Homemade metal cutting machines. We assemble a homemade metal lathe with our own hands. Machining on lathes, diagrams and drawings

Putting things in order in a pile of electronic trash, I found the remains of tape recorders. A 9-volt power supply, which has a well-recognized shape and was made back in the USSR, those who caught that time and owned an Electronics or IZH tape recorder will perfectly understand what it is about. And also an old electric motor, also from some kind of tape recorder. It turned out that the block and the motor still work perfectly in tandem with each other, nothing has rusted or stuck.

In general, I decided to try to assemble a mini lathe from all this, especially since I always wanted to have a small and quiet machine at hand for processing any small things. You can, of course, collect or buy stray items (holders) that turn conventional drill into the machine, but such drills are usually very noisy due to all sorts of gearboxes rumbling in them.

In principle, I have a superficial idea about the device of a lathe, at first glance everything seems to be simple there. The only thing that was embarrassing was how to place an electric motor on the same axis and tailstock. And also, what errors are permissible in this case, because I didn’t want to get a vibrator for a vibrating table or a mobile phone instead of a lathe.

The same old power supply, for our time it is of course huge, but for a trial inclusion it is not so important.

I cut out the casing for the engine with metal scissors, drilled and bored holes for the motor in it, after which I bent it in the form of the letter "Py" and then installed the engine in it. Picked up pieces of wood right size for the base of the machine. Since I will have a purely experimental machine, that is, assembled on my knee and from improvised means. He decided to first assemble a rough model, and if it works as it should, then it will be possible to bring it to mind.

I screwed it on self-tapping screws, the base for the motor and the back wall, in order to later screw the casing with the electric motor to them.

I redid the ends of the casing a little (bend them inward)

I drilled and screwed the casing with the motor to the back wall and to the base with self-tapping screws.

I cut out a lid from cardboard and put it on a couple of self-tapping screws on top.

Somehow it all looks like this now, in my opinion, in turning terminology, this stray is called the "Headstock"

I sawed squares from the same board, smeared them with PVA glue and pulled them into a pile. This cube will serve as the tailstock of my homemade lathe.

I screwed this cube on four self-tapping screws, a pair on top and a pair on the bottom.

If there was a drill chuck on the motor shaft, then a drill could be clamped into it and it would indicate the direction for the holder in the tailstock. And since I have some kind of brass pulley for the tape recorder on the shaft, I had to go a slightly different way. I just took a sheet of paper and stupidly wrapped it around this pulley, fixed the ends and turned on the motor.

After making sure that the opposite end of this tube rotates near the cube without runaway and beats, he turned off the motor and outlined the contours of the tube on the cube.

I drew by eye the axis of the tube on the side planes of the cube, so that when drilling a hole for the holder, direct the drill along these lines.

Just by eye, brought these lines on the opposite side of the tailstock.

Then I drilled this cube and screwed in a self-tapping screw, which will act as a workpiece holder.

I didn’t hit a little, and this is not so important, since it is impossible to achieve perfect accuracy in this way. But since this is just an experiment, we move on and close our eyes to all the jambs and inaccuracies. :-)

We clamp the workpiece and turn on the motor, bend our head a little to the side, in case this blank wants to explore the expanses of the universe. :-) So that the holder does not drill out the workpiece, I grinded off a little thread from its tip.

I put a piece of gum on the pulley itself, and stupidly glued the blank to it with hot glue. Thus removing the headache about finding a suitable cartridge or holder. And besides, for some reason it seemed that flexible connection slightly compensates for the curvature of the axis on which the motor and holder are located, and at the same time the curvature of my hands. :-)

Oddly enough, but everything worked like clockwork, the motor is certainly weak, but it copes with its mini-tasks with a bang.

I tried a bunch of different cutters, but most of all I liked to process pieces of wood with an ordinary sheet of metal and sandpaper. Apparently due to the lack of a handpiece or a weak engine, all other tools immediately bite into the workpiece and stop the motor.

I tried to sharpen a tin rod, more precisely lead-tin (solder). Here it was already well possible to process the workpiece with a cutter from an ordinary needle file, sharpened at the end.

These blanks were also planted on glue. The only thing to consider is the heating of the rod during processing. But since the cutter removes very little, I never managed to heat it up to such an extent that the rod peeled off the rubber cushion.

