Lathe Project

I. Bed and ways (done) II. Carriage (incomplete) III. Leadscrew (incomplete) IV. ... A. Motor 2004/04/10 Small bit of work on the ways for the carriage cross slide. 2004/04/03 Motor test. 2004/03/19 Built a simple toolpost. 2004/02/29 More work on the carriage. 2004/02/28 Finished the bed and ways and made a little more progress on the carriage. 2004/02/25 Found a motor. 2004/02/23 Started scraping the sides of the ways. 2004/02/20 More work on the leadscrew. 2004/02/15 Started on the bearings for the leadscrew. 2004/02/11 Updated lathe introduction, attached ways to bed, and cast a few more parts for the carriage.

This is what got me started on the metalworking and casting track. Wouldn't it be great to be able to say "Yes! I made that from scratch with my own two hands." I got Dave Gingery's "Build a Complete Metalworking Shop From Scrap" series from Powell's Books and thus began the journey...

However, I'm not going to follow the directions exactly. My small workspace and limited tool selection (which is kind of dependent on the space...) necessitate a few changes. The general plan is to follow an iterative approach -- I'll build something functional but not pretty or perfect. Then I'll come back and refine some of the pieces as I gain knowledge and tools. I suspect I'll eventually end up rebuilding the whole thing.

A few of the planned transgressions include:

• The bed won't be cast aluminum because of the limited volume of aluminum I am able to melt at a single time. I'll use some square steel tubing instead.
• For some reason I can't seem to find a nice piece of cold rolled steel for the ways. I am sure they exist in Japan, I just don't know where to find them. So for the time being I'll compromise will a couple of flat pieces of steel (I don't know what kind though).
• Also because of my limited foundry, the headstock will be cast as several pieces and bolted together. I haven't quite worked out all of the details yet.
• I'll skip the swiveling compound slide and lantern type tool holder and just put a block type tool holder on the cross slide. I'll come back to this later once I have a lathe-like machine up and running.
• Finally, the general target is approximately 80% the size of Gingery's design.

This will be a nice bootstrapping project because my tools are very limited. My electric tools consist of a hand drill, a cheap benchtop drill press, a Black and Decker Mouse sander, and a multi-speed Dremel. I also have a bunch of files, a hacksaw, and some other common hand tools. Two noteworthy hand tools are an aluminum file and a machinist's scraper. Once I have a lathe, I'll be able to build other tools...

Questions? Comments?