I wish to build a lathe

Jan 11, 2007 7 Replies
B

I have done a lot of searching for home-built lathe plans on the web, but haven't found that much. I'd like to build one myself for several reasons, mainly because it would be fun, and I'm cheap. I know, I know, I'll probably wind up spending more making something halfway decent than just ponying up for a real lathe, but I'd like to give it a go anyway.



Two things are holding me up from beginning: 1) a set of plans to at least begin with, and 2) the source for the headstock and tailstock spindles. I want MT #2, of course, because it seems that most of the lathes use those. I just can't seem to find them on the web. I know they must be there, I just don't seem to have the correct terminology for what I want.



Has anyone out there built their own lathe and is willing to give me some advice and warnings?



Thanks in advance.



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N

The answer is easy: Gingery!

If that size fits your needs. Just google for "Gingery lathe plan" and you will find a lot of comments.

Nick

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F

=========== see

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there are a number of books with lathe features you may want to incorporate. As for a catalog.

google on here are three places to start

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many, many more.

Unka' George [George McDuffee] ............................... On Theory: Delight at having understood a very abstract and obscure system leads most people to believe in the truth of what it demonstrates.

G. C. Lichtenberg (1742-99), German physicist, philosopher. Aphorisms "Notebook J," aph. 77 (written 1765-99; tr. by R. J. Hollingdale, 1990).

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R

Check Lindsay's books for the Gingery lathe.

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C

There's also a yahoo group and a brief page (haven't looked in awhile) about what's called a multimachine, made from engine blocks and other discarded automotive parts.

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S

Although it depends on where you are, you might find a nice used machine very cheap and be able to spend more time on the Victor or other projects. EG, San Diego has a lot of inexpensive surplus machines due to a collapsed defense and aircraft industry.

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R

If you are anywhere near N texas I'll fix you up with a cheap small lathe, and you provide about 20% to complete it.

Or, I think I have at least 6 old magazine articles in PDF with titles like "Build your own bench lathe from scrap". Send me an email and I'll send those to you.

Rex B

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