Crazy Long Term Lathe Project

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Well I am about to embark on a rather strange and unusual lathe project. I think I am going to build my own lathe. While that is nothing new I guess, the way I am going to do just might be.

I am not a wood turner, but I use an engine lathe a lot. Since an engine lathe is too pricey for me, and my current lathe is too small, I thought i would make my own. I have the equipment to do it, and I think (big word there being THINK) I can make a functional engine lathe with all the features I want, that can do both metal and woodworking turnings.

My plan right now is to tear down this old tiller I have kicking around, a Gilson Rear Tine Tiller. I'll use the piston bore to accurately hold the headstock on sturdy bearings that can allow for pass-thru stock. The bore is already accurately machined and the mass should be pretty strong. I plan to use another small engine block for the tail stock and am in hopes to have this be adjustable on several axis.

I am not sure how this will go all together right now, but after I tear down the Rototiller, that should give me some parts to play with. For instance it has numerous pulleys, clutches and idlers. It also has a right angle drive, some bearings for the wheels and maybe the rims themselves can be of some use.:dunno::dunno::dunno:

Its an ambitious project, so wish me luck, help me out by giving me some advice, and follow along as I try to make this into a lathe. It might end in utter failure, but what they hay, I had a marriage do that so what can I lose?

Tillers-04-8HP-Snapper.jpg
 
Um, Travis,

I love you, man, but going flat out across a frozen lake in half darkness is nuts. ;) And dropping a tree on a bunch of power lines, and then getting it off them, that's a little nuts too... ;)

But making a lathe out of a rototiller? Now, there's a project! ;)

Thanks,

Bill
 
Well I am about to embark on a rather strange and unusual lathe project. I think I am going to build my own lathe. While that is nothing new I guess, the way I am going to do just might be.

I am not a wood turner, but I use an engine lathe a lot. Since an engine lathe is too pricey for me, and my current lathe is too small, I thought i would make my own. I have the equipment to do it, and I think (big word there being THINK) I can make a functional engine lathe with all the features I want, that can do both metal and woodworking turnings.

My plan right now is to tear down this old tiller I have kicking around, a Gilson Rear Tine Tiller. I'll use the piston bore to accurately hold the headstock on sturdy bearings that can allow for pass-thru stock. The bore is already accurately machined and the mass should be pretty strong. I plan to use another small engine block for the tail stock and am in hopes to have this be adjustable on several axis.

I am not sure how this will go all together right now, but after I tear down the Rototiller, that should give me some parts to play with. For instance it has numerous pulleys, clutches and idlers. It also has a right angle drive, some bearings for the wheels and maybe the rims themselves can be of some use.:dunno::dunno::dunno:

Its an ambitious project, so wish me luck, help me out by giving me some advice, and follow along as I try to make this into a lathe. It might end in utter failure, but what they hay, I had a marriage do that so what can I lose?

Tillers-04-8HP-Snapper.jpg

Nice looking "Gilson"...
 
Sorry Greg, snagged the picture off the internet. I wanted a picture to show what I was dismantling. The Snapper is a dead ringer to my Gilson...errr...was...It took me longer to get it out of the frozen snowbank then it did to tear it down. That is as far as I have got at this point, but so far I have got:

(4) 2 inch pulleys
(1) 4 inch pulley
(1) 8 inch pulley
(1) 1 inch pulley
(2) angle drives/ reductions (chain driven)
(2) 35 pound counter weights

I figured once I tore this machine down I would be like scratching my head, but as it was dismantled, I was more and more encouraged by my idea. The angle drive/reductions are very slow, maybe 1-8 though I did not check the speed. They are also robust and yet very compact. Its hard to describe your vision to others, but I am VERY encouraged by the parts I got sitting in my shop.

By the way, I was not sure if you were joking or not Pete, by my machine won't be powered by gasoline. I wish I could claim credit for this idea, but others thought of it. You basically use the accuracy of the cylinder liner (bored to within .0005) to hold bearings that support the headstock. Since a piston on a 5 horsepower engine is 2.690 in diameter, you can put some decent sized bearings in, and still have room to have a through-the-head hole. This will let you pass say a long piece of dowel through the head instead of mounting everything between centers...a nice feature.

When I describe this, I know many people are thinking that I will use the crankshaft since this is rotating motion and already has bearings. I won't be using that. The bearings are too small and not machined as accurately as the cylinder liner. Instead you have to picture a bare block, with new bearings inserted in the cylinder bore. The head will be removed of course, but where the head would normally bolt, that is where the three jaw chuck will be mounted and spinning once in use. You really have to think of this thing abstractly.

My only wish is that this was a vertical shaft engine. It would make mounting the engine block a bit easier to the bed of my lathe. Still with a bit of welding, some fabricating and some machining, I am sure I can get a nice sturdy lathe with plenty of swing. Speaking of the swing, what would be a good swing for a wood/metal lathe? My Craftsman is 12 inches but I think that is too small. Maybe 16 or 18 inches????

