Metal lathe to wood Lathe?

[valerie williams]

A friend of mine has a metal lathe that he baught awhile back and has never been taken out of the box. He has offered to let Mike and I use it as he thinks that you can buy parts to convert it to a WW lathe. Here is what I know about the lathe...
It is a smithy.
About a 36' lathe
baught for gunsmithing
can be used to make a gunstock so should be able to use it for wood somehow.
Weighs over 1000 pounds

My question is, what do I need to make it a Wood turning Lathe? Do yall need moreinformation?
huggs
val

Ok, Ihave a little more info...
The lathe is a 3-in 1(whatever that means) and looks something like this

I was told by someone at smithy that all I needed was a tool post and that it would easy to make one. Is this right? I trust you guys and gals more than I do someone on the phone....

[Andy Fox]

Whoa! I think everyone is going to be too jealous to respond!

I'm at the same place as you (looking for a lathe/beginner), but if it has the speeds you need, I think it would make a superior woodworking lathe! See if you can find and post the speed range. That might help more experienced turners answer your question. I would guess metal would generally be turned at a slower RPM than wood, so make sure it goes fast enough to turn smaller stuff.

[valerie williams]

Ahhhh, see I would never have thaught of that! adding it to my list, hopefully I willknow by the end of the day what I need, and maby by the end of the week I'll be turning wood! (in a perfect world maby!) You want to know what is crazy? This Lathe was baught in 1997, it cost several thousand dollers, and it is still in the box!

[Don Baer]

I presently use a metal lathe and have had limited sucess. I have done a lot of metal work so putting a piece of wood in it and turning it seemed to make sense. For a tool rest I just put a piece of square stock in the tool post and use it. That said I don't think that someone who has never turn anything wood or metal will have much sucess. The chuck is not the correct kind and when trying bowls I find that they have a tendency to become frisbies since that kind of a chuck is ment to be torqued quite a bit and metal doen't crush like wood does. The thread and size of the spindle with out the chuch is differant then the ones for wood lathes so you can interchange them. I made some face plates for mine but I'd recomend that if you are just starting out you may become very disenchanted trying to use one of these. My advice is to just get the right tool to begine with. The learning curve is steap enough without adding more to your frustration.

By the way. A real wood lathe is on my short list of tools. I'll keep the metal late for what it was intended and do my turning on the proper tool. Wood on a wood lathe metal on a metal lathe.

[valerie williams]

Thank you Don, I have a little bit of an advantage, Mike has turned wood before(something he failed to tell me till recently ) so Maby he knows enugh about it to make it work. Also, Mike is sort of a jack of all trades, if it can work, he will make it work. I probably should have waited to ask him if he knew how to do it, but I jsut got so excited, he worked a late shift last night and he is in bed. I know what you mean about waiting to get the right lathe, but with 4 kidos it could be a long wait If it dosent look like it will work nicely, we will pass, but right now im sitting on the edge on my chair going" oh please oh please oh please work out!" lol.
huggs
Val

[John Miliunas]

Hey Val,

Well, after talking to Mike himself yesterday, I would be inclined to go along with the "jack of all trades" statement and say that if anyone could make it work, he can! In actuality, it's much easier to make a metal lathe work for wood than the other way around! As a matter of fact, the guy who teaches the bowl turning class at our Woodcraft, used a metal lathe for many years, until just about a year or so ago, when he got the big, variable speed Jet. Now, IMHO, I still think a lathe like that Smithy would limit you on different WW projects but, Mike is also into mechanics, so that aspect of it should also be looked at.

I personally don't know enough about the 3-in-1 to be of great help but, if the price is real good on it, I think it would be advantageous to have! Hopefully, some of the other guys who do actual metal work will chime in on their perspectives! Keep us posted on what you decide!

[John Hart]

Ok...I'm officially jealous. Sheesh!!!!

[Andy Hoyt]

I'm sorry, but I don't like it. Looks like a fine milling machine, but for a lathe? Nope. Too cramped, too many whizmo gizmos, too much to go wrong. I think you'd be fighting it for a long time. Especially as a beginning turner.

[John Hart]

Now that I think about it...Andy's right. Every little nook and cranny is gonna get clogged up with stuff. (you oughta see the wall in my shop!)

You're better off sending it to me. Thanks!

