Grinder/lathe question

[BobMac]

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

[Gerald Ross]

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

[Toller]

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

[Pop]

...

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

[mac davis]

Bad choice, IMO.. try for used washing machine motor... usually lots of power,

1,700 rpm or more and FREE.. Mac

[CW]

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

[BobMac]

Where?

BobMac