Home made Bowl Lathe

Headstock

Phil Joines Krum, Texas

>Here's a close up of the headstock. The main reason for using the engine block was for the weight. It was also fairly easy to mount the bearings.

Re: Home made Bowl Lathe

Peter Teubel

>Well, that's not something you see everyday.More importantly, what MAKE is the engine block? (grin)...

Re: Home made Bowl Lathe

Steve Roxberg

>First lathe I ever saw with a HEMI.

Hey Phil...

BubbaBob

>...about that engine block...if it ain't Ford you won't get any power out of it and will be working on it constantly...

BubbaBob

Re: Home made Bowl Lathe

Mark Kauder, Phenix City, AL

>Phil,

I am curious why you used an engine block, rather than just using regular old pillow blocks?

Weight? Mass?

Mark

Now That's Original!

John McAtee - Shrewsbury, MA

>Well, Phil, that has to be one of the more, if not most, original and innovative, home-made tools I've seen in quite a while. The engine block should give you mass, weight and torsional rigidity. My compliments to you and thanks for the pics.

John (www.johnsturn.com)

Flung Outta Round Duck?

steve antonucci

>Just how many guys would it take to "push" a Ford lathe...

the world may never know. If you're gonna go through the trouble of doing it, make sure you dress it right. Bowtie.

Steve

1995 S10-SS 155K and going strong

Re: Headstock

David Eaves

>Cool, that's certianly different and looks like it will do a good job especially with the sand.

One thought, are you keeping the motor drive where it is? It looks like it will be in the firing line for sucking lots of dust in.

David

155K? Is that all you got?

Andy Halterman: Crocus blooming

>'94 Dodge with a good ole 318 with 276K on it. Tranny was replaced last year at 250K but the motor still runs great and doesn't burn oil. A testament to keeping up with maintenance.

Andy Halterman

My '94 Ranger has 177K and it still runs great too in Hendersonville, NC

Re: COOL GREAT job. !!!!

JHD in NC

>

Not really

Russell Seaton

>Soren Berger displayed his name brand lathe at the AAW meeting in Minneapolis in 2001. It used various car motor parts to build the lathe. Including an engine block for the headstock. 6 cylinder I think. It was priced at about $4500 I believe. 30" diameter and about 24" length. Blue. I could not find any pictures of it using a Google search. A crankshaft was also used somewhere in the lathe. It was an odd looking lathe.

I had a home office for the last 4 years.

steve antonucci

>And the two before that I had a 10 mile round trip.

Now my Dodge Intrepid... that's 1999 with 63K on it and it runs like new... oh, wait that's because everything in it has been replaced at least once (tranny rebuilt twice).

Thanks, but I'll keep my Chevy until my son gets older (he's 5 1/2)

Steve

Well...

BubbaBob

>...1994 F-250 diesel with over 300K and not broken in good yet...

BubbaBob

Re: Not really

Peter Teubel

>Here you go...

Re: Not really

John McAtee - Shrewsbury, MA

>It is my preference to give him some credit for originality rather than rain on his parade by pointing out that someone else made a strange lathe out of a hodge-podge of engine parts.

Regards,

Thick Skin

Richard Allen

>Hi Phil

If you make all your floor contacts points instead of spreading the load the lathe and tool rest should be a LOT more stable. This is often done on large lathes with a bolt at each corner which lets the corners to be adjusted for an even load to those corners.

Look at the VB36 tool rest for ideas on how a stable tool rest can be fashioned.

3 HP is a LOT of power, definitely a good thing, I wonder however, about the use of a single "V" belt and pulley to transfer that power. If you change out the pulley on the headstock you might want to consider more than one belt for the power transfer.

I am curious to know what keep the spindle from sliding through the bearings?

Thanks

Richard

P. S. I sent this to Phil privately and he told me he had a "thick skin". That he would like comments like this out where others could add to the discussion.

Re: Home made Bowl Lathe

Phil Joines Krum, Texas

>I have no idea. The only reason to pick it was because both ends are flat.

Two reasons,

Phil Joines Krum, Texas

>Mass and rigidity.

Re: Not really

Phil Joines Krum, Texas

>That's some lathe but I don't understand what a lot of the parts do!

Re: Thick Skin

Phil Joines Krum, Texas

>Richard,

Thanks for you�re comments, I�m always interested in suggestions.

The basic design isn�t unusual for a large bowl lathe, the VB36 and Harrison Graduate come to mind and I�m sure there others. SWMBO accuses me of being more interested in making tools than in using them :>)

There will be hard rubber pads at each corner when it�s in a final location. It's hard to move as it is.

The tool post definitely needs a lot of work. I�ll look closer at the VB. I want to have two, one free standing for large diameter pieces. (I�ve gotten several requests for spinning wheels in the traditional, large wheel, style) and one with an attachment to the lathe for stability.

After looking at the current attachment it occurred to me that a temporary bed can be secured to the same point.

The V belt drive doesn�t allow enough torque transmission. It�s temporary, made from parts on hand to work out the pulley sizes. I�ll probably go with a Polly v belt system if I can find a source for the pulleys.

The motor controller will be moved to the motor compartment which will be enclosed on the sides and front and a fan added to circulate air.

If anyone sees any improvement feel free to jump in.

Re: Hey Phil...

Phil Joines Krum, Texas

>A guy down the street has a 16 cylinder Cat engine. I�m sure it would have enough torque and the exhaust would help with developing unusual designs but SWMBO didn�t like the noise.

chrysler trannies

Rick Bos - South Surrey B.C.

>3 trannies in swmbo '91 Lebaron and 2 in my '93 Lebaron. Mind you when we sold my wife's Lebaron last year it had almost 300k km on it. My Lebaron's currently got 240k km. So I don't think we're doing too badly.

Re: Two reasons,

Mark Kauder, Phenix City, AL

>Thanks Phil.

That is what I thought.

Very interesting project.

Mark

Yes,...really!

Dominic Greco in Richboro PA

>It is original to me. Phil's design shows initiative and design know-how. Thats all I care about. Who gives a rodent's behind if he wasn't the first to do this?

I seem to remember a saying from a book I read. I think it went like this; "Pointing out the mud on someone's shoes doesn't make yours any cleaner."

Another more appropriate saying might be "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."

See ya around,

Dominic