Here I tried to sharpen a prototype for casting shells for this tiger. But later it turned out that his native shells have a more miserable and primitive appearance. And what I carved is more suitable for the royal tiger, so the idea was abandoned.

A little lousy video in which he buzzes.

In general, that's all, the machine turned out to be relatively silent, small, only 23 cm long, but the main thing is that it is assembled by hand and also works. In principle, I expected big problems when assembling a lathe, but as it turned out, the lathe assembled on the knee works great. Perhaps this is due to the scale, if the dimensions of the machine were larger, and the part would be clamped rigidly (into a drill chuck), then there would definitely be more adventures.

By the way, it is very easy to turn this lathe into a mini emery. Easy to stick on pillow cutting disc from a dremel and as a result we get a mini emery. This emery really helped me when I had to grind 70 plaster castings for this Tiger tank model. Of course, it is almost impossible to center it by eye, unless you grind the disk itself. But on high speed the beating is almost imperceptible, besides, it is reinforced, so you can not be afraid that it will break and something will bounce into the eye. But in any case, no one has canceled the safety precautions when working with emery. Therefore, we keep our heads away from the expected trajectory of the fragments of the disk or work with glasses.

I recently assembled my own 3D printer and the first serious printout on it was a mini drilling machine for hobbies and modeling (), because I always dreamed of a silent mini drill. Actually, a 3D printer is a pretty useful thing, with its help you can special efforts create cases, brackets and other stray, and thereby somewhat expand the fleet of various mini-machines for hobbies, and even this lathe can be brought into a divine form.

A lathe is needed for the manufacture and processing of metal parts. Professional equipment is quite expensive, so in order to save money, you can make a home-made metal lathe with your own hands. This can be done in several ways, and drawings of such a product are easily found on the Internet. You can use improvised materials for manufacturing, but the size of the machine can be any.

Any homemade lathe consists of the following elements:

drive - the main part of the mechanism, which is responsible for its power. Drive selection required power is one of the most difficult tasks. In small lathes for metal with your own hands, you can use a drive from a conventional washing machine or drill. Usually, the power of this element starts from 200 W, and the number of revolutions per minute - from 1500;
bed - the supporting frame of the structure, which can be made of wooden bars or a steel corner. The bed must be characterized by high strength, otherwise the whole structure may fall apart from vibrations during operation;

tailstock - made of a steel plate and a steel corner welded to it. The plate rests against the guide beds, and the main purpose of the tailstock of the lathe with your own hands is to fix the metal part during processing;
headstock - a part similar to the tailstock, but mounted on a movable frame;
leading and slave centers;
caliper - a thrust mechanism for the working part.

Torque from the engine to the working part of the machine can be transmitted in several ways. Someone prefers to directly install the working part on the motor shaft - this saves space and allows you to save on spare parts. If this option is not possible, the torque can be transmitted using a friction, belt or chain drive. Each of these options has its own advantages and disadvantages.

The belt drive for the electric motor is the cheapest and is characterized by enough high level reliability. For its manufacture, you can use a belt for an electric motor, removed from any other mechanism. The disadvantage of a belt drive is that over time the belt can wear out and will have to be changed more often the more intensively you work with the machine.

A chain drive is more expensive and takes up more space, but will also last much longer than a belt drive. Friction transmission has intermediate characteristics between belt and chain.

Useful advice! When assembling a lathe, choose the type of gear that best suits the tasks. For example, for a do-it-yourself mini-lathe, it is better to install the working part directly on the shaft.

Do-it-yourself lathe caliper: drawings, how to make from improvised materials

The caliper is one of the most important parts of a homemade lathe - the quality of the future part depends on it, as well as the amount of time and effort that you spend on its manufacture. This part is located on a special sled that moves along the guides located on the bed. The caliper can move in three directions:

longitudinal - the working part of the machine moves along the workpiece. Longitudinal motion is used to turn a thread into a part or to remove a layer of material from the surface of a metal workpiece;

transverse - movement perpendicular to the axis of the workpiece. Used for turning recesses and holes;
oblique - movement at different angles for turning recesses on the surface of the workpiece.

When making a lathe caliper with your own hands, it is worth considering the fact that this part is subject to wear as a result of vibrations that occur during operation. Because of them, the fasteners are loosened, there is a backlash, all this affects the quality of the manufactured part. In order to avoid such problems, the caliper must be regularly adjusted and adjusted.