[Bruce Page]

Valerie, you certainly can’t beat the price but Don brings up some very valid points, the most important being the rpm range of a metal lathe. I have had limited success on my 14” X 40” metal working lathe, mainly because it doesn’t have enough rpm. The wood fibers tare off more than being cut and I have to spend a lot of time sanding the surface smooth.

[valerie williams]

Bruce,
Ok, I am going to show my idiot roots here, but is the problem youare talking about something that can be changed? Mike has alot of electrical experience, most of it from the navy, but he wires houses and stuff, I would assume if he can wire a house, he can fix that...
Am I wrong?
(he is going to laugh his tail off when he gets up! I can hear him now "if you had jsut waited and asked me then all of those guys wouldent think you were an idiot!", lol)

[John Miliunas]

Valerie, you certainly can’t beat the price but Don brings up some very valid points, the most important being the rpm range of a metal lathe. I have had limited success on my 14” X 40” metal working lathe, mainly because it doesn’t have enough rpm. The wood fibers tare off more than being cut and I have to spend a lot of time sanding the surface smooth.

Bruce, 'ol buddy, I for one, would never argue machinist type tools with you!!! Whew...I know better than that, as you are the resident Master on them!!! But, I took a peek out at the Smithy site and, if it is indeed the same machine, here are the specs for the lathe:
Lathe:
<SMALL>Swing:</SMALL>
<SMALL>12" over bed, 7" over table</SMALL>
<SMALL>Distance between centers: 20"</SMALL>
<SMALL>Spindle bore: 1.03"</SMALL>
<SMALL>Tapers: headstock MT4; tailstock MT3</SMALL>
<SMALL>Speeds:</SMALL>
<SMALL>6 (160 to 1600 rpm)</SMALL>
<SMALL>Pitches:</SMALL>
<SMALL>SAE (inches) 6 to 30 tpi, metric 0.5 to 4 mm</SMALL>
<SMALL>Travel: 20" longitudinal, 8" cross-slide</SMALL>
<SMALL></SMALL>
<SMALL>While 1600 rpm is not ideal for real small spindle work, it will work and, if one keeps his/her tools nice and sharp, it's MHO that it should/would work ok. With a 12" swing ove the bed, even decent sized bowls are a possibility and, with the whole unit weighing in at @500lbs., stability isn't an issue! What may be an issue (I don't know for sure.) is the Morris tapers. I'm not familiar with WW lathes having drive spurs in a MT4 configuration or even live centers with MT3! Ultimately, I believe Mike & Val may indeed get more wood turning pleasure out of a true WW lathe, but being able to use this one w/o any purchase cost attached to it, would certainly be a good start. Depends on how much $$$ necessary accessories may end up costing, I guess. Just my $00.01... (I'm cheap. ) </SMALL>

[Dick Strauss]

Valerie,
one of the turners that just joined our group uses a metal lathe. Here are some basic problems that he is currently addressing:

1. needs banjo and rounded tool rest
-metal banjo/rest is not adjustable vertically
-metal banjo/rest takes too long to adjust in horiz. directions
-rounded rest needed to make pivots easier

He is planning to buy a banjo+rest for a Jet or Delta wood lathe and put in place of his current setup. I think this will cost roughly $70 for both.

With respect to the speed issue, I assume that you could change a pulley to get a more wood-friendly speed range.

Good luck and hope this helps,
Dick

[Carl Eyman]

I use a metal turning lathe but don't turn bowls. It was easy to find adapters to convert a #3 to an #2. They work slick. Speed has never been an issue because I'm usually turning fairly large diameter spindles -say 3" or more. My turning improved immensely when I got the Wolverine jig and a Woodcraft 8" grinder. Since I have this, I've never been tempted to buy a wood lathe, but if the bowl bug ever bit me That would probably change.

[Bruce Page]

John, `ol pal, I didn’t say it couldn’t be done, just that it wouldn’t be the optimum way to go. With enough creativity and patience, a person can make just about anything work.
Valerie, looking at your picture, the lathe appears to have a geared headstock (common on metal working lathes). I would advise against modifying the rpm by changing the drive pulleys etc. you could damage the headstock bearings. As I said earlier - you can’t beat the price! I’m not a wood turner, if master turner, John M. thinks it will work, then give it a try.