Metal lathe users?

[Tom Albrecht]

Don't bust me on this, I am just trying to learn.

Are there any woodturners here who also own, and use, a machine lathe? I am thinking of getting a small one.

[Keith Outten]

I own a 7 by 14 Grizzly metal lathe and a Jet Midi wood lathe.
My wood turning is about 95% pens so I'm not much of a "Turner".
.

[Brice Rogers]

I own a 12 x 36 Atlas Commercial metal lathe circa 1970.

I have used it to make some tools and accessories for my wood lathe (in addition to scores and scores of other things).

[Larry Copas]

I have a 9” South Bend and a 12” Logan. I've made a lot $$$$$'s of toys for the wood lathe. Probably 10 different face plates, vacuum adapter, live tail stock center, a bunch of handle adapters, and a lot of stuff I've forgot about.

Its all fun.

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[Allan Ferguson]

Lodge and Shiplee lathe at my Dad's place. Swing around 24" and 7 feet between centers. I haven't used it in a long time. This lathe was used for WWII war production. It is a beast.

[Bruce Page]

I have a 14X40 Logan. It's not a very good wood turner, not enough RPM's
Allan, I've run Lodge & Shipley slant bed lathes in the past, they're good lathes.

[Bill Blasic]

Just bought a Grizzly G0602 and I was pretty surprised about the quality of the machine.

[Josh Bowman]

I have a South Bend 9 and use it......for metal work. Mainly making stuff for the wood lathe.

[John K Jordan]

Don't bust me on this, I am just trying to learn.

Are there any woodturners here who also own, and use, a machine lathe? I am thinking of getting a small one.

Tom,

I have two metal-cutting lathes - a very small "classic" Unimat and a HiTorque 8.5x20 (Little Machine Shop). It is incredible how useful this is around the shop and farm, especially with a small milling machine next to it. I am able to quickly repair and make things quickly that I couldn't possibly do otherwise.

Do you have specific things you'd like to do with the lathe?

One thing I like to make is handle inserts for wood lathe tools. Cut from steel I can make them more compact and easier to hold for smaller tools - the commercial inserts made from aluminum are too big for me.

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A good friend of mine has three good metal lathes. His advice if buying an inexpensive Chinese import (Harbor Freight, etc) is to disassemble it completely as and clean and smooth the rough edges from all the parts. Especially important is cleaning the gears - I've read the manufacturers sometimes use an grease with abrasive it in to hone the roughness from the gears but don't bother to clean them afterwards. Don't know if that's true but it wouldn't hurt to clean them.

Keep in mind that the cost of the lathe is only the start, just like woodturning! You can easily spend that much again for tooling, chucks, quick-release tool holders, precision measuring tools, etc. Also, metalworking lathe and mill make a big mess! I bought a stand with a built-in tray to catch the lubricant and chips. I keep all my metal-working well away from the woodworking.

JKJ

[Doug Rasmussen]

Metal lathes do a good job turning wood. The lack of rpm is made up for in the rigidity of the work holding and the tools. I know a couple of flute makers who do all their turnings on their metal lathes, another makes odd varieties of bagpipes. None own traditional wood lathes.

In my business we supplied all sorts of small metal parts to stringed instrument makers, mostly electric guitar makers and one harp maker (I'm not any sort of musician, a friend in the business needed parts). The big guitar guys are all using CNC machines for necks and bodies. The ones I know well have gravitated away from or bypassed entirely CNC wood cutting machines in favor of cutting wood on metal working CNC machines. The metal working machines are more versatile, but also an issue of availability of parts, add-on accessories and service of the CNC control electronics. Big CNC wood routers still have their place in working with sheet goods beyond the size capacity of typical CNC machine tools, 4 x 8 foot plywood and such.

Metal lathes are naturals for bowl turning within the swing of the lathe. To "automate" bowl turning all you need is a ball turning attachment. Any number of plans for simple to make ball turners are a Google search away.

One issue that comes up about cutting wood on machine tools is dust. That may be an overblown concern. All the major metal machine tool builders warranty their machines for wood cutting.

