Wood Lathe...

lathe

Zims Rack said:
Who makes this kind of wood lathe, where's a good place to buy one and what's a good price?
http://www.tedharris.com/images/shop_sanding_shafts.gif

Thanks,
Zim
Hey Zimmer, the lathe could be a Sears, or Harbor-freight, or any other brand. They sell for about $160.00 or so. I used many of these over the years. I stepped up to a Jet, lathe, which sells for about $520.00 or so. It has a speed control built in. { i have 3 of them, one for the road and two in my shop]. Works good for me, you have seen it before, when we were at the windy city tourny. You may not recall seeing it? Get a hold of Tony, at Tiger Products, { 1-800-584-4375 }, he has a jet knock off, that works very well, for around $275.00.....tell him I sent you.
good luck
blud
 
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Thanks Blud! I was thinking about getting one after the new year to sand, wrap or apply a finish! Just getting ideas!
I remember seeing it in Chicago, but don't recall all the details!

Thanks,
Zim
 
Zims Rack said:
Thanks Blud! I was thinking about getting one after the new year to sand, wrap or apply a finish! Just getting ideas!
I remember seeing it in Chicago, but don't recall all the details!

Thanks,
Zim

I've had one of those for thirty years now. It's run thousands of hours and the only things I've had to replace was the tail-stock rolling center 4 or 5 times and about three years ago I changed the spindle and bearings. Mine is a five speed and I do sanding, wraps, polishing shafts and rubbing out cues on it. I don't think Sears carries it any longer but H/F puts them on sale all the time for 139.00.
Dick
 
I have a cleaner lathe designed like that, and It's a craftsman. It's not the real old craftsmen, but about the same housing used on mine, they just added a plastic casing over that for safety. My lathe even came with indexing. it's not variable, it uses a step pully design, but could probably be converted.

Only payed 100 bucks for it about 10 years or more back. It was pretty new at the time. Found it locally, and it came with a large set of skews in new condition. It was also mounted on a metal cabinet with drawers that had some other wood working tools stored in it.


You can find deals on them used sometimes. I have another wood lathe that uses two pipes as a bed.

Blud's correct that harbor frieghts has one designed like it also. think they have another lathe simular to a jet solid casted bed lathe also for a good price, but It's alittle more money. I'm Sure the jet is nicer though. Greg
 
Cue Crazy said:
I have a cleaner lathe designed like that, and It's a craftsman. It's not the real old craftsmen, but about the same housing used on mine, they just added a plastic casing over that for safety. My lathe even came with indexing. it's not variable, it uses a step pully design, but could probably be converted.

Only payed 100 bucks for it about 10 years or more back. It was pretty new at the time. Found it locally, and it came with a large set of skews in new condition. It was also mounted on a metal cabinet with drawers that had some other wood working tools stored in it.


You can find deals on them used sometimes. I have another wood lathe that uses two pipes as a bed.

Blud's correct that harbor frieghts has one designed like it also. think they have another lathe simular to a jet solid casted bed lathe also for a good price, but It's alittle more money. I'm Sure the jet is nicer though. Greg

How would you mount the shaft or but to the lathe pictured. I have not done much lathe work but is there somewhere special you would need to order the tooling from to hold a finished shaft or but.
Does the chris hightower book explain basics such as this.
 
will8834 said:
How would you mount the shaft or but to the lathe pictured. I have not done much lathe work but is there somewhere special you would need to order the tooling from to hold a finished shaft or but.
Does the chris hightower book explain basics such as this.

I have a 1/2" chuck mounted on mine and I have pins for all the shaft threads. For butts I've made female bushings to fit all the different pins out of 1" aluminum bar and turned a 1/2" tang on the end to fit the chuck.
Dick
 
rhncue said:
I have a 1/2" chuck mounted on mine and I have pins for all the shaft threads. For butts I've made female bushings to fit all the different pins out of 1" aluminum bar and turned a 1/2" tang on the end to fit the chuck.
I have a Craftsman, just like that. It has a 3/4"-16 spindle with #1 MT. The tailstock is also #1 MT. I made a live center for the tailstock, and have a 1/2" Jacob's chuck at the headstock. Blud mentioned a while back using a bullnose center on the headstock and a concave live center in the tailsock for turning butts. I tried that method, and I like it. You do not have to take any time threading the pin into a driver. I also have a sewing machine motor mounted on the board for driving the lathe slowly. Does anyone know, if it would be possible to convert a lathe like this to variable speed, without changing motors?

Tracy
 
RSB-Refugee said:
Does anyone know, if it would be possible to convert a lathe like this to variable speed, without changing motors?

Tracy

Assuming that the motor is a standard 110VAC 60Hz induction motor, the basic answer is no. They run at a 'fixed' speed typically 1750 rpm. In reality the motor speed depends on the line frequency (60 hz in NA) and to some extent with the load on the motor (with no load they will spin at a bit under 1800 RPM). These motors can be speed adjusted using a variable frequency drive, but I understand that the spped-range and overall performance is poor, so it is not a recommended solution.

There have been good deals on surplus 'tread mill' (DC) motors and controllers over the years, and you may be able to find a reasonable solution that way. I paid well under $50 Canadian for a 2hp (ya, right, it might be lucky to produce 1 full horsepower) motor and controller from Princess Auto a few years back.

