This is a homemade wood lathe project. It’s made up of a headstock, drive motor, carriage, tailstock, and bed. The lathe supports a work piece up to 8” diameter and up to 18” long, and so maybe that is classified as a mini-lathe. I tried to make the mini-lathe as small and lightweight as possible without making the design and build overly complicated.
The objective was to design it inexpensive to see if I like using wood lathes. The project cost me about 20 dollars for the bearings & the hardware since all the wood used is scrap and the motor is shared with my drill press. It only takes about 5minutes to swap the motor back and forth between the lathe and drill press.
The bed is cut from a scrap piece of 2×6 fir that is screwed down at each corner to the workbench. And the bed can be extended for longer work pieces.
The tailstock slides along a track in the bed and is secured by a nut knob.
Both the tailstock and the headstock use two inexpensive flange bearings that are mounted with four bolts. ½” diameter threaded bolts are used for the axels. The inside flange bearing is used to rotationally support the work piece, the outside flange bearing is used to constrain side to side movement.
The position of the headstock and tailstock axels can be adjusted by moving the flange bearing position so that both axels are properly aligned.
Both axels are sharpened to point to hold the work piece in place.
The tailstock uses a live center meaning the axel rotates along with the work piece. This is why there is two flange bearing in the tailstock. A dead center tailstock is easier to make but doesn’t rotate and so there will be constant friction between the work piece and a dead center.
The live center clamps down on the work piece by tightening this nut. The other 3 nuts are tightened to lock the axel to the outside flange thrust bearing.
This is the carriage assembly for supporting chisels. There’s a nut knob for adjusting in or out, and then another nut knob for pivoting or up/down adjustment. The base of the carriage is solid oak making the carriage very sturdy.
There is a 1 ½ inch wide by 1/8” thick steel bar that’s screwed into the carriage here that protects the carriage from damage caused by wood chisel catches.
The headstock axel uses a spur center currently. It’s a ½” coupler nut that has points cut in it with a dremil. The points bite into the work piece preventing it from free spinning. In the future I’ll be making different mount methods such as a face place, and chucks for both the headstock and tailstock. And also I’m going to try to make a duplicator carriage assembly.
The headstock is enclosed except for this area in the back in case the drive belt breaks or comes loose. Same as with the tailstock there’s a nut knob securing the headstock and two flange bearings. As a note the headstock can be slide back and forth and also even rotated 180degrees if for example later turning a larger diameter work piece off the edge of the workbench.
There’s a single plywood pulley for drive belt and so there’s no adjustment on the headstock.
The motor is 1700rpm & 2/3 horsepower so it has plenty of power and won’t overheat like if using a hand drill or other small motor. There’s several pulley settings where I can get about 800 to 2500 rpm at the work piece.
I didn’t want to wear out the drill press drive belt so I got one for a dollar at a garage sale but it’s too long to ideally mount the motor direct to the head stock. So I made a simple mount that screws to the workbench. The can be moved front to back to tension the belt and side to side for the different pulley options. Then bolts holding the mount retightened.
If any questions or improvements for this project just let me know. And if you liked the video, feel free comment, like & subscribe to my channel for more.
Departmental Procedures & Guidelines for Inspections, Certifications, Load Testing, Repairs & Painting of Fire Escapes
Inspections by Structural Engineers, Fire Escape Engineers or others acceptable to the Official:
In layman’s terms, the city official is looking for a registered structural engineer or others qualified and acceptable by the Fire/Code Official to do a Critical Examination in lieu of a Live Load Test (criteria submitted or discussed prior to inspection) and issues written verification and certification that all connections are free of internal rust or rot as well as all original hardware (square head bolts or rivet) are reinforced and or replaced in lieu of Live Load Test. All supports (thru-bolts or cemented) into the wall must be verified and certified in lieu of Live Load Test. A fire escape confidence test and tag must be submitted if fire escape passed. The report with photos identifying violations for repairs must include repair criteria submitted to the official for repair vendor to use as a guide during and with engineer oversight of permitted repairs. A Fire Escape Confidence Test and tags identifying certified condition are then submitted. Recommended cycle for live load testing is 20 yrs after total refurbishment or as required by official.
Repairs by Ornamental Ironworkers, Welding Companies or others acceptable to the Official:
In layman’s terms, the city official is looking for a qualified licensed repair vendor to do all work under repair permit (if required) with engineer oversight of repair criteria submitted for approval to the official in lieu of Live Load Test. All connections must be free of internal rust or rot, spot primed and sealed. All worn material repaired and or replaced. All supports into wall reinforced, repaired and certified in a Fire Escape Confidence Test. In lieu of Live Load Test, all square head bolts, rivets and or welded connections must be certified, reinforced and or replaced based on age or condition. All ladders and cantilevers must be balanced and drop 2-3 ft per second, hit the ground and stay down and must lead to a public way. All roof ladders must be secure. No full painting of any fire escape until all spot painted repairs are inspected and certified under engineer oversight and or city official permit sign-off. Full replacement is subject to permits and or possible code upgrade requirements.
Painting by EPA Licensed Renovators (if lead paint is present) or others acceptable to Official:
In layman’s terms, the city official is looking for a paint vendor (EPA Certified Renovator if required) to do all work as per EPA Guidelines due to the fact that all fire escapes older than 1978 are presumed to have lead (EPA) unless identified as no lead or low lead by a licensed lead inspector. Entire building will be notified with signage and all precautions shall be taken to collect paint chips at grade. No sandblasting or power assisted scraping without full fire escape encapsulation under EPA Guidelines. All major connection shall be sealed from water intrusion before during or after painting. All escapes should be spot painted every 3-5 yrs and fully painted every 5-10 yrs or as needed or ordered by a Fire/Code Official.
Fire Escape Codes:
NFPA Lifesafety Code 101 7.2.8.6.2 The authority having jurisdiction shall be permitted to approve any existing fire escape Stair that has been shown by load test or other satisfactory evidence to have adequate strength.
For more information please visit our website at https://fireescapeengineers.com or call 866-649-0333
Fire Escape Engineers is an approved member of the Fire Escape Services Network https://www.fireescpeservices.com and a founding member of the National Fire Escape Association (NFEA) https://www.nationalfireescapeassociation.org