Hi All,
Just thought I’d share this. I built this lathe while I was restoring my Tannewitz Model FDS (I'll post about that soon, if you can't wait here are photos). The motivation to build such a machine was driven mostly by the fact that I couldn’t afford a $5,000+ commercial bowl lathe. The hollow sections of the lathe are filled with sand to reduce vibration and increase the weight.
The head stock is from an old Logan lathe. It has a #3MT in the spindle and the threads are 1 1/2×8. I bought a Vicmarc 120 chuck along with the 9” jaws for the lathe. I love this chuck! The tailstock has a #2 MT. The quill is from an old drill press, and it advances in the same manner as a drill press.
As far as the cost goes, I acquired many of the parts from friends and family for free. I also had unlimited access to a local friends machine shop. My cost was close to $750. Most of that was spent purchasing the VFD, brake module, controls, pulleys, and tooling for the actual machining of the lathe.
To date the largest piece I’d turned is a 19” x 4” platter.
Specs:
54” Swing
18” Between Centers
~1300 pounds
2 hp 3 phase motor
VFD controlled
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