Another concern is cost. Probably about the same cost, either a metal lathe or a wood lathe after factoring in turning tools and associated sharpening systems. Use carbide on the metal lathe and don't be concerned with sharpening.

IMO, the major advantage of a metal working tool is being able to work difficult woods as easily as easy woods. You can be concerned with design more than your turning skills. When you get into discussion with artists sometimes it comes up that it's cheating to make art this way, but that's life. How many years has it been since Chihuly personally blew one of his signature $10K pieces? How about Wendell Castle with carved wood pieces in the hundred$ of thousand$ being done on a very high end CNC machine that he doesn't even know how to program?

[John K Jordan]

Metal lathes do a good job turning wood....

For those not aware, you can also turn non-ferrous metals on a wood lathe with standard tools. I've turned quite a bit of aluminum and brass. It's slow, but it works well. Turned mostly with Thompson spindle gouges, skew, parting tool.

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JKJ

[Leo Van Der Loo]

As this Question came up at the AAW I can answer this here as well, yes I have and turn on a metal lathe, and have a couple smaller other wood lathes.

It is almost 60 years ago that I taught myself turning wood on a large metal lathe in our family’s shop, as there was no-one to show me how to around, no forums around either

It was an uphill battle, but I persevered and had a lot of fun, found out that turning hard tropical wood was the way to go, using the scrapers I made myself, no bowl gouges invented yet .

The nice thing was that I had a good friend that had a family with a specialty sawmill that often cut the hard tropical logs that were shipped into Rotterdam, that was fairly close by and cutoffs were mine .

Then here in Canada I again bought a larger metal lathe to turn larger pieces, and made all the accessories I needed to turn wood on that lathe, except for one banjo on the inboard side, a General one.

I do have a couple other smaller lathes also, but to turn the larger bowls, I like to turn on the outboard side of the lathe, as I am facing the turning and I can hold my cutting tools the way I like, in reverse as well, I’m also out of the line of fire

The first two pictures are in my previous shop where I build the stand and all the pieces I wanted/needed to be able to turn wood, the stand is made with 2 12” high pressure pipes and a 10” I beam.

The outboard is made with a 1” thick slab of steel and the banjo I build myself also, max swing is about 34” unless I raise the lathe up higher, never needed that yet

The last picture is in my shop here in ATIKOKAN
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[Brice Rogers]

John, you are right about turning non-ferrous metals on a wood lathe.

I actually turned some cast iron or steel. When I got my Grizzly G0766, the 14" tool rest would not go (in my opinion) far enough down. They changed the banjo, but I wanted to use the original banjo from time to time. So I decided to turn off about 3/8 - 1/2 inch of the shoulder. The tool rest was too big for my 12x36 metal lathe. So I chucked up the tool rest and used a carbide (metal lathe) cutter to slowly turn off the metal. I mounted the cutter in a 1/2" square bar and attached a collar so that I could control the depth of cut. That helped to minimize any catches. I would set the collar to take off perhaps 0.020 or 0.030" max and the work it back and forth. When I got the angles perfect I was getting reasonable small curly chips. I kept the overhang as short as possible to minimize chatter. My biggest concern was the 14" "propeller" that was flying around only a couple of inches away from my hand. After perhaps 10 minutes the job was done and the finish was...acceptable.

I wouldn't advise others to turn steel or CI on their wood lathe but it is possible if one is particularly careful. Non-ferrous metals are even easier.

[Don Bunce]

I have a South Bend 10k, that I turn both metal and wood on, very handy for making tools and adaptors for the wood lathe. I recently bought a Sherline lathe and milling attachment to be used with my PM3520b to make an ornamental lathe.

As has been mentioned, the Vortex pulls hard once you have metal working capabilities. Besides the accessories for the lathe, you will want a milling machine, and all the goodies you need to go with it.

[Doug Rasmussen]

This is my idea of the ultimate lathe for wood turners and metal turning. A pattern makers lathe. Use it for turning using the traveling carriage assembly or mount a banjo for hand turning. When new these had an endless assortment of accessories for turning all shapes. Notice the bowl blanks under it and the heavy chuck to the right on the work bench.

There was a similar Oliver pattern makers lathe on Seattle CL for a couple weeks at $3900, gone now so may have sold.