How or Can this be done without a lathe?

[dennis thompson]

I make models and I am now making a steam powered old time fire engine . I need to make a boiler that is round with a 2 1/4" diameter about 3" long. I don't have a lathe. Is there any way to make this without a lathe?
Thanks

[Sam Force]

Maybe someone could turn 1 for you. A small job, if closer I would give you a piece. Surely some closer will help you out.

[Justin Rapp]

Dennis

There is a wood-working show this weekend in secaucus nj. There are usually some turning clubs setup there with lathes making small projects on mini-lathes. You might be able to get one of them to turn a block of wood for you to the size you want.

Just a thought...

Justin

[Doug Garson]

Is it going to be painted? If so, you could make several discs using a hole saw, glue them together, fill any gaps, sand and paint. You can also buy 2 1/4" dowell and just cut to length.

[Jamie Buxton]

You can get quite close without a lathe. Use a table saw, a hand plane, and a little sandpaper. Use the the saw to make a blank which is octagonal in cross section. Make it a foot long or so. Use the hand plane to change the octagon to a circle. It is really pretty easy - might take you ten minutes. Use the sandpaper to remove the faceting left by the plane.

[Andy D Jones]

If you have a drill press, you could drill through the center of the blank, insert a bolt through it, tighten a nut on in, then chuck the excess bolt in the drill press. Use files/rasps/sandpaper to "turn" down to the diameter you want.

I would start out with an octagonal blank, rather than rectangular (cross-section).

Andy - Arlington TX

[Frederick Skelly]

* You could probably whittle a block pretty close to round and then use a rasp and sandpaper to do the final shaping. I think I'd practice on scrap first, just to get the hang of it. (A hand plane or draw knife would work for initial shaping too - I've done it with a hand plane.)

* You can buy 2 1/4" dowel online LINK (https://www.caseyswood.com/shoppingcart/zen-cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=2677)

* You could probably have one made at a cabinet shop or lumber yard that does millwork

[Bruce Page]

If you have a drill press, you could drill through the center of the blank, insert a bolt through it, tighten a nut on in, then chuck the excess bolt in the drill press. Use files/rasps/sandpaper to "turn" down to the diameter you want.

I would start out with an octagonal blank, rather than rectangular (cross-section).

Andy - Arlington TX

I've done this. Make the blank as round as possible before turning.

[John K Jordan]

I make models and I am now making a steam powered old time fire engine . I need to make a boiler that is round with a 2 1/4" diameter about 3" long. I don't have a lathe. Is there any way to make this without a lathe?
Thanks

You might have a lathe and not know it.

I met a man in Venice, Italy who made many clever very things in a tiny shop. He showed me his "lathe". It was a Dewalt electric drill fastened to the workbench with a clamp. He made turning tools by sharpening screwdrivers and such.

In this picture he is fetching something from the display window on the street.

427072

JKJ

[Andrew Joiner]

Use this on all 4 edges of 2 1/4" x 2 1/4" stock. https://www.whitesiderouterbits.com/collections/roundover/products/201 (https://www.whitesiderouterbits.com/collections/roundover/products/2013)

I made most round pieces this way even when I had a lathe. With a good set-up in a router table it's fast and you can do long lengths.

[Jacob Reverb]

I need to make a boiler that is round with a 2 1/4" diameter about 3" long.

Would a standard tomato paste can work? Dimensions are pretty close: 2-3/16" diameter x 3-3/8" long

[Edwin Santos]

Do you have a bandsaw?

If so, what I would do is make a jig from a scrap piece of mdf or whatever. Double stick tape it to the bandsaw table, after drilling a hole for a #17 brad nail 1 1/8 from the edge. This is the radius of your circle. using the nail as your pivot point, cut enough 2 1/4 discs to make up your 3" length. Glue them together and you have your part.
Instead of a nail as your pivot point, you could use a 1/4" dowel. This will require 1/4 pilot holes in your blanks, which you can then glue together with 1/4" dowels to register them perfectly and keep them in place.

Alternatively, here is a place that sells 2 1/4" dowel stock, 36" length in Ash for under $20 though I don't know what they charge for shipping: https://www.caseyswood.com/shoppingcart/zen-cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=2677

[Jim Becker]

Lots of ways to do it...one is to rough work a billet at the table saw into a hexagon and then us hand tools to round it off just like guitar builders do necks.

You can also find someone to turn the cylinder for you...

[Tony Zona]

Table saw lathe jig. Others like this are on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp5n7SpzGLE

[Bill Dufour]

Clarification needed... is this a steam powered model or a wood, non-working model? Huge difference in construction of a boiler. Also ask your insurance agent.
Bill D.

[Bruce Wrenn]

You could use a router to make it. Search for "turning rolling pins using a router."

[Bill Dufour]

Only the front 2/3 of the boiler will be round. How will you transition to the firebox and water leg portion? max PSI?
Bil lD

[Jacob Reverb]

If it's over 14 psi, you'll need to have a licensed operating engineer. Prolly should also stay away from softwoods. ;-)

[Jim Becker]

Clarification needed... is this a steam powered model or a wood, non-working model? Huge difference in construction of a boiler. Also ask your insurance agent.
Bill D.
All of his prior projects (posted in the Woodworking Projects area) are wooden (non-powered) vehicle models...I would assume this will be similar.

