Inexpensive sanding/finishing lathe

[JC]

I was going to build a taig based lathe for sanding and finishing then I decided to try this and it works great. $129 Chinese wood lathe and a $110 DC sewing machine motor with the brake and speed pedal control eliminated to turn it slow for finishing. Plus a $7 belt from Napa. The thing actually turns quite smooth, even at higher speeds. No worries about protecting anything which is the big bonus. Perfect for my hobby budget.





JC

 

[JBCustomCues]

Great idea.

 

[pdcue]

Looks good. Can you share where you got the motor?

Dale

 

[JC]

Looks good. Can you share where you got the motor?

Dale

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Variable-Sp...04c9f74&pid=100005&rk=2&rkt=6&sd=111670907230

This is not the exact one I bought but if you go on e-bay and look for industrial sewing machine motor there are a lot to choose from. Make sure you get one with a rheostat type speed switch. Some have notched constant variable speed control which isn't as good. You want complete speed control especially at low speed for finishing. You can't tell by looking so you have to ask the seller before you buy it. You have to do some minor modifications to make it work. I removed all the brake mechanism and the spring loaded speed control lever and cut the magnet off that attaches to the speed control arm and glued it right onto the case to trigger the motor. After you do that you can take off the housing that holds the switch and turn it around so the speed knob faces the front. I have one on my hightower lathe too that I replaced the AC motor with.

JC

 

[James Sarenich]

Model B

Someone had posted a few years ago about replacing his old wore out Porper model B motor with an industrial sewing machine motor that he had bought off eBay. He said it was the proper fit and just swapped the old for the new.

Jim

 

[JC]

Funny story about the Chinese lathe. It had some runout in the live center so I contacted the seller and she asked me to take pictures and show her what part I needed replaced. So I did so but in the mean while I fixed the problem.

A week later an entire lathe showed up instead of a new live center so now I have another one. I just bought this motor for it today http://www.ebay.com/itm/Industrial-...or-FESM-55ON-CSM550-NEW-3-4-HP-/151718673385? which is the one with the infinate variable speed. This time I am going to take my time and mount the motor inside where the AC motor is now and remount the controls on the outside of the lathe. That way it will be mobile and I can take it outside on a nice day and work.

Total cost of number 2 is only going to be $110.

JC

 

[Dave38]

Funny story about the Chinese lathe. It had some runout in the live center so I contacted the seller and she asked me to take pictures and show her what part I needed replaced. So I did so but in the mean while I fixed the problem.

A week later an entire lathe showed up instead of a new live center so now I have another one. I just bought this motor for it today http://www.ebay.com/itm/Industrial-...or-FESM-55ON-CSM550-NEW-3-4-HP-/151718673385? which is the one with the constant variable speed. This time I am going to take my time and mount the motor inside where the AC motor is now and remount the controls on the outside of the lathe. That way it will be mobile and I can take it outside on a nice day and work.

Total cost of number 2 is only going to be $110.

JC

You gotta share where you got the lathe from, so the rest of us can get the same deal

 

[Tommy-D]

Mine doesn't have the variable speed motor (but the one shown here is a GOOD one),but this is basically the same lathe I used for years,but modified differently.

Well before I went thru machine shop school,I had to have a couple adapters made to equip the head and tailstock ends with a chuck.

The spindle/tailstock thread is 18mm-2.5 pitch. The headstock adapter I had made is 3/4-16,and has a Taig/Hightower 3 jaw on it.

The tailstock end has a 1/2-20 threaded Jacobs 0-1/2 drill chuck.

The 2 adapters I had to have made were 35.00 each. The Taig chuck was 100.00 at the time and the drill chuck was 20.00. The lathe itself was 89.00 at a traveling tool sale that came thru town.

I have had the start capacitor replaced once,and the on/off switch replaced with a standard light switch.

It's been as reliable as can be for 16 years now.

I modded it further and can break it down in 2 pieces now and put it in the truck of the car for tournament work. I don't use it at home now because I have a full sized Cuesmith that I do all my shaft work on. Tommy D.

 

[JC]

Mine doesn't have the variable speed motor (but the one shown here is a GOOD one),but this is basically the same lathe I used for years,but modified differently.

Well before I went thru machine shop school,I had to have a couple adapters made to equip the head and tailstock ends with a chuck.

The spindle/tailstock thread is 18mm-2.5 pitch. The headstock adapter I had made is 3/4-16,and has a Taig/Hightower 3 jaw on it.

The tailstock end has a 1/2-20 threaded Jacobs 0-1/2 drill chuck.

The 2 adapters I had to have made were 35.00 each. The Taig chuck was 100.00 at the time and the drill chuck was 20.00. The lathe itself was 89.00 at a traveling tool sale that came thru town.

I have had the start capacitor replaced once,and the on/off switch replaced with a standard light switch.

It's been as reliable as can be for 16 years now.

I modded it further and can break it down in 2 pieces now and put it in the truck of the car for tournament work. I don't use it at home now because I have a full sized Cuesmith that I do all my shaft work on. Tommy D.

I made some adaptors out of wood scraps so I can mount up cues between centers in all stages of completion, or even for refinishing work. A little wooden disc that is concave on one side and formed to fit inside the live center on the other does it for a shaft with a tip on it.

JC