Adjustment homemade caliper for a lathe with your own hands, it is carried out according to gaps, backlash and oil seals. Clearance adjustment is needed when the screw responsible for moving the part in the longitudinal and transverse planes has worn out. As a result of friction, the caliper begins to loosen under loads, which significantly reduces the accuracy of manufacturing the part. You can eliminate the gaps by inserting wedges between the guides and the carriage. The backlash of the part is eliminated with a fixing screw.

If the oil seals are worn out in your machine, they should be thoroughly washed and soaked with fresh machine oil. In case of critical wear, it is better to completely replace the seals with new ones.

Do-it-yourself homemade lathe for metal with your own hands: assembly procedure

The mechanism is assembled in the following order:

The machine frame is assembled from metal beams and channels. If you are going to work with large parts, then the materials for assembling the frame must be used with the expectation of a large load. For example, if you plan to work with metal blanks over 50 mm long, the thickness of the materials for the frame should start from 3 mm for corners and from 30 mm for rods.
Longitudinal shafts with guides are installed on the channels. Shafts can be welded or bolted.
The headstock is being made. To make the headstock of a lathe with your own hands, a hydraulic cylinder with a wall thickness of 6 mm or more is used. Two bearings must be pressed into the cylinder.
The shaft is laid. For this, bearings with a large inner diameter are used.
Lubricant is poured into the hydraulic cylinder.
A pulley and a caliper with guides are installed.
The electric drive is mounted.

In addition, according to the do-it-yourself drawings of a metal lathe, it can be seen that a handpiece is made to increase the stability of the cutting mechanism, and a thin strip of metal is fixed on the lower part of the structure. The latter serves to protect the working part of the machine from deformation during operation.

Useful advice! A do-it-yourself metal lathe can be used not only for its intended purpose, but also for grinding and polishing metal parts. To do this, a grinding wheel is attached to the electric shaft.

Choosing an electric motor for a machine

The most important part of a homemade metal lathe, the video of which can be easily found on the Internet, is the electric motor. It is with its help that the movement of the working part of the machine is carried out. Accordingly, the power of the entire structure depends on the power of this mechanism. It is selected depending on the size of the metal blanks with which you plan to work.

If you plan to work on a machine with small parts, a motor with a power of up to 1 kW is quite suitable for this. It can be removed from an old sewing machine or any other similar electrical appliance. To work with large parts, you will need an engine with a power of 1.5-2 kW.

When assembling a homemade metal lathe according to ready-made drawings, keep in mind that all electrical parts of the structure must be securely insulated. If you do not have the necessary experience with electrical equipment, it is better to seek help from a specialist in connection. So you will be sure of the safety of work and the reliability of the design.

Making a lathe from a drill with your own hands

If you want to save on spare parts and greatly simplify the task of assembling a homemade lathe, you can use a conventional drive as a drive. electric drill. Such constructive solution there are a number of advantages:

The ability to quickly assemble and disassemble the structure - the drill is easily detached from the bed and can be used for its intended purpose.
Ease of carrying and transporting the machine - a good option if you have to work with metal blanks in the garage and on the street.
Savings - the drill acts not only as an electric motor, but also eliminates the need to use a gear, and also allows you to use interchangeable nozzles as a working tool.

Of course, there are also negative sides to a lathe from a drill. How to make processing large parts possible with this tool? This is practically impossible, since the drill has a relatively small torque and a large number of revolutions. Of course, you can increase these parameters if you still install a belt drive and use it to transmit torque from the drill to the spindle, but this will greatly complicate the design, the main advantage of which is simplicity and compactness.

Making a homemade desktop metal lathe based on a drill makes sense in cases where you do not need to carry out large-scale work, and only small details need to be turned.

To make a metal lathe based on an electric drill, you will need the same parts as for a conventional design, with the exception of an electric motor and a headstock. The role of the latter is also performed by a drill. Given the compactness of the design, an ordinary table or workbench can be used as a bed, on which all components of the machine will be fixed. The drill itself is fixed in the structure with a clamp and a clamp.

Useful advice! The functionality of a lathe based on an electric drill can be significantly expanded by adding various nozzles and additional devices to its design.

