Me steps in and raises hat, bowing slightly to all present.

I am a long time mostly-lurker here, who has come up with a question for
the great minds here assembled:

I am working on a design for a home-made lathe. Powering it has become a
serious design-decision milestone. (i.e. I don't have a clue how I'm
going to do it.)

I notice that most fractional-horsepower motors cost about $100. I've
recently notice that a cheap bench grinder costs perhaps half that. If I
put a pulley on a bench grinder and use the grinder to power the lathe,
am I doing something very clever, or very dumb?

BobMac

BobMac wrote:
Me steps in and raises hat, bowing slightly to all present.

I am a long time mostly-lurker here, who has come up with a question for
the great minds here assembled:

I am working on a design for a home-made lathe. Powering it has become a
serious design-decision milestone. (i.e. I don't have a clue how I'm
going to do it.)

I notice that most fractional-horsepower motors cost about $100. I've
recently notice that a cheap bench grinder costs perhaps half that. If I
put a pulley on a bench grinder and use the grinder to power the lathe,
am I doing something very clever, or very dumb?

BobMac
Unless you're just going to turn chopsticks, it will probably be under
powered.

--
Gerald Ross
Cochran, GA

When you do a good deed, get a
receipt, in case heaven is like the IRS.





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"BobMac" wrote in message
...
Me steps in and raises hat, bowing slightly to all present.

I am a long time mostly-lurker here, who has come up with a question for
the great minds here assembled:

I am working on a design for a home-made lathe. Powering it has become a
serious design-decision milestone. (i.e. I don't have a clue how I'm going
to do it.)

I notice that most fractional-horsepower motors cost about $100. I've
recently notice that a cheap bench grinder costs perhaps half that. If I
put a pulley on a bench grinder and use the grinder to power the lathe, am
I doing something very clever, or very dumb?

Used lathes, with tools, go for about $70. Why would you want to build one.

....

I notice that most fractional-horsepower motors cost about
$100. I've recently notice that a cheap bench grinder costs
perhaps half that. If I put a pulley on a bench grinder and use
the grinder to power the lathe, am I doing something very
clever, or very dumb?

BobMac

Bad choice, IMO; grinders are low torque, lathes need a lot more
torque. especially getting started with stock inst. My 3/4 motor
was underpowered for my lathe for anything over a couple inches
in diameter so upped to a 1 HP and that's much better for my
purposes. Either that or you'll be limited to very slow turning
speeds and you won't like that much. And of course you really
can't do without the multiple speeds; either step pulleys or
motor controls. I have a 6 step pulley system myself. 125 rpm
to, I think, 3600 for fine finishing, etc.
FWIW, I also have a bar I can put a grinding wheel on for
rough grinds. No slowing that baby down when grinding! No good
for fine work, though; too much runout; can't keep it "tuned"
well enough for higher speeds.

HTH,
Pop

On Tue, 09 May 2006 18:15:38 -0400, BobMac wrote:

Me steps in and raises hat, bowing slightly to all present.

I am a long time mostly-lurker here, who has come up with a question for
the great minds here assembled:

I am working on a design for a home-made lathe. Powering it has become a
serious design-decision milestone. (i.e. I don't have a clue how I'm
going to do it.)

I notice that most fractional-horsepower motors cost about $100. I've
recently notice that a cheap bench grinder costs perhaps half that. If I
put a pulley on a bench grinder and use the grinder to power the lathe,
am I doing something very clever, or very dumb?

BobMac

Bad choice, IMO.. try for used washing machine motor... usually lots of power,
1,700 rpm or more and FREE..
Mac

https://home.comcast.net/~mac.davis
https://home.comcast.net/~mac.davis/wood_stuff.htm

If you can find one that the washer itself is not the motor frame.

"mac davis" wrote in message
...

Bad choice, IMO.. try for used washing machine motor... usually lots of
power,
1,700 rpm or more and FREE..
Mac

https://home.comcast.net/~mac.davis
https://home.comcast.net/~mac.davis/wood_stuff.htm

Toller wrote:

Used lathes, with tools, go for about $70.



Where?

BobMac