Mod to my DIY bowl lathe

[hughie]

I built this some years ago as a second lathe to finish  the bowls off. The idea was to leave either the Longworth or the Donut chuck on this lathe for finishing purposes.

Unfortunately my main lathe is not available at present as I building a new stand for it and fitting a variable speed drive as well. A  single phase to three phase with remote pot for speed control.

So this needed a few mods to make it a bit more versatile for regular turning. Its been fitted with a third pulley to give me  lower speed range and with that plenty of torque.

Round the front I have a custom indexing system with interchangeable index disc, with a range of settings 15,20,24,30 and 36,45,60,90

[Bryan Milham]

Hughie,

I can only think to say 'That's a beast', umpteen questions spring to mind but to limit myself;

What made you want to design and build your own lathe, and

What sort of swing does it have?

[hughie]

Hughie,

I can only think to say 'That's a beast', umpteen questions spring to mind but to limit myself;

What made you want to design and build your own lathe, and

What sort of swing does it have?

OK a few specs. It will swing 900mm + with a 750mm bed powered by 1.5hp single phase 1440 rpm motor. Index capabilities with two discs 15,20,24,30,36,45,60,90.  I chose these numbers as they divide equally into 360 with no minutes or seconds of arc to worry  about
Speeds , well, with three pulleys there's probably a dozen or more, the  slowest is 308 and the fastest is 3210, initially  I thought it was 250 and 2800  It currently has no tailstock and vacillate between making one and 'Oh never mind'

The reason, well I guess,  'cos' I can' lol . Also I obtained most of the steel for free. But wanted a dedicate bowl lathe for finishing bowl bottoms via my Longworth or Donut chucks. Both chucks are around 600mm in diameter and I preferred to have them set up permanently on this lathe.

To add to  matters I have another almost finished much larger in capacity 1000mm swing and 1.5m between centres. Its of my own design. This one will have 3hp motor and a VSD for variable speed control. This will be my 'go to' lathe although I doubt if  I will ever  use it to its capacity.

I guess this all stems from my years in R&D, managing a engineering workshop for a global building company. The general idea was and still is for that matter to offer up the plans on a web site that I have yet to build.

[woodndesign]

Hughie, that's a serious bit of kit, well done and thank you for sharing.

David