Dave
 
motor

RSB-Refugee said:
I have a Craftsman, just like that. It has a 3/4"-16 spindle with #1 MT. The tailstock is also #1 MT. I made a live center for the tailstock, and have a 1/2" Jacob's chuck at the headstock. Blud mentioned a while back using a bullnose center on the headstock and a concave live center in the tailsock for turning butts. I tried that method, and I like it. You do not have to take any time threading the pin into a driver. I also have a sewing machine motor mounted on the board for driving the lathe slowly. Does anyone know, if it would be possible to convert a lathe like this to variable speed, without changing motors?

Tracy
Tracy, no, you would have to change motors. Go to a DC drive.

The good thing about the Jet one is, it's got a lever to rotate and speed up or slow down your spindle speed. I also added a drum switch to my motors, making them have forward and reverse. Some guys say it can't be done, but I've had no trouble having these reversed with my electric motor guy for years now.
blud
 
RSB-Refugee said:
Does anyone know, if it would be possible to convert a lathe like this to variable speed, without changing motors?

Tracy

You have to change the motor. I have a DC variable on mine plus a few other modifications. For what I have spent I could have bought a real lathe but this is one piece of equipment that I can't live without.

lathe.jpg
 
will8834 said:
How would you mount the shaft or but to the lathe pictured. I have not done much lathe work but is there somewhere special you would need to order the tooling from to hold a finished shaft or but.
Does the chris hightower book explain basics such as this.


I have used almost everything mentioned before this response, so there are several ways. Mine is the same as tracy's craftsman from the sound of it. Same thread pattern, and it uses MT1. I have a drill chuck thats mounted to a Morse taper 1 arbor. You can mount It in the headstock or tailstock. I have a few MT1 centers also, but with the drill chuck I can mount drives with the correct thread pattern to run the shafts. the butts can be mounted several ways, as they tend to vary by design, but a bull nose center would work in most cases. You can make threaded insert like pieces to screw on the threads and center drill them on the ends to fit a live center for the tailstock, but some of the pins i have been making on my cues are center drilled and would not need them to mount. you can also use female drives at the headstock, and a bull nose live center at the tailstock to fit the butt cap.

There really many ways to do it depending on what it's need for.

BTW, I just got a flyer from the local store today, kind of ironic, but this model here is the other one i mentioned, and is on sale in it for $199 In My flyer http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=34706

Hope this helps, Greg
 
Cue Crazy said:
I have used almost everything mentioned before this response, so there are several ways. Mine is the same as tracy's craftsman from the sound of it. Same thread pattern, and it uses MT1. I have a drill chuck thats mounted to a Morse taper 1 arbor. You can mount It in the headstock or tailstock. I have a few MT1 centers also, but with the drill chuck I can mount drives with the correct thread pattern to run the shafts. the butts can be mounted several ways, as they tend to vary by design, but a bull nose center would work in most cases. You can make threaded insert like pieces to screw on the threads and center drill them on the ends to fit a live center for the tailstock, but some of the pins i have been making on my cues are center drilled and would not need them to mount. you can also use female drives at the headstock, and a bull nose live center at the tailstock to fit the butt cap.

There really many ways to do it depending on what it's need for.

BTW, I just got a flyer from the local store today, kind of ironic, but this model here is the other one i mentioned, and is on sale in it for $199 In My flyer http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=34706

Hope this helps, Greg

That lathe go's on sale very often for 169.00. I've started to buy one two or three times but put it off. It's cast iron so should cut down on some vibrations. I've got an old Sears cast iron lathe that I don't have a place for yet or a use for. I may set it up just for leather wraps.
Dick
 
rhncue said:
That lathe go's on sale very often for 169.00. I've started to buy one two or three times but put it off. It's cast iron so should cut down on some vibrations. I've got an old Sears cast iron lathe that I don't have a place for yet or a use for. I may set it up just for leather wraps.
Dick



Now that would be a good price on that lathe. Might have to grab one when I see that price come up again.

I know how It is, have the craftsman setup in a garage, and I hardly use It anymore, the other one is not even setup, because I don't have the room either. Hoping before too long that I'll be able to set everything I have up, and then some. Greg
 
I am having trouble understanding how you hold the tip part of the shaft on a lathe. I understand the holding of the threaded end but with a cue with a tip you cant connect to the tip end. Sorry if this is a obvious answer. I whent to a local wood crafts shop and asked them if they sold any thing that would hold a the shaft in the middle instead of the end. All they could suggest was a 3 point stabilizer. This is not the type of thing i have seen before. What i have seen before. Something that completely encircles the shaft.
If I am not very clear on what I am asking I apologize.
I was wanting to get a lathe from harbor freight to tip cues and try to do some general repairs. Maybe rewarpping.
If any one has any idea where I could get the attachment to hold the shaft it would be great.
thanks
 
will8834 said:
If any one has any idea where I could get the attachment to hold the shaft it would be great.
thanks
You can use a concave live center. You can buy them in a lot of places. I made my own, it cost me almost as much and took all day, but it was a good experience.

Tracy
 
I dont think this is what I am looking for. I was looking for something that attaches the the middle of the shaft. The shaft goes through it and the tip is not attached to the end of the shaft.
 
Shaft Steady Rest?

I'm not sure that we understand what you are asking, but perhaps this is what you are looking for.

http://www.cuesmith.com/index.php?menu1=menu_lathes&page=cue_lathe_micro_3

Check out the second picture, and the rear end of the shaft, and see if that is what you are talking about. If so, Chris sells them off of his website for I believe $95. That's a bearing steady rest. Depending on what kind of lathe you have, you may have to make something like it to fit your lathe.

If that's not what you are talking about, perhaps you are talking about a collet? It goes over the tip of the shaft where you are clamping the chuck so the teeth do not mar the shaft?

Hope this helps,

~Shakes
 
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