Retrofit

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onewaywood

onewaywood

Member
Joined
Aug 28, 2004
Messages
248
Location
Madison, WI, USA.
Ok first of all I know VERY little about metal Lathes but have a keen interest in them.Has anyone ever made some type of retrofit to turn
"no pun intended" regular wood lathe into a metal Lathe.?
 
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I know two things about this:
1. you can use your wood lathe and tools to cut soft metals such a aluminum, and
2. it would be way cheaper to buy a metal lathe than try to convert one, even if it were possible - and I don't think it is.
 
I have not done it myself but, I believe it is possible to turn a wood lathe into something that will function like a metal lathe as long as you do not mind the lack machine thread cutting and power feeds. The way you would go about this is to get a X Y table and mount it on the bed of your lathe if it has a big enough swing. If your lathe's swing is to small you can mount a chuck like you would for outboard turning and mount the table to the left of your headstock. The real trick with this is getting the horizontal travel of the X Y table to be perfectly parallel with the spindle, and everything has to be perfectly level otherwise your tool bit will not stay on center. After your table is mounted all you need is a tool post and some tooling. One of the problems this set up could have is a lack of rigidity which would lead to chatter. This method will give you a very small and primitive metal lathe, but for about the same price as it would cost you to set it up you could get yourself a small metal lathe and save yourself a great deal of frustration
 
JF36 said:
I have not done it myself but, I believe it is possible to turn a wood lathe into something that will function like a metal lathe as long as you do not mind the lack machine thread cutting and power feeds. The way you would go about this is to get a X Y table and mount it on the bed of your lathe if it has a big enough swing. If your lathe's swing is to small you can mount a chuck like you would for outboard turning and mount the table to the left of your headstock. The real trick with this is getting the horizontal travel of the X Y table to be perfectly parallel with the spindle, and everything has to be perfectly level otherwise your tool bit will not stay on center. After your table is mounted all you need is a tool post and some tooling. One of the problems this set up could have is a lack of rigidity which would lead to chatter. This method will give you a very small and primitive metal lathe, but for about the same price as it would cost you to set it up you could get yourself a small metal lathe and save yourself a great deal of frustration
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:biggrin: After reading all this....your last statement caught me off guard :biggrin: Kind of what I was thinking the whole time, but worth reading :wink:
 
Besides Jf36's answer which has merit. they did actually make what your looking for. I A bolt on unit that held a metal lathe tooling bit and allowed basic metal turning. The travel was limited. Atlas used to make then and I have seen others. Prices on the ones I saw on ebay were in the $200.00 range. You would have to make sure it traveled parallel to the axis and it was meant for the height of your brand of lathe
 
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What do you want to turn? Turning steel takes tons of torque, stronger chucks, better bearings, and the ability to run at slow speeds for longer than an electronic variable speed lathe will want to. If you want to turn aluminum, or soft non metallics, you can maybe rig up something marginal, with none of the benefits that a metal lathe can give you. It's really about like asking about converting a drill press into a wood lathe. It will spin the wood, but.......
 
I agree with everybody !! That's unusual !! I do have a 2 axis vice set up that fits on my Shop Smith to turn metal. I used it to turn brass miniture bed post for doll houses and other small objects. To keep this answer simple, A wood lathe is not designed to turn metal. Everything has to be perfectly aligned and level from side to side and end to end. I mean within a few thousands or less !! The cost of a good 2 or 3 axis vice alone could cost you the price on a small metal lathe. As stated above, a wood lathe can not take the loads of a metal lathe. Not worth the trouble !!! That being said, you can turn metal on a wood lathe if you use the proper and sharp hand tools. Of course you would be very limited as to what you could turn. Jim S
 
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First what are you wanting to try to make? Is this a large complicated item? Or some small intricate item? Last are you an "experimenter", someone that keeps thinking out of the box and going past the point of no return, trying to improve on what you are working on?

If the latter, forget the modifications, bite the bullet and buy a metal lathe, a real one, not a mini from Harbor Freight. Then find someone to teach the basics of how to use it, maybe a local vocational class or a retired machinist as a mentor.
 
The precision and rigidity of a wood lathe are nowhere near what is needed to make anything approaching a useful metal lathe and the work and cost involved would probably exceed the cost of an equivalent sized metal lathe designed to be one.
 
onewaywood said:
I did not have anything specific small things I guess just being cheap I mean frugal, so many things a person wants and can't have.
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Woodturning is expensive, metal turning is a lot more expensive. If you need $1000 in woodturning equipment, expect the amount for a metal lathe set up with tooling to cost $2000.

My suggestion would be to master the wood lathe, more tools and toys doesn't necessarily make a better craftsman, it usually means he has more money to spend.
 
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