Shop built bowl lathe

Bart Leetch

Member
Messages
3,206
Location
Clinton, Washington on Whidbey Island
I'm still kicking around the idea of a shop built bowl lathe with a VFD & at least a 1 1/2 tp 2 HP 3 phase motor.

Has anyone ever thought of purchasing the spindle from say Grizzly or Jet's 16 x 42 lathe to build their lathe around? The reason I ask this is the then you would have an industry standard shaft the has the proper 1-1/4" x 8 TPI RH MT#2 headstock spindle.

I'd build it to use factory accessories i.e. Banjo, tool rest etc.
 
if you`re going to build a bowl lathe look into having a standard diameter shaft for industrial pillow blocks turned down and threaded......
by watching e-bay you can find 1-3/4" - 2-1/2" shafts with pillow blocks for pennies on the dollar..........turn down the other end to accept a standard sized sheeve and you`re rockin`......i`d bet under 2 bills machine work included and you`d have the heart of a real lathe!
 
I think you'd be better served with a hollow spindle shaft (for a knock out bar if you ever use a Morse taper device) and it should be hardened and instead of pillow blocks you should think about tapered roller bearings. With tapered bearings you wouldn't need a separate thrust bearing. As long as you're kicking ideas around, kick big.
 
The hollow spindle shaft also makes it easier to use a vacuum chuck, too. I wonder if a machine shop could fabricate one for you for less than a Jet or Grizzly shaft would cost. :huh:
 
The hollow spindle shaft also makes it easier to use a vacuum chuck, too. I wonder if a machine shop could fabricate one for you for less than a Jet or Grizzly shaft would cost. :huh:
Probably not, but the right shop could make it much better for not a lot more. The taper would have to be ground, a simple lathe turned finish wouldn't work.
 
A friend in my woodturning club, who is also a machinist, has built his own lathes. One does large platters, and quite well, I might add. They sure won't win any beauty prizes, made up of welded and bolted angle iron and other 'stuff' he picks up at auctions. But, they do fine work and are expertly designed. I'll ask if he will allow some pictures to be taken and posted here.
 
I saw one at the AAW symposium in St. Paul whatever year that was. It was made from two 289 Ford motors. The block was the base, the heads made up the ways and that is about all I remember. I wish I had pictures.
 
if you`re going to build a bowl lathe look into having a standard diameter shaft for industrial pillow blocks turned down and threaded......

Ditto what Tod said. Cheapest way is going to be to find as much existing as you can. Machine shop work is very slow and very expensive. And most don't want to fool with people walking off the street. If you find someone with a hobby shop in his basement then you might compete. But not in for profit shop.

I wonder if a machine shop could fabricate one for you for less than a Jet or Grizzly shaft would cost. :huh:

Not unless you know someone! I have spent literally millions of dollars with machine shops in my previous career. I don't know what the going rates are now but I would bet at least $100 an hour and probably more like $125 to $150. And cutting metal is slow. If you can buy one mass produced don't even waste your time asking a machine shop. One of kind is going to be considerably more than one mass produced.
 
Pillow blocks

I went to a local machine shop with ideas of making modifications to my lathe. According to them there is no need for thrust bearings with pillow blocks, cuz the pressure created by the tool will never produce any detrimental lateral pressure on the bearings. I agree that a standard diameter shaft is in order, preferably in the 2" diameter range. It shouldn't cost too much to have an end threaded, but the reaming of the morse taper might be a different story. It depends if the shop has the proper tooling on hand.

Anywho, I think 2 hp is going to be under powered. You didn't mention the diameter of bowl you want to turn, but last week I turned a 22" diameter hard maple bowl using a 2 hp motor farm duty motor driven lathe. It took about 5 hrs just to rough it out! If I had a 3hp motor I could have turned up the rpms a little and gotten the job done faster. As it is, I could easily slow the motor when cutting at the rim on such a large piece, and it didn't have the torque to allow heavy roughing cuts. With a 3 hp I probably could have cut that time down to 4 hours no problem.

Hutch

P.S. A mass produced shaft may not be hefty enough for serious bowl turning.
 
If I recall correctly (I'll check and correct as necessary), in the September issue of Wood Turning Magazine (UK) there was an article on a certain turner. His main lathe is home made and will hold up to 300lbs of blank (700lbs of lead ballast). He uses a transmission from a riding lawn mower for his gear box. Main shaft and pillow blocks I believe were around 2 1/2" in diameter and around 2 1/2- 3 feet in length. Apparently custom made face plate(s) also.

Here are a couple of pictures of a home built lathe I had come across on the web about a year ago. A donor head stock from another lathe provided the workings. Dang if I can't find the web site. I know I have it saved somewhere!


