Hi folks,
My latest project is to build a foot powered wood working lathe but there are a few points that I am having trouble with design wise and I would appreciate some advice.
I'm fairly good at working wood but I have very little experience working metal. There is, unfortunatly for me, two bits of the lathe that I think have to be fabricated in metal - the treadle mechanism and the head / tail stock.
I think I can probably muddle my way through a design for the head / tail stock (I was thinking of using a drill chuck or something similar) but the treadle mechanism has me stumped.
The current plan was to have something like this (excuse the bad art)
--B----| |--
--B----| |-- |A| | | -|D|-----| |-- -|D|-----| |-- | | | | |C| | | Z Z | | --E---------------F------ ------------------F------
That's a terrible drawing sorry :o)
A = Crank ~5cm B = Flywheel Axle C = Other Crank Bit ~30cm (Sorry don't know the correct names) D = Bearing (I hope) E = Another Bearing F = Treadle Plate (it's pivotted BTW) Z = Shows this bar is much longer than A
Can you buy this sort of set up? If so where as google has let me down. If not how would you go about producing this? I have considered butchering a couple of bicycle pedles but that feels like a really bad solution.
Many Thanks,
Graham