Rob Cunningham
12-31-2009, 11:05 AM
Each year I have the week off between Christmas and New Years. I usually try to do some shop maintenance or shop improvement. This year I focused on lathe stuff.
My first project was a donut chuck. It's made from 3/4" oak plywood that was left over from a project. I put t-nuts in the donut plate and use all-thread rod and wing nuts to tighten it down.
The next project was a set of Cole jaws for my Talon chuck. They are made from 3/8" Baltic Birch plywood and will take up to a 10 1/2" diameter.
I also made a steady rest, not nearly as nice as the ones Jeff makes, but it works.
My biggest accomplishment was to upgrade my lathe from a 4 step pulley to variable speed. I picked up a used treadmill for $20 and stripped the motor and control board from it. The motor is a 1 3/4 hp DC. The mounting plate fit without any modification so hooking it up was simple. I only got to play on the lathe a little bit yesterday but I know I'm really going to like this VS:D
My first project was a donut chuck. It's made from 3/4" oak plywood that was left over from a project. I put t-nuts in the donut plate and use all-thread rod and wing nuts to tighten it down.
The next project was a set of Cole jaws for my Talon chuck. They are made from 3/8" Baltic Birch plywood and will take up to a 10 1/2" diameter.
I also made a steady rest, not nearly as nice as the ones Jeff makes, but it works.
My biggest accomplishment was to upgrade my lathe from a 4 step pulley to variable speed. I picked up a used treadmill for $20 and stripped the motor and control board from it. The motor is a 1 3/4 hp DC. The mounting plate fit without any modification so hooking it up was simple. I only got to play on the lathe a little bit yesterday but I know I'm really going to like this VS:D