2008-10-18_022145_99926160-01_md.jpg
2008-10-18_022200_99926160-02_md.jpg
 
The most cost effective way IMO would be to use a reclaimed headstock as a base and build your lathe around. A old PM90 or something along those lines would be a good starting point. Old lathes are continuously showing up at auctions and the bay as parts machines and go cheep.

Custom machine work on the other hand is very expensive. Around this area it runs about $100-$150 an hour. A spindle turned to accept a bearing fit with a threaded end and through bored with a MT2 or 3 internal taper would be somewhere around 4 hours of work I'd guesstimate. $400-$600 min for just a spindle. Add bearings and steel for the headstock and machine work to accept the bearings and you're WAY over the cost of a reclaimed headstock.

Mike
 
Last edited:
Now i aint no spinner

but that looks like something i could or would have to go back and look at..that makes alot of snse tome and also somethngthat stu probally alread has done or figured out that it wasnt worthy... to you turners are ther any draw backs on that one? cuz i could build that...
 
I'm still kicking around the idea of a shop built bowl lathe with a VFD & at least a 1 1/2 tp 2 HP 3 phase motor.

Has anyone ever thought of purchasing the spindle from say Grizzly or Jet's 16 x 42 lathe to build their lathe around? The reason I ask this is the then you would have an industry standard shaft the has the proper 1-1/4" x 8 TPI RH MT#2 headstock spindle.

I'd build it to use factory accessories i.e. Banjo, tool rest etc.

Bart,

The absolute cheapest way to do this:

Get yourself this lathe: http://grizzly.com/products/Wood-Lathe-With-Digital-Readout/G0462

$450. Pick it up at bellingham, and save the shipping.

Now, get yourself a VFD: $125

Now, get yourself a 3-phase motor. I think I found one for $89. It has to be, I think it's called, a c-mount.

I wanted to keep my reeves drive, which is why I ran into a roadblock. But it you scrapped the reeves drive, and just used a shaft and standard pulleys, you'd be in business for 7 bills, and all the standard accessories would fit.

Since the head swivels, you wouldn't be limited by the 16" swing. You'd have to mock up a toolrest, but that's not hard.

The pillow blocks idea is a good one. I thought of doing that, with just a shaft so it would accept some kind of face plate. I'd really use that set up for roughing the big blank at a slower speed than my griz would turn at. But once I got it roughed out, I could mount it on the griz for finish turning, as that can be done at 500...

Thanks,

Bill
 
Well lets see here now I have a 3 HP 3 phase motor that came with my Unisaw if it checks out & runs ok then all I need is a VFD & some metal a shaft & bearings I already have a welder & know how to use it.

So Bill how much do you think it would cost to build a bowl lathe now?
 
Bart,

This is why I wanted a welder for christmas. Didn't get it, so I have no idea... ;)

If I had, I would have gone with the pillow blocks idea. That plan in fine woodworking is a good one, though...

Thanks,

Bill
 
Bart, there's more to it than just grabbing some bearings and metal rod. Bearings need tight tolerances to run true. A press fit for bearings are generally between .0003 and .0005. You're not going to find those tolerances at the metal rack of your local borg. You might get away with some pillow blocks and a piece of rod for a small spindle lathe, but a large chunk of out of balance wood is going to raise havoc with a sloppy bearing fit and cause you nothing but grief. That puts you right back to machining issue and cost.

Look at the article on the shop built lathe Greg showed. The builder, who obviously has a bit of fabrication knowledge, used a reclaimed Rockwell headstock. There's a reason for that, it's just not cost effective to try and make your own unless you have the proper machines to do the machining on hand.

Your 3hp, 3ph unisaw motor would have plenty of power, but it has a proprietary mounting system. You'll have to engineer a mounting system for it, which is ok, but consider this. If the motor goes bad in the future then you'll either have to find another uni motor or rework the existing mount. Used 3ph motors are cheap, check junk yards and scrap dealers in your area. I paid $20 for a 2hp 3ph motor new in the box. They go cheap, basically for scrap prices because there's no market for used 3ph motors.

A 2-3hp VFD will run you around $145-$185 for a FM50. You can scrounge a cheaper one, but it's buyer beware... Controls can run you anywhere from a few bucks for cheap radio shack toggle switches to stupid prices for off the shelf commercial solutions.

Steel can be had fairly cheap from scrap dealers and junk yards. You'd be amazed what industry throws away.

I acquired and referbed a Rockwell/Delta 1460 with a 2hp, 3ph motor and VFD for right at $200. I had some of the parts on hand like the tubing for the base and an old base, wire, wood for the box and several of the switches which kept the cost down. I think you could reasonably scrounge all the parts from scratch for a lathe like the one in Greg's post for around $350 to $500 (with a new VFD) with some careful scrounging.

Mike

1460a.jpg
 
Last edited:
Top