Some news

I haven´t been active here for a while but I have made some progress and now I can say that the lathe is finished.
 Here is a table made for the lathe and a some dust and woodchips:

 I mounted new (used one, but new for me) stronger motor. It is about 1.5 HP 3phase motor, so it needed rewireing and new stronger switch. Also it is slower, so I can use other gearing pulleys too.

 The switch box consists of old main switch and a plactic box. I also added an extra cable for lights, so I do not have to plug in too many cords. It is more convenient because the power comes from other room with an extension cord. Plastic bag is there to avoid dust entering the switch.

 I have turned some plates too, but I do not have the pictures yet.

Also I have started another project, a bandsaw similar to Matthias Wandel´s on woodgears.ca
I haven´t made  a decision on the frame material- metal or wood. But about that on another time and another place.

New turning pojects

First bowl is done like others: turned, sanded, finished. But that way it has quite rough surface because oiling makes the wood wet and wood fibers rise and make not very good surface and a lot of sanding is needed. All of that has to be made by hand.

The second one is finished on lathe. Like that you can sand between coats of finish and that way the surface is smooth and more comfortable to touch.

And the third one is made by my brother.

More bowls

I made two bowl for gift. Made from pine and finished with cooking oil to be on a safe side:)

 

Some things I have turned so far

A wooden hammer

Several days have passed doing nothing on the lathe.But I have made a frame for the table where the lathe should rest. Today I finally made something: A wooden hammer. Handle is turned out of wet birch and head is turned from aspen.

Construction

Putting it back together took less than an hour. Now the lathe is finished and first sanding try is done.
Measured up largest stock too: 125cm(50in) in length and 50cm (19 in) in diameter.

 

 All fasteners needed

 

Painting

Today I got grinding done, sandpaper clued and painting done too. I took it apart to make painting easier. then washed oil and dust away and hanged all the parts to the ceiling. And painting could began. Painting job was done with air compressor and paint gun. It looks fine gray now.

Sander

Today I finally got to the sander part of the lathe. I welded a nut to the metal plate and drilled a locking hole into the nut. Threaded with M6 thread a locking bolt can be tightened to avoid unscrewing. Metal sheet wasn't flat so I attached a pine board to it with screws and sanded it flat. Also I made frame to the sanding support board. It was kind of tricky to get it to the right angle but it looks fine now. Now the Lathe is waiting for some grinding and painting. Also the sanding plate needs a  sandpaper to be glued on. Motor is mounted too.

lathe itself

Whole lathe looks like this:

An a lot of woodshavings:

Turning jobs done before finishing

First I tried to make something with smaller diameter because of high speed with 1:2 temporary belt reduction and temporary placed motor.

 Then I made my first really useful thing on my lathe: a new handle for my umbrella.

And in place: Larger nut is for opening.

 Trying somethin larger with holding plate. Birch log was half dry half wet and with my bad chisels and too high speed (1400rpm) didn't get good results.

 And something really useful for the lathe:

 A six speed speed reduction pulley. To turn straight pulley I had to drill 20mm hole before turning and then replace lathe's shaft with longer to mount stock on the shaft.

 It is made out of green birch log. I grinded a spechial chisel out of an old file for the belt grooves. Guality is fine and I hope that it will not brake while drying.

Bearings

I used ucf 204  square flanged cast housing:20mm inner diameter bearings Mounted to the u channels with 10mm bolts.

 To hold stock I have made one bowl holder and one spindle holder out of metal plate and 20mm nut. To make round plates I used grinder while turning roughly cut and nut welded in place on plate. Finished product is quite strait.

Welding done

Having shopped for materials and looking around house, cutting and welding could begun. For the main shaft and tailstock I took 20mm threaded rod. I wanted with 8.8 strength but got 4.4 one. 2 metres were about 10 euros.

 Tailstock and support are sliding on two 38mm pipes. Large homemade washers clamp both of them to the bed. I added a short pipe to the supports washer to lock it between bed pipes. The nuts were made better too.