Author Topic: Making a lathe (Read 3828 times)

willib · « **on:** January 29, 2006, 05:21:16 PM »

i have been thinking again , about a lathe that i need badly and cant afford.

So to start , i need a lathe head , and a front wheel hub from a front wheel drive car would work .

why the front wheel? because the front wheel hub has a splined hole where a splined driveshaft attaches to ..

so if i could cut the driveshaft , and drive it with a motor , instant lathe head..

thoughts?

drdongle · « **Reply #1 on:** January 29, 2006, 11:58:39 AM »

You'll need a bed for it ( has to be REALLY strong and stable), a tailstock assembly with live center, a tool holder W/ two axis of adjustment and some sort of screw drive for the tool holder ( riding on the bed). Seems simple till you get down to doing it. I recommend that you go and look at one, at a local machine shop or Harbor Freight ( If one is close by). You might also consider a used one, they show up in the local bargin mart/ penny saver/ traders papers, also a local machine shop may have a line on a used one, thats where I got mine.

Chagrin · « **Reply #2 on:** January 29, 2006, 12:33:30 PM »

The 7x12 lathes are quite good for the price. Biggest problem is the lack of capacity.

Flux · « **Reply #3 on:** January 29, 2006, 12:38:25 PM »

Yes i totally agree, you can make a reasonable lathe to turn wood but for metal even a rejuvinated scrap lathe is likely to be better than anything you will ever be able to make.

If you are short of money you may be able to find something that is scrap by other peoples standards and make it useful with a bit of work.

Starting with car bits you will waste a lifetime and have no lathe at the end of it.

As Dr.D said, everything has to be absolutely rigid, wheel bearings certainly aren't and to make rigid and accurate slides without another machine tool is a no go as far as I am concerned.

Flux

dinges · « **Reply #4 on:** January 29, 2006, 02:15:56 PM »

The way I was tought:

If you have a lathe, you can build a lathe.

(I.e. you need a lathe to build one; the lathe being the only tool known that can reproduce itself. Though a mill might come in handy too?)

Personally, I wouldn't bother building one. The ones for woodworking are ridiculously cheap (in price and quality, BTW), the one I have here is about 100$.

Metal cutting lathes, I'd say have a look around at your 2nd hand machine dealer. Last week I saw a very nice Cazeneuve. Just what the doctor ordered, and the price wasn't too bad either. Now to find a free spot in the shop...

Once you have a lathe and learn how to use it, you'll hit yourself on the forehead for not having bought one 10 years earlier...

As far as building one goes, again, look around for a 2nd hand. I think you'll get much more value for your money that way than building one. Like the others said, the headstock and tailstock aren't that difficult. But a good crossrest (stable). Plus a good solid frame. Lead screws. A Norton-gearbox would ofcourse be out of the question (but is SO nice to have...)

If you insist on building one, there are plenty of designs around for constructing your own; a quick google search should give plenty of results. But, again, you'd probably need a lathe (or access to one) to build one. Plus a mill perhaps.

Peter.

Old F · « **Reply #5 on:** January 29, 2006, 05:36:26 PM »

willib

Check out this link. http://www.linsaybks.com

And check out the books by Dave Gingery.

WARNING Building machine tool like wind generators is addictive and there is no know cure : )

Have fun

Old F

Old F · « **Reply #6 on:** January 29, 2006, 05:41:12 PM »

OOps

Bad link above

Its http://www.lindsaybks.com

richhagen · « **Reply #7 on:** January 29, 2006, 05:46:37 PM »

While you could build one with a lot of thought and work, it is probably simpler to buy a used one. The way manufacturing businesses are closing around me, you can pick one up pretty cheap. Newspaper ads, and used dealers are good places to start. It would be a serious project to try to build one from parts, especially since many of the parts would require a bit of machining to make. Rich

willib · « **Reply #8 on:** January 29, 2006, 07:20:20 PM »

Thanks to all for your warnings and advice.so far i have been able to do most of my "machining" with a cordless drill and a dremmel and a pair of calipers. so at the least, having something spinning on its own would be a great help

willib · « **Reply #9 on:** January 29, 2006, 08:04:07 PM »

this is what i was thinking about , you can see the spline in front , and the mountin the back .what really kills me is i could have got one with the spline hole when i got the one i have ,if i was thinking about doing this,at the time..

flux, being sealed units these are pretty tight, and the forces on it wont be that

great any way .

i just need something to spin and hold the parts at the same time

Don Cackleberrycreations · « **Reply #10 on:** January 29, 2006, 08:54:30 PM »

If by cahnce you can find A set of popular mechanic how to do it books from the 1940s=50s

they have detailed instructions on making a number of machining tools from fairly standard materials .

