How to build your own lathe

posted Oct 2nd 2009 12:00pm by Mike Szczys
filed under: tool hacks

diy_lathe

[bongodrummer] wanted to use a lathe to make some gifts for his family. Instead of buying one, he decided to make one and recycle some parts in the process. More info after the break.

[bongodrummer] scavenged a motor from a washing machine which is a great choice because these motors are capable of generating plenty of torque. To control the speed of the lathe he developed his own pulse width modulation controller. All of the parts were then mounted to some heavy steel plates and an enclosure was built around the belt-driven assembly. In keeping with his recycling goals, the tool rest was fabricated from tubing reclaimed from a junked bicycle frame.

This lathe is not a CNC machine, but judging from the wooden bowl he turned out we’d say this project is a huge success.

wooden_bowl

Comments [13]

tagged: bowl, green, lathe, pwm, recycle, woodworking

Reader Comments

Washing machine hacks :P

Well done, and a great tool to produce

Posted at 12:51 pm on Oct 2nd, 2009 by supershwa

this is great! one less tool I have to buy! and one more weekend lost over a work bench to a project that will only feed my insomnia.

Posted at 1:31 pm on Oct 2nd, 2009 by polymath

Wooden bowl? I don’t even see where you pack your…oh, right, food.

Posted at 2:18 pm on Oct 2nd, 2009 by Skitchin

The only problem with that build is getting the center *just right*.

Very cool though.

Posted at 2:32 pm on Oct 2nd, 2009 by mars

Could of just bought a used one off craigslist for $100 and save himself tons of time and $.

Nice looking bowl though.

Posted at 2:36 pm on Oct 2nd, 2009 by chris

@chris: Yep, he could have. But he didn’t, and I like the bowl he created more so because he also created the lathe.

Posted at 2:38 pm on Oct 2nd, 2009 by Mike Szczys

chris really this is hackaday,if everyone could just buy something off craislist we wouldnt need this site.secondly how many times have you seen a lathe on craiglist for 100 dollars?I look daily the lowest ive seen is 500 for a pile of rusty junk.

Posted at 3:48 pm on Oct 2nd, 2009 by max_sharpe

I love this. Reminds me of when we needed to make a sprocket because we couldn’t find one in the pitch to match the chain we had, so we attached our piece of steel to a power drill to spin it up and attacked it with a grinder. Worked awesome. Two man job though.

Posted at 4:11 pm on Oct 2nd, 2009 by TheKhakinator

Gingery. Google it.

Posted at 2:04 am on Oct 3rd, 2009 by PUNiSH3R

A clue for chris over there, please?

Posted at 5:40 am on Oct 3rd, 2009 by strider_mt2k

yes chris, get a clue. it is also “could have” or “could’ve”. there is no “could of” :P

Posted at 6:25 pm on Oct 3rd, 2009 by JB

Nice! A Lathe out of a washing machine. I bet that would make a great discussion over at http://latheforum.com with all of the professional and hobby lathers! :P

Posted at 6:53 pm on Oct 19th, 2009 by Brady

in Youngstown Ohio, Star supply had one a weekish ago for 125 and it was pretty nice! Awesome, Makes me consider making one!

Posted at 12:23 am on Nov 7th, 2009 by derek

How to build your own lathe

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