Home made bowl lathe

[Dale Winburn]

I'm new to Sawmill Creek, I joined in the fall of 2009 and this is my first post. I enjoy reading the posts, especially in the Turner's Forum.

I have enjoyed wood turning, including bowls, for many years but with family and work did not get to spend much time in the shop.

Several years back I started building a home made bowl lathe. I built the spindle assemble back then, it laid around the shop for years and followed me through several work related moves.

I retired at the end of 2009 and have finally finished the lathe. The lathe works even better that my expectations, it's bolted to the floor and is very solid.

The lathe has a 1 horsepower motor with a speed range of approximately 575 - 2300 RPM.

The bowl being turned is a 13" x 4" green cherry blank. In the last photo the bowl is ready to be anchorseal'ed and put up to dry.

[Paul Atkins]

Looks good to me! What is the headstock bearing setup? Is it available anywhere?How big is the spindle and is it hollow?

[Tim Rinehart]

Looks like about 2 HP and 20"...and very compact. I suppose you can always reposition a new set of tool holder mounting holes lower to increase capacity if needed.

Looks well made. What did you use for spindle material, and final size? Looks like about a 2" pillow block bearing...nice.

I'm sure there will be drool threads all about on this one! Super job!

[Bill Bolen]

Now that is an impressive fabrication job and she looks like she works quite well! Congrat's on a fine "home made" tool. Home made tools always add a lot of enjoyment to any project...Bill..

[John Keeton]

Simple, and well done!!

[Baxter Smith]

That is a pretty neat bowl lathe! Well done.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Dale - Welcome!

Really nice lathe design! Well thought out! Looking forward to seeing some of your work!

[David DeCristoforo]

That looks awesome. I do have a question though. In the first pic, there is no switch box. In the other three, there is and it would appear that it is positioned in a manner that might interfere with the tool rest in the event that you wanted to work on the headstock side of the billet. I guess maybe you never would...

[Dale Winburn]

The pillow block & bearings were scrounged at a junk yard. I turned the spindle on my old South Bend metal lathe, it is 1 1/2" x 8 threads/inch, same as my South Bend.
It is not hollow.

[Dale Winburn]

The pillow block & bearings were scrounged at a junk yard. I turned the spindle on my old South Bend metal lathe, it is 1 1/2" x 8 threads/inch, same as my South Bend and is not hollow.

As shown I can turn an 18 inch blank, however, the tool rest bed can be lowered 5" so I could then turn a 28" blank. It has 1 horse power motor.

[Dale Winburn]

The first picture was taken when I finished the basic lathe, the switch is on a table to left side. And yes the switch does interfere with tool positioning occasionally, I may consider moving the switch some day.

[Paul Engle]

Excellent work indeed !, just add a VFD or DC w/VS and you got it down to under 100 rpm for the bigger / out of balance stuff . :D

[alex carey]

wow, very cool lathe, looks very economic, nice job.

[Brad Vaughn]

I just love the wet stain on the wall :eek:
I cant wait to take on building on like it just need the time.
Nice job.
Brad

[Mike McAfee]

Now how cool is that! I just love shop built equipment and tools and this bowl lathe is a dandy!

MMc

[Jeff Nicol]

That looks real nice! Great idea and small footprint. I have lots of old motors laying around and maybe a guy could build one like that for smaller items also. Or a giant one for the real big stuff! Maybe pour a large foundation and footing and build a shop around it.......Mmmmmm lots of wheels spinning in my too full head!

Thanks for sharing,

Jeff

[Richard Madison]

That's a great looking lathe. As mentioned, just need to add a 1.5 or 2 hp. vfd motor for those larger, out of balance chunks.

[Mark Hazelden]

Welcome Dale.

I enjoy seeing people making and using their own tools. Well done.

Do you turn the tenon to hold the bowl blank on another lathe and then transfer it to the bowl lathe or do you have a tail stock for this lathe?

[David E Keller]

That looks great. I would consider moving the switch to the end of the horizontal post that supports the banjo(not sure what you call that portion of a lathe like this.

[Rich Aldrich]

Nice lathe. Great idea and relatively inexpensive, I would think. You could even add variable speed later. The capacity potential is interesting, maybe even scary.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Welcome to SMC Dale. Dale that is a pretty cool bowl lathe.

[Ryan Baker]

Looks good. I think you need to drop the speed range a bit though. Nice compact design.

[Steve Vaughan]

Was looking at the pictures and thinking too, I just love good-looking homemade stuff. Really a great job there!

[Donny Lawson]

Dale, would it be possible to take a few more pictures of the sides and maybe a few closeups? I would like to try to make one if that's alright with you.If you can add some sizes in there.I would like a lathe just for bowls and it would free up my other lathe for other smaller items.Thanks.
Donny

[Marc Kohlbauer]

That is too cool! I want one! I guess I will have to start looking for some parts.

[charlie knighton]

nicely done....

[Joshua Dinerstein]

That is truly awesome! Well done!

Joshua

[Charlie Reals]

I want one!!:eek: That is truly awesome Dale. I can see one right under a shade tree. Again, awesome job.
Charlie

[Terry Murphy]

When you get it to my place, call on your cell, and I will get my son to help us carry it in.
Great lathe!

Terry