lathe - metal or wood?

[Rich Andrews]

I was thinking about getting a lathe but was wondering if a metal lathe would not suffice as a wood lathe too. Any suggestions or recommendations?

Rich

[Bob Kuphal]

[Rick Frazier]

Rich:

It all depends on what you want to turn. Given a decent metal lathe, you should be able to turn wood if you just make a tool rest. Of course, if you turn green wood, you'll need to do something to protect the ways and cross-slide table from the water, or you'll end up with a rusty mess.

I currently have both a chinese manufactured (gasp!) metal lathe and a couple of wood lathes, and use each for their intended purpose, most of the time. My big wood lathe has bigger bearings on a wider spread than my metal lathe, (both are timken tapered rollers) so I do press it into service now and then on larger diameter, simple metalworking jobs. I have a cross slide table and toolpost that I use with the wood lathe, which has a 3hp variable speed 3-phase motor and VFD so I can dial in the spindle speed I want. No thread cutting capabilities, but I don't need to cut threads on things that won't fit on the real metal lathe. The big wood lathe has a 42 inch swing to the bed, and if I really needed to go larger I could unbolt the bed and use free standing toolrest if I was foolhardy enough.

I have used the metal lathe for smaller wood (it has a maximum 17 inch swing over the bed), particularly miniatures before I got a little wood lathe. It worked just fine as long as I was using seasoned, dry wood. Turning wet wood would be an exercise in disaster, because I can never seem to get everywhere the water can, and the rust would be a problem. Where I live, things rust fast enough anyway because the humidity is rarely below 60 percent. The biggest problem with using a metal lathe as a wood lathe (besides the rust issue if you turn wet wood) is the need to remove the tailstock and at least swing the cross slide to the far end of the bed to make room for you to work. If you are only doing spindle work, it might not be so bad, but as soon as you do even a shallow bowl you'll need access from the end....

One of the best things about having the metal lathe was the ability to use it when I built my big wood lathe. I turned the spindle to just under 2 inches diameter at the bearings (50mm bearings are a lot less expensive than american standard 2 inch ID bearings...) plus turned the nose and threaded it for 1 1/4 inch by 8 so standard faceplates would fit. Having the metal lathe allowed me to get a substantial spindle for the wood lathe at a decent cost. The nearest off the shelf unit I could get would have cost me well over $1100 for the spindle cartridge, and I don't think I have that much in the whole lathe, including the raw spindle stock, square and rectangular tubing, a 3hp 3-phase motor and VFD (Variable Frequency Drive) that will run the 3-phase motor from single phase

220vac that my shop has.

Good Luck!

--Rick

Rich Andrews wrote:

[Oughtsix]

[BRuce]

Rich, do you really think in such simple terms? It depends on the usage, whether you will require wood or metal. You ask for blind suggestions without giving us specifics. Why don't you toss a coin and decide, asshole.

[Rich Andrews]

Rick Frazier wrote in news:3F8104B7.32D32E8 @rickfrazier.com:

Rick,

Thanks for the response and your ideas have clinched it for me. I am going to get a metal lathe as it spins almost as fast as a wood lathe and if I need something faster, I could make a wood lathe. Since I also do work in metric and american sizes in both metal and wood, I think I will get a new lathe. The old lathes out there are in inches. Turning green wood is not an issue as all of my projects reuire seasoned dry wood.

Thanks again!

rich

capabilities, but I

[Rich Andrews]

[e-mail] (BRuce) wrote in news:709d6066.0310080216.2d72ad10 @posting.google.com:

...

Welcome to my killfile!

r

[Daniel per]

Thanks for the information mate. It helps to enrich my knowledge on wood lathe.

[krw]

I'll take the wood, thanks.