reply,

I am severly limited for space, and I am determined not to end up with a lathe that is bigger than I need.

You can see from the pictures what I am making the bed from.

Two rails of 40 x 40 Aluminium Extrusion. There are many variations of this profile with manufacturers all having their own and alternative "Lightweight" "Economy" versions.

E bay is full of them and they concentrate on cost. Some of them are very thin and I would not like to trust them.

I ended up with some seriously chunky stuff, direct from an english company - KJN Automation Ltd. The rails that you see in the pictures Cost £20.00 + Post + Vat. (Post was £19.00:sob:)

I am very pleased with the result.
 

Brian Rutter

Apprentice Member
Joined
Oct 12, 2020
Posts
42
Location
North Yorkshire
First Name
Brian
So sorry mate I have a complete headstock , separate tailstock from a class metal lathe,motors etc I would have given you in my downsizing pillow bearings about six etc ,ps I am a hoarder of pen lathe stuff for the last forty years,a former sparky I built up a collection of motors etc. Never mind I have a home I think for them.The best thing to do is join a Wood Turning group ,wonderful experience made some sterling friends over the years.Just gave a mate most of 1000 pen blanks all cut. For a few of the early years my wife remarked how as I bought broken,old restored so much gear she thought I would miss all that and the thrill of the chase. I had an ancient band saw with C Frame and 3 foot wheels,a band saw 1/2 ton from a Butchers shop and so on.In some ways you brought back the nostalga of those early years from age 50,s to my present 86 yrs.Have fun mate.

Peter.

Peter,

My shed, is about 3meters square and is allready full with esential stuff and things that may come in useful one day.

Thanks for thinking of me:thumbs:
 

Brian Rutter

Apprentice Member
Joined
Oct 12, 2020
Posts
42
Location
North Yorkshire
First Name
Brian
You should consider a revolving centre in your tailstock quill.:thumbs:

Bill, Thanks for the kind words.

At the start of the build I had to decide what I could make with the equipment available at the time, the tailstock seemed a bit out of reach for me so I went for the chepest one available to get me started.

The Tailstock came with the chuck you see already fitted, and a couple of live centers to fit into the chuck. I cannot see how the chuck is fastened into the quill, I have it in mind to make a more substantial arrangement in time, but currently too many esential items on the to do list,:thumbs:

Today my motor and 4 bearings arrived.:banana::banana:
 

Pierre

Graduate Member
Joined
Sep 2, 2015
Posts
996
Location
Southern Central France
First Name
Pierre
Hi Brian if the tailstock counterpoint doesn't revolve then you will get some severe burn marks in your pieces, all of the lathes that I know use morse tapers to hold both drive and counter points, and the no 2 morse taper seem to be the most common although looking at the apparent size of your setup perhaps a no 1 MT would be more suitable. dont forget to incorporate a system to be able to release the morse tapers, a knock out bar is most common but thread protectors can be used. But as a word of caution I started with a 1 mt lathe from Record (a CL1) and outgrew it in 2 years, so you may want to consider future proofing as well.
 

Brian Rutter

Apprentice Member
Joined
Oct 12, 2020
Posts
42
Location
North Yorkshire
First Name
Brian
Pierre,

Thanks for the heads up.

I think we are both saying the same thing but with different terminology. You will have to forgive me, I am trying to dredge up memories from 55 years ago and I am probably getting it wrong:thinks:

I refered to a live center in the tailstock, which I thought indicated a rotating center as opposed to a dead center which would give the burning effect that you describe.

I don't think that I have ever heard of point / counterpoint used in this context, but now I know.:thumbs:

The tailstock that I bought, cost the grand sum of £19.00, and was complete with chuck bracketry and a couple of rotating counterpoints. Yes they are tiny and will probably be retired in the future.

Here is a picture of my live center your rotating counterpoint.

Live Center.jpg
 

Brian Rutter

Apprentice Member
Joined
Oct 12, 2020
Posts
42
Location
North Yorkshire
First Name
Brian
Thanks, I will keep my fingers crossed.:praying:

Today I locked down the tailstock.



I checked the vertical alignment by fully extending/retracting the counterpoint and checking the height against a center pop where I want to install the bearing on the inboard support. I had some shims (old spark plug feeler guages) ready to make any adjustments but luck would have it, it did not need it.

Align1.jpg

Align2.jpg

Then moved the tailstock with the hieght fixed to the outboard support and marked the point.

Align3.jpg

I think that will give me three points in a straight line parallel to the lathe bed.

Align4.jpg
 

21William

Fellow
Joined
Jan 21, 2016
Posts
1,618
Location
Dorset
First Name
William
Coming along nicely. Can I just say though if you want to fix two parts together accurately just using bolts isn’t really the way to do it. The bolts hold the parts together but something like dowel pins are used to keep them in accurate alignment. Another way is to use studs with an unthreaded section in both parts.
 

Brian Rutter

Apprentice Member
Joined
Oct 12, 2020
Posts
42
Location
North Yorkshire
First Name
Brian
Coming along nicely. Can I just say though if you want to fix two parts together accurately just using bolts isn’t really the way to do it. The bolts hold the parts together but something like dowel pins are used to keep them in accurate alignment. Another way is to use studs with an unthreaded section in both parts.

William,

Of course you can say and I do appreciate it.

The bolts used so far are generally roofing bolts from Wilko's, one of the plastic bags you buy for £2.70 and you can stuff in as many "Free" bolts as you can.

I have always considered these bolts trial fixings only and intend to put some serious bolts in at the final fit up. The dowel pins seem a great idea, I will think about how to do it. Currently I do not possess a drill that is acurate enough. I keep saying that I will service my pillar drill, perhaps this will give me the incentive to sort out the wobbles in that.

:thinks:
 

Brian Rutter

Apprentice Member
Joined
Oct 12, 2020
Posts
42
Location
North Yorkshire
First Name
Brian
It's not as bad as I thought.

When I am using bolts I do not use a clearance size drill, if I am using M6 bolts I use a 6mm drill, the eccentricity of the pillar drill makes the hole a nice size for the bolt.

I have some 6 mm bar that I can use for the dowel pins and a 5.5mm drill gives a nice snug fit that you have to tap in with a hammer:thumbs:
 
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