Most require very little machining and can be build with Hand tools ( even hand powered)

wood lathes using plumbing pipe beds Machine lathes using bolted channel iron with all thread feeds and a rotisary motor . Duplicators for routers, drill presses and even milling machines .

Its sad that in this day and age such books are often ignored or the projects considered impractical . If by chance you ever do run across a set of these hards cover books They are well worth what ever price is asked in my opinion. They come from a time when if you couldnt afford a machine you built it. They cover everything from planting a garden (including building the tractor) butchering live stock and game, to building a ram jet engine, or your own transceiver .

nothing to lose · « **Reply #11 on:** January 29, 2006, 08:57:46 PM »

Those Linsey books are pretty good. I have the whole set for casting a home shop from aluminum. I think it cost me about $60 or $70. One day I will actually try to cast and build all that stuff. In the mean time I find them usefull for alot of things, even if I don't actually build a full scale lathe as shown. I bought that Grizzly lathe/mill combo unit and happy with it. Still I would like to build a small bench top model for turning armatures for motor conversions. The aluminum version should work very well for that and be light enough to be portable.

I think it really all depends what you want to do with it if you build your own lathe.

If your just really wanting to true up some round plate and face it off for rotors then the car hub should work well for that provided you build everything well.

If you wanted to bore out gun barrels, or steam engine cylinders and pistons probably forget the car hub

Actually I been thinking of a large headstock like this myself for large rotor disks. I can turn 16" ok on my combo, but the diagonal of a 16" square would be too large to turn out the 16" disk. So a tall free standing head and the tool rest is all I really need for rotors. No large bed, no tail stock. about a 6"-12" bed and a cross slide should do me. Once you have that much, you can also use it to turn out other parts like extra pullies for various ratios.

Also I would like to turn some trees. Yes trees! I think I have some nice round oaks that have not rotted yet that need cut down anyway soon. So if I made about 10' long lathe I could turn 8" round posts over 8' long. I have a use for these if I turn them. For things like this an auto hub I think would be fine. I might use one for the head and another for the tailstock also. For such a lathe as this I would not build a normal bed, mount the head and tail units 10' apart on concrete slabs, I have ideas for the steady rest to connect the 2 ends also.

I think for the gun barrels and the steam engine stuff my Grizzley is precise enough and large enough. But I did lose my book that has the basics of the engine I was going to build

For oak posts for the house I need 8-10 foot though.

willib · « **Reply #12 on:** January 29, 2006, 10:02:29 PM »

The one in the pic is $85 on ebay but i have seen them in the $40 dollar range for brand new ones..

this is a link to the list , scroll down the page to the less expensive ones..

if you do your own search be sure to just look in ebay motors ,for' wheel hub bearing', otherwise you get a lot of other stuff in your search..

http://search.ebay.com/wheel-hub-bearing_eBay-Motors_W0QQcatrefZC6QQcoactionZcompareQQcoentrypageZse
archQQcopagenumZ1QQfromZR10QQfsooZ2QQfsopZ3QQftrtZ1QQftrvZ1QQmppfqyZwheelQ20hubQ20bearingQQsacatZ600
0QQsaprchiZQQsaprcloZQQsbrsrtZd

pyrocasto · « **Reply #13 on:** January 29, 2006, 10:52:05 PM »

Here's a good site with a guy building his own lathe. Hope you like metal casting!

pyrocasto · « **Reply #14 on:** January 29, 2006, 10:52:40 PM »

oops.

http://www.backyardmetalcasting.com/lathe1.html

willib · « **Reply #15 on:** January 30, 2006, 12:05:17 AM »

Nice find , but he uses bushings for the headstock , real interesting site , all in all , personally i have absolutely no way to cast anything , hold on what was the melting point of bismuth , the wheels are turning..lol

BigBreaker · « **Reply #16 on:** January 30, 2006, 03:19:19 PM »

That site is pretty inspiring. He has made a number of impressive tools and makes casting aluminum look pretty simple. Sometimes the right part is a lot easier to make out of wood or clay and cast rather than machine from stock.

Aluminum gets a bad name on this site, partially for good reason. It doesn't like fatigue and suffers from it under rather light loading. Check out that site though... it'll give you ideas that you can put to work in RE projects.

