# Up And Running!



## Sprung (Dec 17, 2013)

LemonadeJay posted a while ago that he had a lathe he had picked up at a sale but never got it up and going and said it needed a little work. Well, that new home ended up being in North Dakota!

Here is the picture Jay posted when looking to send it to a new home:





As I had time, I disassembled it and cleaned everything up a bit. I had noted that the centers didn't line up. Upon disassembly, I noticed that one of the aluminum poles was bent from the mounting bolts holding the headstock in place having been overtightened at some point in its past. The poles were 1" OD. I had just pulled out some black pipe from a gas line we no longer needed for a gas stove we no longer had hooked up. the OD of 3/4" black pipe is, you guessed it, 1". Perfect! I had some 10' sections and a couple 5' sections, so I used the two 5' pieces I had and used some hard maple with holes drilled in them at the proper spacing as the mounts for the two pieces of pipe.

When my parents were out to visit, I had dad look at the motor for me and he said it was, sadly, shot. (I hadn't tried to hook it up to test it yet.) However, when we replaced our washer and dryer this summer, I saved the motor from the washing machine for whatever reason. Well, dad figured out the wiring on it and I had a motor! It's only 1/3HP, but it'll be far better than trying to spin it by hand! It's mounted in the wooden box, open on one end so the motor can have ventilation. If need be, I can always add more vent holes to the box (that I put together in about 15 minutes with screws and cutoffs...) and/or install a small computer fan in it if heat becomes a problem.

After 2 hours (spread out over the course of many weeks) of cleaning, wiring, assembling, etc, here it is as of last night:





Yup, up and running!  My wife figured I had it up and running last night when she heard new sounds come out of the basement she'd never heard before. It'll give me something else to play with and learn on. 12" swing and, with the 5' lengths of black pipe, nearly 4' between centers.

The chuck I bought with Christmas gift money from my in-laws. The lathe tools I bought with Christmas gift money from my wife (who told me to buy my own gift and simply said to spend the same amount I was spending on her.)

I still need to build a shroud for the pullies and belt since I damaged the old one getting it off. Also need to take what I learned from my recent thread on sharpening and get going on that too.

Thanks again, Jay!  I now have a lathe and can make shavings! Without this, it would probably be at least another 2 or so years before I would have been able to buy a lathe.

Oh, and now Dad, despite having his own lathe, is jealous of mine and offered to trade lathes with me. This is the model lathe he's got. He wants mine because, whenever he gets the chance to start building boats again, you can make the bed any length you want on mine with the use of black pipe and he wants to be able to turn 8' long (or longer) oars. We'll see about that - I just got this up and running, so I want to play with it first. I've used his, so I know what it runs like, but I want to give this one a shot first. Especially since he's not likely to be turning oars anytime soon.

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## rdnkmedic (Dec 17, 2013)

Way to go, Matt!  The only problem I see is the countertop behind the lathe is going to fill quickly with chips and debris. My idea would be to place a trash can on the right end of the counter and have a small whisk broom to keep the area clear. You will be surprised at how fast the pile accumulates. Or if you have a dust collection system you could lay a hose right up behind the lathe and suck most of it away.
I'm proud for you. Now let's see what you can do.

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## Sprung (Dec 17, 2013)

rdnkmedic said:


> Way to go, Matt!  The only problem I see is the countertop behind the lathe is going to fill quickly with chips and debris. My idea would be to place a trash can on the right end of the counter and have a small whisk broom to keep the area clear. You will be surprised at how fast the pile accumulates. Or if you have a dust collection system you could lay a hose right up behind the lathe and suck most of it away.
> I'm proud for you. Now let's see what you can do.



Thanks, Kevin! I'll post some pics up whenever I get the chance to make things!

Yeah, I'm sure that the chips will pile up quickly! I don't have dust collection, but I'm thinking that will probably be my next major tool purchase. Maybe in the future I'll build a specific bench for the lathe that will diminish the amount of chips that pile up. For now, it'll be the garbage can and whisk broom! (Not pictured is the garbage can is already at the right end of the bench, with a whisk broom already hanging on that end of the bench.)


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## manbuckwal (Dec 17, 2013)

Awesome Matt !!!! Let the spinnin begin !!!!

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## rdnkmedic (Dec 17, 2013)

Sprung said:


> Thanks, Kevin! I'll post some pics up whenever I get the chance to make things!
> 
> Yeah, I'm sure that the chips will pile up quickly! I don't have dust collection, but I'm thinking that will probably be my next major tool purchase. Maybe in the future I'll build a specific bench for the lathe that will diminish the amount of chips that pile up. For now, it'll be the garbage can and whisk broom! (Not pictured is the garbage can is already at the right end of the bench, with a whisk broom already hanging on that end of the bench.)



Great minds think alike.

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## NYWoodturner (Dec 17, 2013)

Wow - My lathe doesn't have a rinse and spin cycle  I'm thinking that must surely have some benefit to finishing...
Nice job Matt.

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## Dennis Ford (Dec 17, 2013)

Cool; you can have a lot of fun with that machine. Washing machine motors usually have more than one speed (very useful for a lathe).

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## SENC (Dec 17, 2013)

Nice job, Matt... and thrilled to see the face shield in the photo!

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## Sprung (Dec 17, 2013)

Thanks, everyone!



