Gallery, Projects and General > Project Logs
Building a New Lathe
Neubert1975:
--- Quote from: PekkaNF on July 01, 2018, 05:06:04 PM ---Starts to look like a proper Lathe!
--- End quote ---
agree :thumbup:
vtsteam:
Thanks, boys! :beer:
I'd like to see it make chips. But there's a lot of loose ends to get to before I can. For instance, the headstock is just sitting there.... not fastened down. Bearing grease and final alignment. Bearing swarf covers. tailstock ram, lock, and handle. Back plate for chuck. Motor tensioner. Tool mount. Compound slide. Dead centers. :whip:
Well some of those aren't strictly necessary to cut something, but in general, still a lot to do.
And today our thermometer hit 99 F. I had to mow lawns with tractor -- I'd let all that slip for a couple weeks while concentrating on this lathe. Basically it was haying, not mowing. We have 3 more days of this heat. Quite unusual for Vermont.
Oh also, I'm going to start to build a bridge this summer. That might slow things down. But I don't want to just stop, as I did the last few years, while building the "waterball" cistern. I'll try to get something done every day or so on the lathe.
vtsteam:
Excavator arrived today, and a lot of the block for the new bridge abutments. And another day in the upper nineties heat wave. But that didn't stop us from deciding to make it a casting day, too!
In the morning cool, I started on the pattern. I used cherry this time, as it takes nice detail, and has tight grain. I had to turn it and I didn't want any rough tear-outs. First I jigsawed out the rough blank, then sanded to the circle outline with my little disk sander set to a few degrees off square to add some draft to the pattern. Then I used a hole saw to open out the center. After that, I bored the center out a little more using the compound to again add a little draft.
Finally I coated the pattern with a sanding sealer, which I make by adding baby talcum powder to lacquer (the old fashioned talc kind, not the modern corn starch kind). This is the piece at that stage:
awemawson:
Steve,
If the bridge looks anything like as nice as the lathe it'll be pretty d... good :thumbup:
Pictures needed of course :clap:
vtsteam:
Thanks Andrew! :beer: I don't know how nice it will be, since it's a pretty utilitarian design by an engineer for a logging company that used to own this property. We're re-using those 20+ year old plans -- the approvals to do this have taken 6 months to straighten out, but we have the green light finally for excavating tomorrow. By re-using the plans, the approvals and permits were easier to get. It will be an amazing luxury to be able to drive to our house, rather than carry fuel and groceries by hand 600 feet up and down hill in winter (or heat wave as the case may be). Okay, I'll put some photos in the Watercooler section as it happens. :med:
Uhhhh where was I, oh yes the pattern......sanding the sealer makes nice baby powder dust and is super easy. The sealer dries in ten minutes also.
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