On Thu, 27 Oct 2005 14:22:51 +0100, doozer
wrote:

My latest project is to build a foot powered wood working lathe but there
are a few points that I am having trouble with design wise and I would
appreciate some advice.

Have you thought about a spring pole lathe? Far simpler to make, although
the action is intermittent. The idea might be 600 years (approx) old, (and
I think rather more) but is still sound. It takes some skill, but then any
wood-turning operation does.

http://www.historicgames.com/lathes/springpole.html

for a starter. The kilt is clearly an optional thing. Perhaps you could
find an old leaf spring ply to suit. Many years ago I and a few other
students built a crossbow with one. After we tested it and shot a bolt 3"
into a brick wall the head of craft pointedly locked it into the display
cabinet. Probably for the best, in retrospect.

I'm fairly good at working wood but I have very little experience working
metal. There is, unfortunatly for me, two bits of the lathe that I think
have to be fabricated in metal - the treadle mechanism and the head /
tail
stock.

You might have to bite the bullet and buy a morse taper centre. The other
thing that occurs is a boring old plumb-bob. I think that should be OK for
woodworking tolerances. if you include a peg on the headstock, you will
only have to use a dowel, G-cramp mole grip or similar to force the
workpiece to rotate.

John Schmitt

--
Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/mail/