Todd's Taig Lathe

Todd Ferrante's Taig Lathe

by Todd Ferrante <back to homepage>

After working with my mill for several months I realized that having a lathe would make fabricating round parts easier. I worked out a way to do these parts on the mill, by holding lathe tools in the vise, but the mill just isn't stiff enough to hold good tolerances on turned parts. I made a few 3/8" tool holders on the mill, and ended up shimming the cutters to get them to run true. For Christmas I got a bunch of 3/8" cutters and a bunch of blank arbors. So in early January, 2002, I ordered a Taig lathe. While waiting for the lathe to arrive I set up another workbench in our mudroom. I also purchased a surplus 1/2 HP, 3450 RPM AC motor to power the lathe. This was twice the speed the lathe is designed for, so I designed a pulley speed reducer.

The speed reducer needed an idler shaft turned, so I milled a temporary bracket for powering the lathe with the milling machine motor. The motor and the lathe were mounted to one of the MDF boards that came as packing materials for the mill.

For about a week I was changing the motor back and forth between the lathe and the mill. I had to finish my boring jig to bore the holes for the idler shaft bearings. The picture on the left is of one of the idler shaft supports with a bored bearing hole. On the right I'm milling a clearance slot for the large pulley on the reducer base plate.

My speed reducer design puts the motor below the table, where it is protected from chips. I used surplus pulleys and belt, so I wasn't certain of the reduction ratio until I spun the pulleys by hand and counted revolutions. The reduction ratio is 3.17:1, which makes the idler run at 1086.75 RPM. This puts the low and high speeds of the lathe spindle at 331 RPM and 3402 RPM.

My first lathe project after the idler shaft was an extension handle for the drilling tailstock lever. I was pretty much just playing around and enjoying my new toy. The base has a 45 degree chamfer. Then the diameter is constant for a bit before tapering to the grip end. The grip has a few grooves done with a round nose tool. I roughed the rounded end with cutting tools and smoothed it off with a file. The handle was finished with 300 grit abrasive paper, a scotch brite pad, and finally polished with a cloth wheel on the bench grinder. It gleams with a mirror finish.

The speed reducer needed an idler shaft turned, so I milled a temporary bracket for powering the lathe with the milling machine motor. The motor and the lathe were mounted to one of the MDF boards that came as packing materials for the mill.
For about a week I was changing the motor back and forth between the lathe and the mill. I had to finish my boring jig to bore the holes for the idler shaft bearings. The picture on the left is of one of the idler shaft supports with a bored bearing hole. On the right I'm milling a clearance slot for the large pulley on the reducer base plate.
My speed reducer design puts the motor below the table, where it is protected from chips. I used surplus pulleys and belt, so I wasn't certain of the reduction ratio until I spun the pulleys by hand and counted revolutions. The reduction ratio is 3.17:1, which makes the idler run at 1086.75 RPM. This puts the low and high speeds of the lathe spindle at 331 RPM and 3402 RPM.
My first lathe project after the idler shaft was an extension handle for the drilling tailstock lever. I was pretty much just playing around and enjoying my new toy. The base has a 45 degree chamfer. Then the diameter is constant for a bit before tapering to the grip end. The grip has a few grooves done with a round nose tool. I roughed the rounded end with cutting tools and smoothed it off with a file. The handle was finished with 300 grit abrasive paper, a scotch brite pad, and finally polished with a cloth wheel on the bench grinder. It gleams with a mirror finish.