"Bob May" wrote in message
...
You just need any old reduction system, gearbox or a set of sheaves to get
the speed you want and a nice plate on the end of the reduction with an
eccenctric pin to make the back and forth motion on the lathe will do
fine -
sort of like a steam engine being driven by the flywheel.
While the treadle lathe in any of it's various forms is nice, they really
weren't that good for turning except to show for what the oldtimers back
then really had to put up with.
FWIW, the Woodwright Shop (PBS) does have a tape on doing a treadle lathe
and springpole lathes have also been shown in other episodes.
--
Why do penguins walk so far to get to their nesting grounds?


Bob, I think it is a little more complicated than that. The system you are
describing would not impart 3 revolutions forward, and then 3 backward.
Rather, the spindle would simply oscillate back and forth. If I had a
cutter on each side of the blank, that might work. But with only one
cutter, and the wood not making a full revolution, it really wouldn't work.

Incidentally, I have not changed my plans. I will use a hydraulic pump and
a hydraulic motor, with the control valve actuated by a DC gearmotor. The
DC will give me a variable (within limits) speed, plus by changing the
parameters of the mechanical linkage to the control valve, I can fine tune
the amount of revs it makes before reversing.

I like the Woodwright Shop, but as I have built 3 very heavy duty lathes in
the past (plus several lighter duty lathes), I will not try to re-invent the
pole lathe. But I do want to see if the recip action will actually work as
well as I imagine.

Thanks for the reply.
James Johnson
Founding member of the American Association of Woodturners.