Using a homemade lathe, you can not only grind parts, but also apply paint to a rotating workpiece, wind wire on a transformer, make spiral notches on the surface of a part, and perform many other actions. In addition, if you assemble a copier attachment for the machine, then with its help you can quickly and effortlessly produce small identical parts.

Features of the work of lathes for metal with their own hands, video instructions as a way to avoid mistakes

Like any other equipment, homemade lathes have their own characteristics that must be considered during assembly and operation. For example, when working with large parts or when using a powerful electric motor, strong vibrations occur, which can lead to serious errors in the processing of the part. To get rid of vibrations, the leading and driven centers of the machine must be installed on the same axis. And if you plan to install only the leading center, a cam mechanism should be attached to it.

In do-it-yourself desktop lathes for metal, it is not recommended to install a commutator motor. It is prone to a spontaneous increase in the number of revolutions, which can lead to the departure of the part. This, in turn, can lead to work injury or property damage. If, however, it is impossible to do without installing a collector motor, it is imperative to install a gearbox with it to lower the speed.

The ideal motor option for a homemade lathe is asynchronous. It does not increase the speed during operation, is resistant to heavy loads and allows you to work with metal blanks with a width of up to 100 mm.

The rules for installing and operating any type of electric motor for a lathe can be viewed in numerous video instructions on the Internet. With their help, you will not only avoid common assembly errors, but also save time and effort due to the visibility of the material.

Safety precautions when working with a homemade lathe

When working with the structure, certain safety precautions must be observed. So, after assembling the machine, you need to check its performance. The spindle should rotate easily and without delay, the front and rear centers must be aligned on a common axis. The center of symmetry of a rotating part must coincide with its axis of rotation.

On any video of the lathe with your own hands, you can see that after mounting the electric motor, it is covered with a special casing. The latter serves not only to protect the operator of the machine, but also to protect the motor itself from dust, metal particles and dirt. For a machine made on the basis of an electric drill, such a casing is not needed.

Useful advice! If you are planning to install a structure based on a powerful electric motor, be sure to make sure that your electrical network has enough power to work with it. At home, it is better to get by with a motor from household appliances, which will definitely work from the voltage in your outlet.

You should also follow the following rules security:

The working tool must be parallel to the surface of the workpiece. Otherwise, it may come off, resulting in damage to the machine.
If you are machining end planes, the part should rest against the tailstock. It is very important to maintain alignment, otherwise you risk getting a defective part.
To protect your eyes from metal chips and particles, you can build a special shield or just use goggles.
After work, the structure must be cleaned, removing metal filings and other production waste. Be careful not to let small parts get into the motor.

Options for upgrading a homemade lathe

If you need a mechanism that can not only perform turning work, but also grind and paint the workpiece, the basic machine can be easily modified. It is best to do this for a design based on an electric drill, since it is easiest to replace the working part in it.

There are several popular modifications of the lathe for metal. How to make a conical hole? To do this, two files must be attached to the base so that they form a trapezoid. After that, a spring mechanism is mounted, which ensures that the files are fed forward and at an angle, which allows drilling cone-shaped holes into the part.

In addition, for working with metal parts different lengths you can make a machine with a collapsible base. With the help of several boards or metal corners, you can bring the working tool closer or further away from the fasteners that hold the part, as well as change the size of the gap between the fasteners. It is most convenient to make such a design on the basis of a conventional table or workbench.

If you attach a grinding wheel to the electric motor as a working tool, you can use the machine not only to polish the surface of the part, but also to sharpen knives, scissors and other household tools. Thus, the lathe turns into a convenient multifunctional mechanism.

Assembling a lathe at home is a fairly simple task, which is further simplified by numerous video instructions and drawings from the Internet. At the same time, you can literally assemble the structure from improvised parts, using old household appliances and waste from assembly and construction production.

The main advantage of self-assembly is cost savings. In addition, it is worth noting the ability to independently adjust the dimensions and power of the device in order to adapt it to your needs. A home-made machine can be not only large, but also quite miniature, designed for processing small parts.

Article - step-by-step instruction for the manufacture of a lathe for metal with their own hands. How to do homemade unit at home?

The use of a lathe is necessary in car workshops, in the engineering industry, in repair shops and training workshops.

The cost of the machine is high and not every workshop or workshop can afford to purchase it. Knowing what parts are needed and how to connect all the nodes into a single mechanism, you can make it with my own hands.

