My guess is that most homebrew lathe builders who are not machinists use
solid bar stock for their spindles. Probably the best article I've seen
that gave plans for a homebrew wooden longbed lathe was published in one
of FWW's collections. The guy who built it was also a machinist so he
made his own MT spindle.

I never saw spindles for sale anywhere that were not stripped out of
some factory-built lathe and sold a la carte on eBay. I suppose you
could buy replacement parts from Delta, Jet or Grizzly but I think
they'd be expensive as heck. The problem for you if you buy one will be
to find ball bearing units that will fit it as the spindle shaft's
exterior dimensions are not necessarily uniform throughout its length.
It all depends on the casting into which the spindle shaft and bearings
were mounted. Dimensions seem to vary widely.

I've never tried it but a "morse taper sleeve" of suitable length and
diameter that will hold your MT2 center, chuck, etc. and which would be
mounted in a pair of ball bearing pillow blocks might work. Get the
sleeve first, and buy the pillow blocks to match. The sleeve will have
to be a good six inches long, maybe a little longer, and its exterior
diameter should be uniform throughout its length. If it works out you'll
have a lathe. If it doesn't you'll have a "learning experience."

J.


wrote:
I have done a lot of searching for home-built lathe plans on the web,
but haven't found that much. I'd like to build one myself for several
reasons, mainly because it would be fun, and I'm cheap. I know, I
know, I'll probably wind up spending more making something halfway
decent than just ponying up for a real lathe, but I'd like to give it a
go anyway.

Two things are holding me up from beginning: 1) a set of plans to at
least begin with, and 2) the source for the headstock and tailstock
spindles. I want MT #2, of course, because it seems that most of the
lathes use those. I just can't seem to find them on the web. I know
they must be there, I just don't seem to have the correct terminology
for what I want.

Has anyone out there built their own lathe and is willing to give me
some advice and warnings?

Thanks in advance.