Making plans to build a concrete bowl lathe - opinions welcome.

[Travis R. Nelson]

sorry Mark, I was thinking of putting it on the "front" so it could be utilized without collecting chips...

[Tony Kahn]

This is the kind of free standing tool rest i can see for the concrete bowl lathe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2u7qAlFR-ag

Look at their hands when it shows them, talk about white knuckle!!

[Mark Norman]

Thanks for the drawing Kim, Thats what I was thinking too.

Travis, that makes a lot more sense.

Tony, I wonder if mine would hold such a chunk of wood:eek; It does look like an e-ticket ride

[alex carey]

I think your will handle it.

It is a cool looking lathe though.

[curtis rosche]

what lathe is that alex?

[alex carey]

I think it's German, I doubt it is sold here but if it was it would be really expensive. It certainly looks versatile though.

http://www.steinert.eu/maximo_en/max...mensionen.html

[curtis rosche]

only $14,000 plus shipping

[Mark Norman]

only $14,000 plus shipping

I could get a LOT of concrete for that kinda money

Sure is a nice looking machine.

[curtis rosche]

after seeing what it takes to make a big lathe. you gotta wonder how much of the cost of a manufactured big lathe is going in the company pocket

[Nathan Hawkes]

Dammit man! I had the same thought... I just might do that Gary! I have a few bags of 'crete left over, and I bet it would not be hard to do either.

I wonder if it would be pretty easy to use fiber-reinforced concrete and an angle-iron reinforcing frame around the edges to ease the sliding back & forth over the ways. You could cast in a similar style setup on the top of the block with an inset groove for a pre-fab tailstock from OneWay or Vicmarc to fit in the recess there. I don't know the shrinkage values for concrete, but I'm sure you do or could find out; it wouldn't be too difficult to add some shims of thin metal sheet to bring the tailstock in perfect alignment with the headstock if the shrinkage brings the tailstock "riser" out of spec with the desired size. I bet you could fab up a riser that would allow a HUGE swing and be very stable.

[Brian McInturff]

This link was posted over on aaw. It's the Bowl Elephant/ It's actually a pretty sharp looking lathe. But the real reason I mention it is they make custom tailstocks. So check it out Mark.
There are some pretty nifty things going on with this lathe too. Like the outboard turning rig. And the Lathe mounted Crane. If my Stubby ever goes down I might have to check into one of these.
http://www.eboinc.net/index.html

[alex carey]

Yeah, I saw this lathe a little while back, definitely a mean machine for some really big turning. Looks to be about as mean as the VB if not even meaner.

[Steve Frederick]

So Mark!
Did you fall asleep?
I haven't been able to sleep, (Visions of T-rail and scaffolding) wondering how the bed and tool rest will work out.

[Mark Norman]

I have wandered away from the project for a few, I do that sometimes, in this case for a couple of reasons. First off the shop needs cleaning up big time and I usually come home after work beat so I just don't have the energy to clean it all up, and on the weekends I have yard work to do to get ready for fire season. Secondly is funding, I'm broke so I just don't putter much lest I end up spending money I don't have but that segways into number three and that is pondering design improvements for the Beta model. Pondering is free and it don't take much effort. Oh, and I have been cutting up some big chunks of claro walnut and boxing some for shipping.

Thanks for the link Brian I will contact them to see what a tail-stock would run me but I digress back to number two...

On the design improvements, I think I could narrow down the footprint and eliminate the round pipe form body by just adding a foot off the back for a dedicated bowl lathe, The tool rest Dave made has me motivated to fabricate one like it for my machine. My welder friend has scored a big contract and now doesn't have much time to come over to weld up my ways, he would make time if I pushed the issue but I really would rather have a tail-stock in hand before I do so...so I haven't pushed the issue.

I picked up the big azzed chain saw after having it sharpened professionally after work today and I took the rest of the week off to finish cutting up the claro and get the shop in order.

Also, I ended up sending the SN2 back to woodcraft yesterday cuz it still had a bit of wobble to it. Great service! I got a call from them today, they received it this morning tried it out and sure enough they have a replacement on its way to me today.

I did get a couple bowls roughed out, soaked overnight in DNA and they are sitting in paper bags just waiting their turn back on the machine.

I know me though, as much as I enjoy turning and will do more I think I enjoyed the building of the machine even more so as soon as I get the shop cleaned up I will likely get started on a second machine to refine some design elements so I could possibly manufacture at least a kit form to offer retail.

[Richard Madison]

Mark,
If you ever get too old and feeble to horse around with sacks of concrete, you could try segmented woodturning. You get to build something and you get to turn something. And done carefully it does not hurt your back. Best of both worlds. Good luck with ongoing designing and building.