Nil · « **Reply #17 on:** January 30, 2006, 03:23:47 PM »

Here's another link on building a home-made lathe. The owner of the page hangs around here at times, I'm sure he'd be willing to tell you more.

http://www.theworkshop.ca/machining/machining.htm

Old F · « **Reply #18 on:** January 30, 2006, 05:47:03 PM »

willib

Lionel the owner of that site got his start with

Dave Gingerys book The charcoal foundry

And the lathe he building is all so a book by

Gingery.

Old F

pyrocasto · « **Reply #19 on:** January 31, 2006, 09:00:19 AM »

Aluminum is a great metal, as it's easy to work with, without big metal tools. Yes though you're right it shouldnt be used for many stress areas.

It's great though say if you wanted to poor your own heat sinks. :-)

nothing to lose · « **Reply #20 on:** February 01, 2006, 03:32:17 AM »

Thanks but I buy running cars around $150 or less alot for parts. I think a used hub and bearing would be fine also long as it's checked well for play.

Dealers and parts stores will often tell you it's an assembly and the bearings are not replaceable seperately. That of course is bull, what goes together comes apart

I have put new bearings in some front hub assemblies myself, they were just pressed together and can be pressed apart. For some cars like my old Toranado it was far cheaper to buy new bearings than a used hub and allot cheaper than a new hub for sure.

That's another thing to remember, many/most of those hubs are pressed together, that CV joint is also what holds them from pressing apart durring use on the car. You normally will need the CV joint installed for this reason if using such hubs for other uses like a lathe or a wind genny otherwise they may get sloppy or even come apart.

Been awhile since I took any apart and not all may be made the same.

willib · « **Reply #21 on:** February 02, 2006, 08:04:14 PM »

On the cv joint , i have seen side view pics of it only , it looks like a flange on the inner end, what goes in there, a U Joint type aparatus?

Ive been working on cars since before i could drive , but never had the opportunity to work on a front wheel drive..

nothing to lose · « **Reply #22 on:** February 04, 2006, 11:47:11 PM »

There are different setups on different vehicles. I think most are like a 3 spoked U joint, sort of a Y shape at even angles. Instead of flat caps like a U joint has it's more like a hollow ball bearing on the Y yoke ends. Then there are needle bearings between the Y yoke and the caps. The center of the Y as I recall is a splined hole for the drive shaft to slide into, and I think a C clip on the inner end of the shaft holds it from sliding back out. The Y unit then fits into 3 grooves inside the CV joint housing and tabs are bent over so it does not slide back out into the boot. Might be a spring in there too, I forget off hand. That's kinda the basics of them.

They have to supply power to the wheels at lot's of angles and lengths at once. As you turn your wheels right and left the end caps/needle bearings are working alot to prevent binding up at an angle and also sliding in and out rapidly in the groove as the unit rotates, just driving a straight line they would not need to do much. Since your shaft does not turn or pivot when turning, the end caps ride in a groove. When turning then one side may be deep into the housing and the other side shallow into the housing. Another thing is as you hit bumps and the load on the car etc.. your length changes. The shaft is always the same length so the insides of the CV joint slides in and out as needed in the grooves. For instance if you car is heavily loaded and sitting low the length may be a slite bit less than when empty and riding high. It has to do with the angle of the A arm and such. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line at 0 degree angle. Add and angle or take it away, the distance changes.

There are other designs also But I think most cars use something similar to the above.

If you have a clicking clacking CV joint it could still be used just fine for something else like a wind gennie. Keep it in a straight line so there are no angles and it would be the same as welding or bolting a shaft to your hub. To just transfer power in a straight line it would just act as a splined shaft.

willib · « **Reply #23 on:** February 05, 2006, 11:09:56 AM »

Thanks , great explaination and timely too..as i just recieved my new Hub on friday!!

this is the ebay pic of it.. its brandy spanking new.. lol

healerenergy · « **Reply #24 on:** February 17, 2006, 01:44:16 AM »

Depending on the size of lathe you want you might consider using a rear axle housing from a 3/4 to 1 ton truck with a floating axle or even bigger from a 2 ton truck. There are several ways you can do this so and get a big tough lathe with bearings you can tighten if need be. A couple of truck transmissions would give you great adjustability and a big piece of heavy H iron can be the bed. Then you could buy the V metal for the bed guides. This is one of the projects I have been cathering parts for, for a while.

willib · « **Reply #25 on:** February 19, 2006, 11:06:41 PM »

That sounds interesting , be sure and post the progress.

but for me i have no room for anything that big

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Author Topic: Making a lathe (Read 3828 times)