A crazy thought and potential project.

iron man said:
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It does not look like this now it has been polished and painted i just have to put mine back together I dont know enough about sonic welding this one was all old school welding and then heated annealed and straighten, I then took it over to our surface grinder and started in after that the bed and some of the other handles and knobs I made where sent to the chrome shop thats back when things where cheap. Ray
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Well sonic welding is a friction weld with no large motion. I used it when I was in a sensor factory, and when I did some research it was said to be able to weld metal. So, it might be a bit of a stretch to do, but got to remember that I'm kinda crazy about trying new and different stuff.
 
While at it, I am looking around in my area for scrap yards for material, and other things for parts and whatnot. So with that, is finding a piece of another lathe and building around it a good idea, or is it too much work and just use it for parts.
 
Ok, I was wondering how hard it would be to weld up plates into a shape? I've seen it on a youtube video, but thinking of doing this on a full size engine lathe might be impractical. Also I am right now drawing and hopefully going to have what shape I want my lathe to be with some dimentions. If I can get my student version of solid works to work again, I can probably give you guys a full 3d render of general shape to work off of, and at the same time use it to make the parts I would need.

Also I was wondering if it would be a bad idea to make the ways of the bed in sections instead of one long piece in order to be able to machine them in smaller parts, and to replace the worn sections without having to rescrape the whole bed length?
 
Squatchhhammer said:
While at it, I am looking around in my area for scrap yards for material, and other things for parts and whatnot. So with that, is finding a piece of another lathe and building around it a good idea, or is it too much work and just use it for parts.
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That could save you some time, assuming the pieces are in good shape. Depending on how much you find though, it becomes more of a restoration exercise than a build exercise
 
Squatchhhammer said:
I wish I had a machinists handbook ( I know its the machinery handbook but I only heard of it in machining) to look up the information I will need.
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http://www.varjepc.com/admin/upload/handbooks/Machinerys Handbook.pdf The 26th edition Machinery Handbook 2,638 page .pdf.

http://www.evenfallstudios.com/wood...k_for_machine_shop_and_drafting_room_1914.pdf This is the GoogleBook digitized 1914 edition!

Both free.

http://www.industrialpress.com/ext/StaticPages/Handbook/MH29Demo/MH29/Handbook.pdf The latest edition, just purchase the part you need [if you know what part that is from the chapter divisions] Have a look, anyway!
 
Squatch, may I suggest a different approach?
Start with a very basic ("primitive") wood lathe, even better if foot powered.
It don't requires great precision: half millimeters are enough.
With such a lathe you can turn plastic instead of wood, so you don't have to be concerned by the grain and all the other issues driving crazy the woodworkers.
Then, following all the technology improvements, transform it into a "contemporary" metal lathe.
IMHO this is the best way to learn not just how a lathe works, but also why it is made in a certain way.
Don't forget to examine even the "dead branches" of technology: sometimes good ideas die just because nobody is able to spread them enough, some others simply disappear because they don't work as planned.
For example, why lathes have just a bed and don't have a "ceiling"? A sort of gantry over the bed would increase overall rigidity. And why lathes are horizontal? In a vertical lathe the weight of the piece would be totally supported by the tailstock, reducing the load on the headstock bearings.
A lathe is not just a motor with a spindle, but rather a cauldron full of neat ideas!
 
You can turn metal on a such a lathe. Indeed, it's very similar to some simple watchmakers lathes (sometimes using a treadle, sometimes using a bow). There is an episode of the PBS series "The Woodwrights Shop" where the host builds a simple treadle lathe.
 
Marco Bernardini said:
Squatch, may I suggest a different approach?
Start with a very basic ("primitive") wood lathe, even better if foot powered.
It don't requires great precision: half millimeters are enough.
With such a lathe you can turn plastic instead of wood, so you don't have to be concerned by the grain and all the other issues driving crazy the woodworkers.
Then, following all the technology improvements, transform it into a "contemporary" metal lathe.
IMHO this is the best way to learn not just how a lathe works, but also why it is made in a certain way.
Don't forget to examine even the "dead branches" of technology: sometimes good ideas die just because nobody is able to spread them enough, some others simply disappear because they don't work as planned.
For example, why lathes have just a bed and don't have a "ceiling"? A sort of gantry over the bed would increase overall rigidity. And why lathes are horizontal? In a vertical lathe the weight of the piece would be totally supported by the tailstock, reducing the load on the headstock bearings.
A lathe is not just a motor with a spindle, but rather a cauldron full of neat ideas!
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Thanks for the thought. I wish I could do all that, but the problem will be both space and money. In the end, I figured with the resources in the near foreseeable future, ie. not winning a huge lotto or another type of windfall, I wont be able to do all that. That's why a big lathe first with the features that I know and want right away and build from there.

Also, THANK YOU VERY MUCH JAGWINN!!!!!!
 
Hi, I'm new here this is my second post. I have been reading threw this thread since it is about building a lathe. I am in the process of building one myself. I figured I would put this link up to a youtube video where some guy made a pretty cool looking lathe. Not sure if I'm reviving a dead horse with this video but this lathe is pretty awesome for homemade. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXAzJE9Zs8s
 
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