Take a look at this Shopsmith lathe

[Dave Lehnert]

Who needs an expensive lathe. With a few mods, anything is possible.
Talk about getting the most from your lathe.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQbzEz0-7X0

[Roger Chandler]

Well, I would have gone for a roughing gouge to do what he was trying to to in making the cylinder! As far as the rigging to put the two shopsmiths together and bolted to the posts............I guess where there is a will, there is a way! Pretty ingenious...........

I would love to see the finished post to see how he came out!

[Rick Markham]

The shopsmith sounds like it's getting a workout LOL. Don't get anything out of balance, it will knock your house down :D

[Sid Matheny]

Here is some more info on it.

http://timetofiddle.yolasite.com/turning-the-townhouse-posts.php

Sid

[Bernie Weishapl]

I agree with Rick. Out of balance it would be dancing.

[Norm Zax]

Id use a MUCH bigger roughing gouge. Also, may be safer to make (on the lathe) with a router (lathe shut down).

[Michael E. Thompson]

All I can say is WOW. Can't believe what people come up with.

[Steve Schlumpf]

That was scarey! Anything happen.... you have a long way to run to turn off the lathe!

[Russell Neyman]

Now I've seen everything; what could possibly go wrong...?

[Scott Lux]

Faceshield wouldn't be enough for me. I'd want full Steel Plate Armor. All Over. And a change briefs.

[Bill Bulloch]

Now that guy has his job cut out for him.

[Rick Markham]

Steve is right, if that thing decided to come off the "tailstock" (a.k.a. your house) the log will have rolled over you before you could get away from it.

[Russell Neyman]

My first "lathe" was a 1950's Shopsmith Mark V (manufactured back when the brand name was Magna) and I never considered it a very good machine for anything except casual spindle turning and small bowls. Just too light and worked at the wrong speeds for bowls or anything large and irregular, which is my type of turning. Seeing this, I guess I have to reconsider that opinion to a certain degree, because this guy IS turning this huge piece! It just looks so incredibly odd having this 15-foot, 300-pound timber mounted on two machines at one time, and rough cutting it with this tiny gouge on a tiny tool rest. Hmmm, I wonder if Shopsmith would honor his warranty if the motor burned up doing this?

Does anyone know if the project was completed?

As far as securing a Shopsmith (or any lightweight lathe) to the floor when vibration is a factor, a better way to do this is to sink eyebolts into the slab and then use truckbed tie-down straps, because you can secure them over the rails and cinch them down. They make some pretty good anchors nowadays.

[Steve Busey]

I saw a similar video (somewhere on the Woodworking Channel site) with local turner Nick Cook clamping two 3520Bs together, headstocks at the tail end of the beds, to turn what looked like a 4' long x 3' diameter log - the customer wanted an hourglass shape. The slow speed on his massive roughing gouge was beating him up pretty good! At one point in the video he says something like "This is where I regret answering the phone yesterday..."

[Brent VanFossen]

Id use a MUCH bigger roughing gouge. Also, may be safer to make (on the lathe) with a router (lathe shut down).

I like the router idea for roughing. Then, weld up a steel safety cage when it comes time to do the detail work. I can't imagine standing in front of that thing like that. That's a 350 lb roller press that would make short work of taking out both him and the building.

[Eric Holmquist]

Well I suspect that he is using the small gouge to avoid stalling the lathe. Someone posted a video of some hand cranked lathe turning 4' diameter items with what looked like a small spindle gouge.

[Curt Fuller]

Here, hold my beer!

You really gotta want a big post to take that much risk to get it.

[Dave Holmes]

He could have done the job quicker if he had bolted the post to a faceplate welded to a tire rim on the rear axle of a jacked up truck. By putting his family in the truck and filling the bed with rocks he could have damped down the vibration.

I'm glad he lived to tell the story.

[Denny Rice]

Invest in a bigger roughing gouge and a larger tool rest........Much larger.

[Jacob Reverb]

HOLD ONTO YOUR HAT! :eek:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/73/Slim-pickens_riding-the-bomb_enh-lores.jpg

[Russell Neyman]

Well, I wandered around the internet a bit, and came up with this photo. He seems to have succeeded in pulling this off, and I don't see any pools of blood on the floor or bent Shopsmith frames.

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