This is a huge project, and is definately long term. There are so many phases of this project that I could not begin to list them now. Just way to early in the game, but so far no snags and a lot of pleasant surprises on the disassembly. I'm encouraged for once.
 
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Maybe a picture will help. This guy built what he calls a multi machine, or drill press, lathe, milling machine. Here is a picture of it. I am in hopes to make mine a bit cleaner, but be degraded to only being a lathe and lathe only. Still you can see how he used a 8 cylinder engine block to securely hold his bearings.

I am going to do the same thing, but will use a 5 hp Briggs and Station engine block. To compensate for the lack of weight and mass, I will securely mount this thing to a stand loaded with sand to deaden vibration.

My angle drives/ speed reductions will transfer power from the headstock pulley, down to the carriage feed. My idea right now is to find an atv tranny to mount at that point. This will give me 5 speeds in which the carriage, holding the cutting edge, will cut steel/wood. I am in hopes that between the step pulleys and the 5 speed tranny, I can find a speed that I can thread wood and steel with.

How_to_build_a_multimachine001.png
 
Travis,

No, I was not kidding. I know nothing about engines but this really interests me. That contraption looks really scary! If you pull this off it would be really special!
 
Travis, this sounds like a fun project and take some pictures of the pieces and parts from the tiller, to make your own lathe can be done it just takes some planning.
 
Go Travis!
Necessity is the mother of all invention. I've seen lathes made from all sorts of "one man's trash" - broken plumbing tools, Volkswagen and Model T parts, plywood - one had a tailstock fashioned out of a pipe vise and a lamp base. Some were quite crude - others deceptively refined, though they weren't much to look at. I think my favorite shop made lathe used the workbench as the base. The reversable headstock aligned with pins at one end - one clamp locking it down. The tailstock fit nicely against the top front edge of the bench and could slide along its entire length - one clamp locked it down as well. The carriage also used the front edge of the top as a guide and could pivot and hold your standard array of tool holders and cross slides. The 3 pieces were relatively light weight - it took about 15 minutes to set the thing up or break it down. You couldn't cut threads on it, but it was very simple, stout, and had a huge capacity.
One of my great uncles was an inventor. His day job was with the family plumbing company - the rest of his life was in the back garage. There was all sorts of junk laying around his place - you never knew what half of it was.
I remember seeing an old xerox of a shop built lathe instructions clipped from a "Mother Jones" magazine.
My Dad's lathe is an old off brand make that he "modified" to bring it up to his standards and make it more versatile. I remember him paying $100 for it - then a wobbly, rusty, tired, and spent piece of equipment. Then he went to work on it.
I would think you could do just about anything with what your talking about . . . and some used snowmobile parts.
I know you're backed up with projects higher up on the list. Have fun refining the idea - you'll get it going some day.
Paul Hubbman
 
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Wow, thanks for the vote of confidence Paul. I am actually looking forward to this project,though I do have quite a bit on my plate right now. Still Ilike your way of thinking.

My Dad was kind of like your Uncle. He's actually got a degree as a Mechanical Engineer, but never did anything with it (Vietnam kind of got in the way). Still he's pretty clever on gizmo's and gadgets and I have definately got his abstract way of thinking on some things.

Some of his ideas were pretty bad, like the time he put a window in the bathroom door so people could he could see if one of my young sisters was in there. At the time they liked to hide in the bathroom, so while his idea worked, Mom was not to happy about everyone seeing her in the bathroom too.

One good idea he had long before it came on the market was bottle redemption machines. Here in Maine we get 5 cents back for our empty soda cans. Well Dad has this idea of taking a soda machine and kind of reversing it. You put the empty can into it, and it gave you 5 cents back. They now commercially have these machines. As a mechanical engineer and machinist, I think we would make a pretty scary team if we actually decided to do something with it.

The one thing I often thought about was getting into Alternative Energy. It would be a start up business like heating and cooling, but you helped people install alternative power sources like wind, solar, hydro, and yes even compost heat. With his electrical and mechanical knowledge and my machinist ability, I am sure we could power something up, even if it was nothing but laughs.

Anyway, as far as the lathe is concerned, I had thought about using snowmobile parts. The same rotating mass of the track, is in essence the same rotating mass of a steel or wood on a lathe. The backshift pressures are phenomenal on both machines. The variable speed clutch of a sled would work great, but I think it would rob too much horsepower. I was thinking about going with go-cart type clutches. Since I have been using 5 hp rotortiller parts, a go-cart is of the same power class and might be a better choice. I just got Northern Hydraulics Catalog in the mail this week and they have plenty of parts to chose from. Might be better using that then pricey Yamie parts (though my sled looks like its pretty much done for the year. This weekend should be the last weekend I can ride it by the sounds).

Thanks for the well wishes though Paul. Now to build it.
 
I agree Frank. It would make for a unique story line.

By the way. I did get your email and will get back to you soon...this weekend most likely. You made some good points I had not thought of.
 
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