When someone says ‘wood lathe’ the average person would think of a lathe used for turning pieces of wood into ornate shapes. But what if that lathe was also made of wood. Would that be a wood wood lathe? Instead of wondering the answer to that very unimportant question, young 15 year-old [laffinm] decided to actually build a wood wood lathe from plans he found in a magazine.
As you would expect, a 15 year-old’s budget is certainly not going to be very large. [laffinm] started by gathering plywood scraps left over at construction sites. The lathe bed, head stock, tail stock, tool rest and motor mount are all made from 3/4″ plywood. The tool rest and tail stock have knobs that allow loosening of each part so that they can be moved to any location on the bed.
Out back, [laffinm] made his own live center for the tail stock out of a chuck and bearing assembly that he pulled from an old drill. The tail stock supports were drilled out to fit the bearings which were epoxied in place. The live center and tail stock combination supports the right side of the work piece that is being turned on the lathe.
In the end the lathe came out pretty darn well. We here at Hackaday love projects that make use of recycled parts and this project sure does that as most of the parts were scavenged or obtained for free with the only exceptions a v-belt and some nuts and bolts. If you’d like to see the build process in detail, [laffinm] has a very complete Instructable with 3 build videos, the first of which you can find after the break.
usually i get paid to watch people work and then tell them they are doing a good job but i like you and ill give you this one for free…good work
This doesn’t feel terribly sturdy or safe for any kind of metal machining.
It’s not supposed to.
I would be a bit hesitant to use it with wood.
But not everybody shares that hesitancy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzCZn32TyfY
Wow, a 7-8.5″ circular saw blade driven by an angle grinder running 2-3 times faster than the blade is rated for, turning down a rough log! That’s hardcore. I’d like to look this guy right in the (remaining) eye and shake his hand (or stump), assuming he’s still alive. :)
Wood lathe.. Wooden wood lathe, not wooden metal lathe..
Very nice. This is based on the plans in ShopNotes issue #73. I’ve made one myself. It’s a nice little mini-lathe for turning wood. But unless you scrounge the parts, like the builder here did, you’ll end up spending more money than a garage sale find will net you (heavier, metal wood turning lathe).
I’ve got to find out what construction sites this kid is hanging around. That was some good quality plywood.
For over a century plywood plys have been getting thinner and hence more in count per 3/4 inch sheet. They seem to be able to jam more crap into these thinner plys and have less voids, so that’s progress. I have seen stuff like that in packing from China. It’s not Baltic plywood.
Also, please consider installing a belt guard.
Nice build but get some training in how to use a woodturning lathe before trying it in anger. And forget goggles – use a full face shield.
Nearly every face shield out there is designed to be used with goggles underneath.
+1 For a damn good reason. I’ve had all kinds of crap fly up under my face shield. Defense in depth.
If it’s made to make more parts for lathes, it becomes a wood wood lathe lathe.
I am impressed by the attention to safety and technique. Also the way he uses the bench saw to mill away a wide slot in the wood is interesting. Is that a widely used method?
It’s very common to cut like this if you don’t have a dado stack for your table saw.
Nice lathe! Suggestions: larger handles on all the fixtures. Put the switch near the front. Get carton pipes about 30cm in diameter and fill it with concrete, insert bolts into the wet concrete and bolt the lathe to it. They make the best non vibrating lathe stands.
Wooden woodturning lathe, now let that be the end of it.
All good until he just glued and screwed the headstock onto the base without aligning it along the bed in any way first.
Thank you so very much for linking directly to the All Steps view!