[Charles P. Wright]

I needed to make quarter rounds with a 4" diameter (2" radius) for a vanity that I am in the middle of. I used basically a rotisserie on the bandsaw. You just need to have something high enough and with a center point that is equal to your radius on the blade. Then a Lee valley bow sander to get them nice and smooth. My situation called for some longer stuff (~12" and 30" long) , so I did it horizontally; but I think yours could be done vertically just as easily since there will be less work holding concerns. The sanding to smooth actually goes really quickly if you have enough segments as part of your circle.

[dennis thompson]

As I said I need a 3" dowel thicker than is normally available. Many excellent solutions were proposed by members here, here is my solution:427207
Yes I know it's Harbor Freight, please don't yell at me.

[John K Jordan]

As I said I need a 3" dowel thicker than is normally available. Many excellent solutions were proposed by members here, here is my solution:427207
Yes I know it's Harbor Freight, please don't yell at me.

Oh No! You now you've done it, invoked the danger of sliding into the vortex of woodturning. :)

[Alex Zeller]

I can't believe that nobody said buy a lathe. A perfectly good reason to buy a new tool? Sorry to say but I agree with John. That HF is officially known as the "more" lathe. Once you get one you will want to turn more. As you do you will want a bigger better lathe. It doesn't end well (as far as your wallet is concerned).

[George Yetka]

Can you just use 2 hole saws? 3" long may be more than most holesaws offered but you could flip the workpiece

[Doug Garson]

Nobody said buy a lathe because the question was "how to do this without a lathe?" So I'm afraid Dennis your solution is rejected and your not allowed to buy that lathe until you find a better excuse. https://forum.canadianwoodworking.com/core/images/smilies/1rofl.gif

[dennis thompson]

Nobody said buy a lathe because the question was "how to do this without a lathe?" So I'm afraid Dennis your solution is rejected and your not allowed to buy that lathe until you find a better excuse. https://forum.canadianwoodworking.com/core/images/smilies/1rofl.gif

How about the fact that the Dow went up 1293 points today😊 and I need to spend it fast before it goes down again😯

[Jim Becker]

As I said I need a 3" dowel thicker than is normally available. Many excellent solutions were proposed by members here, here is my solution:427207
Yes I know it's Harbor Freight, please don't yell at me.

Honestly, I think you made a good decision there in support of your model making. This tool will come in handy for many things in addition to the matter at hand. You'll have to start hanging out in the Turning forum area now, too..."you have been assimilated". :) :D

[Larry Edgerton]

I like the way your mind works Dennis! I need to rotate the tires on my truck, so I am ordering a hoist!:D

[Justin Rapp]

I like the way your mind works Dennis! I need to rotate the tires on my truck, so I am ordering a hoist!:D

Larry - You just made me almost spit my drink all over my laptop when I read this. I have a Jeep and do a 5 tire rotation. I use my hard top hoist mounted on the ceiling of my garage to help with the 107 pound tire/wheel on the rear carrier!

Work smarter not harder!

[John K Jordan]

I like the way your mind works Dennis! I need to rotate the tires on my truck, so I am ordering a hoist!:D


Larry - You just made me almost spit my drink all over my laptop when I read this. I have a Jeep and do a 5 tire rotation. I use my hard top hoist mounted on the ceiling of my garage to help with the 107 pound tire/wheel on the rear carrier!


I like the way you all think!

I needed a way to lift logs off the ground to make it easier on my back when chainsawing woodturning blanks:

427257

Justin, I don't know what they weigh but wrangling a tire on my skid steer or the front of the tractor always kills me. On the rare occasion one goes flat and pops the bead it's in the mud where it was hard to see it was getting low on air. Even rotating the tires on my diesel truck wears this old guy out. Hmm, whatever could I use for lifting?...

JKJ

[dennis thompson]

So here's my first work in process lathe project. It's a 7" by 2 1 \4" dowel, soon to be made ( hopefully) into a boiler for a model steam fire engine. So far it only cost about $ 50 per inch 😊427330
Added a clearer picture

[Jim Becker]

Oh, look...it's actually doing a dance in anticipation of all the boiling it's going to do. LOL (blurry image) :) :D Seriously, nice job. Like I said previously, that will be a very handy tool for what you do.

[Pete Staehling]

I made lots of similar wooden parts before I had a lathe.

If having a hole through the center os okay turning it on the drill press becomes easier. A bolt through the center makes it easy to chuck in the drill press. Making it square then octagonal then 16 sided using a plane makes the turning easier. In fact it isn't too hard to keep going with the plane until you switch to sandpaper and not turning it at all. It requires a little patience, but isn't all that hard if you take small careful steps. A template of a half circle the desired diameter is helpful as you get close to the final size and shape.

As others have mentioned there are many other options as well.