An 18th.C. treadle lathe I made

[george wilson]

The lathe WAS NOT for myself. Please re read the initial posting. I'm not into using treadle lathes!!

 

[churchjw]

Everything on it makes since except where do you mount the DRO? :headscratch:


No seriously that is supper cool. Would love to see some close up shots of the parts. You should write up the process of making it. Bet it took some cool set ups to make the fly wheel and get the groves right. I have seen lathes like this (in pictures) but it never dawned on me that the pulleys are to handle tension in the drive not speed. Learned something new. Beautiful work :thumbzup:

Jeff

 

[sic semper tyrannis]

Must have been like rocket science crossed with magic back in the 1700's...

Very cool!!

 

[george wilson]

Actually,long before this primitive lathe,rose engines of great complexity were already in use. They could trim the moldings on complex shaped silver trays to final shape. They can be seen in pictures from period encyclopedias.

 

[llarson]

Thanks for the show, a great piece of craftsmanship. I've seen one other homemade treadle lathe [in a museum], doesn't compare to yours. Old technology is interesting in what those people could do with what seems to be so primitive to us.

 

[george wilson]

Years ago,in a flea market,I saw a neat treadle lathe that had the headstock and tailstock from a heavy metal turning lathe. The bed was wood,2 pieces of 4" X 12" timber,I think. About 6 feet long. The flywheel was a heavy,spoked wheel off of some farm implement,about 2' in diameter. That lathe looked like you could do some pretty heavy work on it with the heavy implement wheel for inertia.

 

[kwoodhands]

I posted a picture of this in the "flux" thread. But it is sort of hidden there,so I'm putting it out where it can be seen. I don't understand this new picture posting method here. When I push the "upload" button,it doesn't change color,or seem to respond to being pushed. I was only able to get one picture to post before. I'll try again here.

P.S.: O.K.,better luck this time.

This is really a metal lathe copied from an original in the Science Museum in London. It was made for the Gunsmith's Shop in Colonial Williamsburg while I was toolmaker there. When that shop moved to the Geddy Foundry site,they already had a lathe there,and no space for this one. So,it is now in the Cabinet Shop.

The flywheel is 24" in Dia.,and 5" thick. That gives it enough oomph to take cuts from metal (small parts!) The blacksmith's shop made rough forgings,and I finished them,turning threads on the spindle,threading the various parts,etc.

The stepped pulleys are ONLY to tighten the ever stretching belt,not to change speeds. You treadle faster to do that.

The front end of the spindle is tapered,and runs through a tapered hole in a 1/2" plate of tool steel. That must be kept lubed. There is no spindle hole. The rear end of the spindle has a hardened point on it,running against an adjustment bolt.

I actually made several attachments for this lathe,like a cat head chuck,face plate,pitch chuck,and forked center. Those stayed with the other lathe. It had the same 1" x8 thd. nose.

There is a picture of the cat head chuck. It is a dangerous item!! Those bolts center up the work by eye,but stick out like cat's whiskers to bark your knuckles pretty badly! The cat head chuck is the early equivalent of a 4 jaw chuck. They had no 3 jaw. Their metal was rolled so crudely,it was not practical to put it into a 3 jaw self centering chuck anyway.

There is an ivory handled folding knife seen there,too. Nothing to do with the lathe. Just an early type knife I made for a customer. About 4"long,closed. Half ram nut to tighten the blade open or closed. Too bad this picture won't enlarge.

The pitch chuck is a cast iron bowl filled with pitch. It screws onto the spindle. You can heat it up and press really odd shaped parts into it. Then,put it onto the lathe,and nudge the part till it runs true. Then,when the pitch cools,it holds well enough to allow careful turning on whatever part you made to run true. Mostly for things like candle stick bases. A pretty handy thing,actually. It can hold things you can't hold any other way.

The lathe is about 12" swing,24" between centers,IF I recall correctly. Been quite a few years.

IF YOU ENJOY THESE PICTURES,please comment. When I see 215 views,and 2 replies,I think I may be wasting my time posting. Thank you.


George,that's one heck of a lathe. I have built a lathe myself but just a wood treadle lathe. After about ten years I converted it to electric. Got old and pushing down on the treadle got difficult.I built mine from laminated yellow pine with purple heart on the rails.The machined parts,spindles etc were from Grizzly replacement parts.
My wife and I have been to Williamsburg many times,probably saw that lathe in the gunsmiths shop,don't recall seeing it in the cabinetmakers shop. I do recall the wood lathe that was turned by the large wheel.
The pitch chuck is a new one to me, good idea,even now for some difficult things to hold.
Keep posting,mike

 

[Andre]

Always nice to see one of your projects as always, George. Thanks for sharing.

You mentioned being able to turn metals on this lathe. What shape of tools would've been used? Would mild steels be practical to turn or would small turning jobs be reserved for brass and bronze alloys?

 

[T Bredehoft]

George, many times in the 25 years I was a T & D maker I had thoughts that I had the best job in the world, but I believe I would have traded it for yours. I had the opportunity to "fix this so it works," but never had "build a machine to do this." You've really had the "Wonderful Life."

 

[pebbleworm]

Neat machine! Lathes have been around since the Bronze Age- At this link scroll down down to see some turned earspools/ear rings:
http://www.dartmoor.gov.uk/lookingafter/laf-culturalheritage/whitehorse-hill-burial
In the 18th Century a graver would have been used freehand, but Maudsleys' invention of the slide rest made much more accurate work possible. I have really enjoyed George Eschol Sellers "Early Engineering Reminiscences" for how things were done in 1790's Philadelphia machine shops. There is a chapter about building one of the first screw cutting lathes. Surprisingly, the book is available dirt cheap from Amazon and Bookfinder.