Dennis Ford said:


> Cool; you can have a lot of fun with that machine. Washing machine motors usually have more than one speed (very useful for a lathe).



Unfortunately dad and I couldn't figure out the wiring for the slower speed... The only wiring diagram we found for the motor wasn't the most accurate. He blew two fuses trying to figure out low speed, and at that point we had put the last fuse I had on hand in, so we decided to stop. (Yup, we rock it old school here - the house we live in still has fuses!) In the future I hope we can re-visit the wiring and get low speed going too, because that would just be awesome to have. Right now it's running at 1725RPM. Low speed for this motor is 1140RPM, and it would be awesome to have that lower speed to get down to about 450 to 500RPM for larger items. I think dad and I will have to revisit the wiring in the spring.



SENC said:


> Nice job, Matt... and thrilled to see the face shield in the photo!



I was really glad it was delivered on Monday - just in time to be able to use it last night. It fits my large head quite well and is lightweight and easy to wear, so it will be easy to make wearing it a habit.



NYWoodturner said:


> Wow - My lathe doesn't have a rinse and spin cycle  I'm thinking that must surely have some benefit to finishing...
> Nice job Matt.



Continuing to work through the agitate cycle isn't easy!

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## woodtickgreg (Dec 17, 2013)

Very resourceful my friend, you will have fun with it for sure. It just goes to show folks what you can do with a little elbow grease and a will to succeed. Good on you my friend.

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## DKMD (Dec 17, 2013)

Congrats on getting it up and running! Looks like you've already made something round on there, so there's really not much else to learn!

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## ripjack13 (Dec 17, 2013)

Hmm...I have an old washing machine. I wonder if the motor can be used to make myself a lathe? 

Nice set up man. good for you!!

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## duncsuss (Dec 17, 2013)

Excellent. The only thing I see missing from the picture is the proud new owner of a lathe 

(ps. also glad the Sperian/Uvex faceshield fits you comfortably -- they're no use if you don't actually wear them)

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## woodtickgreg (Dec 17, 2013)

Sprung said:


> Continuing to work through the agitate cycle isn't easy!


I think my wife has that cycle, but I can't for the life of me figure out how to shut it off.

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## DKMD (Dec 17, 2013)

woodtickgreg said:


> I think my wife has that cycle, but I can't for the life of me figure out how to shut it off.


I think you can turn it on, but you can't stop it... You just have to let it finish.

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## woodtickgreg (Dec 18, 2013)

Now that's funny!

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## rdnkmedic (Dec 18, 2013)

DKMD said:


> I think you can turn it on, but you can't stop it... You just have to let it finish.



Amen.

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## ripjack13 (Dec 18, 2013)

duncsuss said:


> Excellent. The only thing I see missing from the picture is the proud new owner of a lathe



Dont forget the feet!!

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## LemonadeJay (Dec 18, 2013)

Super impressive. Congratulations.

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## woodintyuuu (Dec 18, 2013)

go matt go.... this harkens me back to a time bout 25 yrs ago . I was convinced i could do almost what you did on a dollar 3 fifty. BE SAFE mostly take risk
gently. and be verrry verrrrry careful - the lathe bug is hiding somewhere in that machine and will sneak out and bite ya- then its all downhill from there - you know the sneakin to the basement at all hours of night - the fibbin to wife the secret desire to smell watco oil burning into some wood OH well i digress. MERRY LATHIN cl

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## Tim Carter (Dec 18, 2013)

Memories.....This is a lathe that was made by American Machine and Tool (AMT) and it was my first lathe back in 1982. It was a good lathe! It does tend to vibrate some because it's fairly light. If the vibration bothers you, take the lathe apart and fill the pipes with melted lead. Enjoy!
Tim

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## Mike1950 (Dec 18, 2013)

Matt good job.

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## rdnkmedic (Dec 18, 2013)

Tim Carter said:


> Memories.....This is a lathe that was made by American Machine and Tool (AMT) and it was my first lathe back in 1982. It was a good lathe! It does tend to vibrate some because it's fairly light. If the vibration bothers you, take the lathe apart and fill the pipes with melted lead. Enjoy!
> Tim


 
You can walk around any tire shop/store parking lot and pick up bucketfuls of discarded tire weights for the lead. Or for that matter they may even give you a bucketful of used weights. Lead can be melted on the stove in a tin can. Pretty easy to do. Good suggestion.

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## Sprung (Dec 18, 2013)

Thanks, everyone!



LemonadeJay said:


> Super impressive. Congratulations.



Thanks again, Jay! I am thankful for your generosity and very excited to have a lathe to call my own.



DKMD said:


> I think you can turn it on, but you can't stop it... You just have to let it finish.



Amen! Our new washing machine has a pause/cancel button that will stop it in the middle of the cycle. I've looked, and my wife definitely does not have a pause or stop button.



woodintyuuu said:


> then its all downhill from there - you know the sneakin to the basement at all hours of night - the fibbin to wife the secret desire to smell watco oil burning into some wood OH well i digress. MERRY LATHIN cl



There are times when it's the middle of the night and I can't sleep and wish I could sneak down there. However, my workshop is directly below the bedrooms and running tools would wake my wife and son.  Then I'd be setting up shop out in the garage. There's no heat or insulation out there and it's cold this time of year!

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