Know anyone planning to build a BIG LATHE?
Keith Newton
Extra heavy-duty bowl lathe? On another site, I was looking through a forum for shop built tools, and the lathes were just awful.
Back when I built my big lathe, which I used the headstock from an old Railroad shop lathe dedicated for turning the wheels of rail cars. I used the headstock because it already had a 4.5" diameter arbor with double tapered roller bearings.
However, I did bring the tailstock casting back to the shop, where it has been back in a corner collecting dust for about 20 years. That heavy casting would make a fine, very stable lathe. I don't know how much it weighs, but I would guess 500 #.
It has a 20.5" square base with 1.25" thick flanges drilled for 4 1" bolts on 2 sides. Its 31" tall, so 27" to center of spindle.
The business end/ top is a 18" long cylinder 9" D with a 5" bore, leaving 2" wall thickness. I believe I recall looking up 5" bearings would have a 2" inside, for spindle diameter. At that diameter I would extend it out about 6" to allow more room to get behind the faceplate without fighting the headstock with the tool handle.
If I were to build another using this myself, I would build a concrete form, then I would take it out somewhere in the dirt, where I would dig a hole to stand it upside down, then pour it full of concrete with lots of heavy scrap steel to add to the total weight. There would also be L anchor bolts through the flange holes as well, and I would be tempted to extend 4 foot tabs from the corners where it rest on the floor. This would bring the total weight up to about 1500# by the time a 5 hp motor and VFD is added on.
I also have a good friend that is semi-retired machine shop genius that I can get to do any of the stuff I can't take care of myself.
If any of you know someone wanting to move on up, put them in touch with me, and I'll send some pics.