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Winner Homemade Lathe Build Log

  • Thread starter Thread starter Andre
  • Start date Start date
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Pat of TN said:
This has become quite the endeavor. You ought to be proud of what you've done so far, Andre. What's really neat is how it's made from an assembly, from the dovetail to the cross slide screw.
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Thank you!

I'm using what I have, plate and bar stock and screws. It was actually DonB that informed me of using plates to make it. He was telling me about a magazine article making a homemade lathe, and I'm sorta using it as an inspiration to build mine. Thanks again, Don!




*******************************UPDATE**********************

Today I drilled, counterbored, and tapped for the bearing adjustment. I also am changing from a round single split bearing to a double split, two piece bearing. The single split bearing was too snug on the spindle and kept turning. The double split two piece bearing didn't spin even at 2800 RPM and lets the spindle turn by hand, which the one piece bearing did not. And makes bearing wear adjustment more sensitive.

Drilling for the 1/4-28 bearing adjustment setscrew.

photo (86).JPG

Since I'm drilling perpendicular to the hole i drilled for the round bed, I have to stop when I break through this wall, re center drill the other side, and continue drilling to prevent the drill from walking.
Here you can see what I mean.

photo (87).JPG

Now since this hole is about 1.6" deep, I need to counterbore for the shank of the tap to get to the bottom of the hole. I didn't feel like grinding the shank of this tap down so I just counterbored it. It also saves time assembling it not having to thread a 28 pitch screw down an inch and a half.

NOTE: I'm counterboring with and endmill for a reason, I'm drilling into the back of the blind hole I drilled for the bed, and if I used drill it would've flexed against the back of the hole. Try drilling halfway into the side of a board if you don't believe me. So I'm using an endmill because it cuts on the side, so any flex there will be self correcting as the tool flexes back to it's normal state.

photo (88).JPG

Tapping for the set screws. I'm not using the machine to tap it because in this case it's impossible (with the counterbore) to start the tap crooked.

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Now I assemble it and lap the bearings in on my wood lathe running at 2800 RPM. I still have to finish this tomorrow to wear in the bearings a hair more.
bearing lapping.JPG

That's it for today.

photo (86).JPG photo (87).JPG photo (88).JPG photo (89).JPG bearing lapping.JPG
 
Okay, got a bit done today. Angled the top, turned down the back of the spindle (on the mill, using it like a lathe) to fit a pulley, flycut the sides, failed making a 4 jaw chuck, and made a collet blank, and will bore and taper the spindle for a collet next week.

The pulley was from a Hamilton Beach universal (AC, DC, 50-60HZ, 60-120v) motor. I was considering using it for this project, but it was too fast and loud. And even after I rebuilt and cleaned it, it smelled like burning dust. So I am using a Kenmore sewing machine motor, much quieter, slower, and more powerful. Perfect for the project.

Turning the spindle down to accept the pulley.

[video=youtube;Bqy2CsOW484]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bqy2CsOW484[/video]

It fits. The picture is upside down but you can still see it so I won't bother flipping it.
photo (33).JPG

like a moron I didn't take a picture of milling the 45* angle on the top with a countersink. But here I am flycutting the side. I'm using a round tool with a .25" radius. Nice big swoop, super easy to sharpen and extremely nice finish on aluminum.

photo (34).JPG

Here it is spindle and headstock assembled.

photo (35).JPG

I also started work on making some collets. They are made from the same steel the spindle is made of, a 15* angle on the head and a body diameter of 1.75. I will make a few while i'm at it and bore the spindle with the same angle since I will never have a chance to do it exactly the same again if I move it. That's the way it is with tapers using the scale on my round ram BP.

photo (36).JPG

This lathe will have a maximum capacity of 1/8".


I also did some fitting on the cross slide. I will have to finish it and make the next slide hopefully next week. Then will be a motor mount and box to put it in. If I get that far, cross your fingers!

photo (33).JPG photo (34).JPG photo (35).JPG photo (36).JPG
 
This must be the smallest lathe ever made! It's like the jeweler's lathe's little brother ;). I didn't realize the scale until now. Still very cool though.
 
Your doing an awesome job man. This thing is cool and them tiny collets are bad a%$. Mill aint to bad of a lathe I have found. Nice
 
Andre,I'm still with you man. You are doing a great job on this. I like the way you are enginering things to be made with the tools you have. You could make a 4 jaw chuck for a lathe this small with small bolts sort of like a spider. Keep up the good work. Mark
 
My apologies for missing this thread. I've been pretty busy lately, and I must have breezed right past this a few times. Its looking real good. Thanks for all the pictures and descriptions. This is a great little project. :-)
 
Pat of TN said:
Andre, if you're looking to make a small four-jaw, check this out if you ain't seen it: http://www.deansphotographica.com/machining/projects/minichuck/minichuck1.html

The fellow makes a 1" diameter four-jaw, uses 10-24 set screws. Seems about right for your project size-wise, but you could scale it up if you wanted to.
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That was the one I was following during the build. I just need to find a way to cut the t slot. I have no endmills I'm willing to carve up. I did make one from a dowel pin that had a T head on it, but after I ground it I found out I didn't have a collet for it! It's between 1/8" and 3/16"....

I still have it, and hope to get around to finish it soon.
 
Andre said:
That was the one I was following during the build. I just need to find a way to cut the t slot. I have no endmills I'm willing to carve up. I did make one from a dowel pin that had a T head on it, but after I ground it I found out I didn't have a collet for it! It's between 1/8" and 3/16"....

I still have it, and hope to get around to finish it soon.
Click to expand...

Ah. Well, you may think about buying one, although I really don't know if they make t-slot cutters or woodruff key cutters that small, or that are cheap.

Marco - you're welcome. The guy that runs that site has a lot of neat stuff on it, all kinds of neat little 'chining projects.
 
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