My Homemade Metal Lathe Project

At last I'll be able to power up this soon-to-be lathe and get the thing finished! I know I said progress is quick after the carriage assembly but I had to do so much custom work on this part (you'll see why below) that that totally ruined my flow and slowed me down a lot. But you know what, only three casting remain (head and tailstock and faceplate) and the lathe itself will finally pick up some of the slack! April/02/2002

Here is a pile of the necessary metal cut to size to make the countershaft. Mainly just angle iron that I've scavenged from discarded bed frames.

After welding together some scraps of metal the countershaft is taking shape! While Dave Gingery riveted his assembly together he does mention that welding is much faster (no argument there). I actually super glued the parts together then welded them! No clamps needed! You heard it here from The Lab...

My welding seems to be improving! Of course this is the best weld on the entire thing and I'm not showing you the others!

I got this perfectly good 1/2 hp 1725 rpm washing machine motor from a working washing machine! Forget clean clothes I need a lathe! Actually my neighbor left the washing machine outside for her daughter to pick up and take home. I thought she was actually discarding it so I inquired and she told me that I can have it if her daughter doesn't come within the next few days. Lucky me, she never showed up! Ha! guess her daughter likes the washboard method...

The motor was used vertically (with the shaft and pulley pointing down) in the washing machine so there are no mounting parts suitable for my lathe application. So I had to make a motor mount. I was going to weld an assmebly together from scraps but then I figured I might as well make a pattern and cast it just in case I get my hands on another similar motor.

Here is the finished motor mount. Its made up of two castings. I based it on a similar mount that I made from wood while using this motor on a homemade wood lathe. In case you're wondering, I've dismantled the wood lathe it wasn't accurate at all (I guess that's what happens when you try to weld the spindle together...)

Here is the motor in place on the 2-piece motor mount and a look at the way I mounted it on the countershaft. Those are 3/8-16 bolts going into the countershaft.

This is a look at the countershaft's bearings. I just cast some aluminum bearings from the patterns shown. If you look closely you'll see that there is a copper "bushing" in the bearing. This is actually a coupling for 1/2" copper plumbing pipe!

Click photo for a larger image!

The outer diameter of 1/2" copper pipe is 5/8" (the same as the shaft I'm using) therefore the inner diameter a the coupling is 5/8" also. Making it a perfect improvised bushing! All I had to do was file out the small nub that stops the pipes from entering too far. This should last at least until I locate or learn to machine bronze bushings or maybe I'll leave it.

You can see the pulleys (I cast them myself!) in place on the countershaft here. I purchased the belt connecting the motor to the outboard (the 6") pulley from an auto parts store. They refer to them as fan belts. They are 3/8" wide rather than 1/2" (which the pulleys are sized for) but that's no big deal, the belts just slide a bit deeper into the pulley grooves.

Once the lathe is far enough along I'll cast new pulleys and clean them up on the lathe and replace these.

Being that I'll need to grab the countershaft's release handle to change belt speeds I figured that I might as well cast a nice one so I can switch speeds in comfort and style.

The pattern was a piece of the handle of a battered umbrella that I found abandoned in a parking lot after a strong rain storm. I just had to have that handle!

Here you can see the lathe's progress. I've built a small stand for it which has two drawers for lathe related parts and accessories. It's built mainly from 3/4" plywood and scrap 2 X 4 lumber. I was planning to just use regular screws as cheap drawer pulls but I decided to go all out and treat myself... So I went to the dollar store and bought these folded sheetmetal drawer pulls!

Part 5; the headstock!