I am considering a home-made bowl lathe. I haven't yet looked at it, so I'd like to discuss what to look for.

The structure of the lathe is 3 heavy steel I-beams. The bed beam is about 7' long, and sits atop two shorter (about 30") cross beams, which form the base. Massive locking wheels. Weighs about 500 lbs.

The motor and spindle are mounted on 3 stacked-and-welded-together pieces of what looks like 6" square steel tube, each about a foot in length. The motor is a 1 hp Leeson direct current permanent magnet motor, with a Leeson Speedmaster variable speed drive. Runs on 240 or 120 volt. There is no tail stock. A fairly massive tool rest. Several face plates; no chuck included. Don't know the spindle size/threading yet. The swing must be about 36", plus or minus.


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Concerns:

1. Is the motor under-powered for something this massive? Replacing the motor would probably be expensive.

2. Don't know the speed range; will take a laser tachometer and check it out. What would you suggest is a desirable range for this sort of lathe?

3. How can you assess the condition of the spindle bearings? This thing is old.

4. The spindle drive pulley is exposed at the back end of the spindle. Not the safest setup!

I"m thinking it might be worth taking along a big bowl blank of the sort I'd probably use on it, mounting it on the face plate, and give it a spin. See how it spins up, how the tool rest fits, etc.

What would you be looking for, besides the above?