Req. for unusual lathe situation

Re: Req. for unusual lathe situation *LINK*

Fred Holder

>A Nova 3000 or a Nova DVR 3000 outfitted with a Nova Ornamental Turner should provide the accuracy that you want to turn presicion dowels with threads. Unfortunately, the Nova Ornamental Turner is no longer manufactured, but occasionally you can find someone who has one for sale.

This would make a much better combination than a metal lathe to turn wood. Metal lathe tools do not cut anything but the hardest of woods very well and the thread cutting tools will require a hard wood like boxwood or African Blackwood.


Fred Holder's Domain Site

Re: Req. for unusual lathe situation

John Lucas

>How much money are we talking? I have two possiblities. One would be to buy the Smithy. It is a metal lathe milling machine combination. I've been looking at them for years. I don't see why you couldn't turn wood on one. Then you could use the metal lathe and mill and with a little ingenuity you could build your own wood lathe.

I would consider buying Jet mini lathe as a wood lathe. You can get the non variable speed model for $200. Couple that with the Smithy and you could get buy for around $1500 depending on which Smithy you buy.

I've been warned against the oriental copies of Smithy. I've talked to several owners of both and the Smithy is definitely a better quality machine.

The other alternative is to buy a used metal lathe but I've been looking and they are hard to find in the smaller sizes. 12x36 lathes are fairly easy to find but they are huge and take up a lot of space. Then you still don't have a mill.

Wood lathes with milling attachments chatter to much to make a successful metal lathe. You can turn non ferrous metals using common High Speed Steel wood working tools.

There used to be a machine made by the same people that make the Smithy that is very similar to the Shopsmith multi purpose woodworking machine. They claimed it was heavy duty enough to turn metal and could be used as a wood lathe, drill press, table saw etc. I've never been able to actually see one of these or talk to a user.

I could not find a web page but their phone number is 1-800-476-4849

Re: Req. for unusual lathe situation *LINK*

John Lucas

>Don't know why my search didn't bring it up the first time. The tool I'm talking about is the Totalshop.


http://www.smithy.com/

Re: Req. for unusual lathe situation

Bill Hale

>Wana Turn

Look for an old Atlas lathe. I believe they were last made in the mid 1930s. I have no facts about the lathe but I have one. I have heard they were made as a metal lathe and doubled as a wood lathe. Mine has a metal cutting tool holder that moves in two directions, manual.

When you start turning wood you will not want to bother with oily, dirty, etc. metal. So just get a good wood lathe and join the ranks of the addicted.

Good turning and be safe

Bill

Re: Req. for unusual lathe situation

Arch

>Hi Wanna, like driving a tractor for the family car, there are some metal-wood machine compomises that are not really practical and often these attempts have cost instead of saved. I have had poor results using milling vises and cross/compound slides on wood lathes to machine steel. Actually, using a milling vise on a _metal lathe is a poor compromise for me. Of course, there are those craftsmen better than I who can turn on an apple corer and mill on a coffee grinder. Why would you ever want to?

However, you and I can certainly turn wood on a metal lathe. Replace the compound slide with a woodturning tool rest long enough to reach over the gap, if there is one, but not foul an 'up close' tail center. A nice project for you. You could also make a hardwood gap filler. You probably want a vertical mill, but I have turned wood spindles on a little Atlas horizontal mill by adapting a tool rest to the locked down vise.

If you haven't you might want to join the active forums for users of small imported engine lathes as well as the metal working groups to see what is popular and available. Good for info, but trouble is, as said by others, a metal lathe with much swing isn't small or inexpensive and the cost of tooling rises exponentially. Arch

Re: Req. for unusual lathe situation

Fred in NC

>Ditto. I have one of each.

Re: Req. for unusual lathe situation

Jack (Turtle Workshop)

>Howdy,

I have an HF 9X20 and am very happy with it. I got it for a tad over 700 bucks including a 3 year extended warranty including a full exchange no questions asked during that period.

I've turned wood and metal. No sweat. It does have the limitations cited, but with a little imagination one can put a tool rest up there so you don't need to turn utilizing the QCTP. I've used all of my woodturning tools and they work fine.

About the only limitation is the max speed, but even that is not a problem. More of a perceived one that actual.

I can produce pens at a humungus rate on this lathe. That leaves my other 4 woodturning lathes for fun stuff. Sort of...

There is some fine people out there supporting the 9X20 lathes. Just type in 9 X 20 lathe in the URL line and you can confirm this.

Jack

PS: Now all I've got to do is some smooth talking regarding the mill...