Lathe

[Cody]

So, I have always been a lover of lathes and working with wood. If you can combine the two then all the better! Perhaps it is something about the ease of making something potentially beautiful and perfectly symmetrical that makes it so appealing.

Anyway! Since I am broke and can't afford a lathe, I had the genius idea of trying to turn my drill press into one! Apparently this isn't such an original idea since you can actually buy bits that are meant for that.... Well, I don't want to pay for one of those either so I guess I will try and make my own.

Pictures to follow!!..if it works and/or doesn't fly apart and take out my eye.

The never ending project wheel spins on....

[Nick]

Be sure to wear full-body protection when trying this out. High RPMs scare me.

[zourtney]

This sounds fun. And mildly dangerous. I like it! Take some pictures and make...something cool.Next you should make a metal lathe! (almost entirely kidding)

[Nick]

If you do end up getting this thing working, it could be fun to try and make some table legs or handle for something.

[Cody]

I have taken a few pictures, but I have been unable to get the Randomland image thing to work. I suppose I could upload them to some other picture hosting thing. We will see. I'll try to get some up later today!

[Nick]

Just attach then to the forum post or use imgur. Com

[Cody]

So I took some pictures! Not great, but you get the idea. Hopefully the links work.

http://i.imgur.com/uNKRXTA.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/5hZ40nM.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/aCDlFBU.jpg

[Nick]

That looks nice. It really shined up all pretty. Also, that is more awesome then I have been lately. How well centered is it?

What is holding onto the end? Just a hole is the wood? Will that become a fire danger from friction? Do you need one of these: Wheel Hub Bearing?

[Cody]

I'd say it is about as well centered as you can expect a washer welded to a bolt can be. It is slightly off center, but you can't hardly tell on a finished product. The thing in the end was a piece of 1/4 inch rod I found in my toolbox. I just put it in the drill press, turned it on, and used my angle grinder to taper it down to a point. After that I just drove it through a piece of wood and used it to anchor the end of the piece I was spinning....if that makes sense.

As for if it gets hot, yes the metal gets very hot. The wood doesn't really seem to mind though. Seemed cool to me. I was originally hoping to find some bearing like the one you linked me to, but since I didn't have one lying around I had to improvise.

[zourtney]

Nice, that looks like a lot of fun. Is there anything in particular you're wanting to make?

[Cody]

Nothing terribly exciting. I kind of wanted to make a new oak handle for the wood stove door and maybe for the tools that go with the wood stove. one of them is very badly burnt.