The main structure of the lathe

The lathe is created on the basis of a bed, stable and durable, withstanding impressive and serious loads. The main system of mechanisms and assemblies is mounted on it.

The first lathes appeared in the 18th century, after the manufacture of the caliper. Russian inventor Andrei Nartov came up with a mechanism that was spun with a flywheel, and on the machine itself, all parts were made of metal, including screws, rails, pulleys.

With the development of technology, the manual drive was replaced by a mechanical one.

There are several types of machine tools for metal, which differ depending on the power, size and productive force:

The desktop type metal lathe has a maximum weight of up to 100 kg and a power of up to 400 watts. Its use is relevant in small workshops and private workshops in which metal parts are processed and repaired, and not produced in large quantities.
A semi-professional lathe is most often a symbiosis of turning, milling and drilling equipment, on which small batches of products are made. Power up to 1000 W allows you to work in production mode.
A professional metal lathe is usually equipped with automatic program control, has a high mass and high power. Machine tools of this type are used in industries and large enterprises for processing parts up to 3000 mm from materials of various compositions.

Their high cost, large scale and high power are unacceptable for use at home or in small businesses. Alternative option there may be their self-assembly, which will allow you to quickly and efficiently produce parts and produce blanks.

How to assemble a lathe yourself?

To make a homemade lathe you will need:

hydraulic cylinder, shock absorber shaft;
metal shafts, angles, channels and beams;
cylindrical guides;
beams, pipe, fasteners;
welding machine;
electric motor, two pulleys with belt drive.

First of all, we manufacture the main frame structure with longitudinal guides. For this, two channels and two metal rods with a thickness of at least 30 mm are used with working area machine from 50 mm. Two longitudinal shafts are attached to two channels using guides with petals. Each petal is attached to the channel bolted connection and welding.

The headstock is made from a hydraulic cylinder. In this case, with a wall thickness of 6mm. On the inner diameter, two 203 bearings are pressed in on each side. Inside the bearings there is a hole with a diameter of 17mm, in which the shaft is placed. Lubricant is poured into the hole of the hydraulic cylinder. Under the pulley is a large diameter nut that prevents the bearings from being squeezed out.

The pulley comes from a washing machine. The diameter of the pulley shaft must match the shaft on the motor. Then by rearranging the pulleys of different diameters, you can change the speed of rotation. Grandmother is installed on metal beam.

The cross support is made of a metal plate to which cylindrical guides are welded. Two guides are driven into them, a shaft from shock absorbers is used as guides. To move in the transverse plane, tightly fitted bushings are put on each guide.

The tool holder is made of two thick metal plates. It is fixed on a stand made of brake shoes through a metal nut. Between themselves, the plates of the tool holder are connected by bolts.

The cartridge for fixing the part is made of a metal pipe. Fastening is done with four bolts. Which are screwed into pre-welded nuts.

For the drive, the engine from the washing machine is used. In this case, 180W. The engine is connected to the headstock via a belt drive. The machine is equipped with a self-tensioning mechanism. The belt is tensioned by the weight of the engine. The design of the corners is attached with canopies.

All parts are assembled into a single design. The lathe is ready for operation.

Video: making a metal lathe at home (several parts).

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The first machine that every artisan feels the need for is a desktop drilling machine, or simply a drill. But upon purchasing it or making it with your own hands, it soon turns out that you need to sharpen something, and a lathe costs an order of magnitude more expensive. Great is the temptation to make a universal lathe like the one in fig. below:

Before the ingenuity, skill and accuracy of such masters, it remains only to take off your hat. Yes, wood can also be turned on a metal lathe; many of these bench lathes are equipped with inserts in the spindle chuck to hold the wood workpiece. But - alas! - a home-made universal lathe will not hold accuracy on metal for a long time.

The point is not only that the cutting force of metal is many times greater than that of wood. The very physics of metal cutting is completely different. In order not to go into the basics, even a cursory superficial review of which will require an exorbitant amount of space, let's take it and compare it: have you seen a metal chisel sharp as a chisel or a piece of iron planer? And what happens if you cut a tree with a chisel? The drill can still cope with both materials: there the cutting force is symmetrically concentrated on the working body itself. But as far as the point of metal is concerned, the requirements for the machine tool, the requirements for the machine tool for it, turn out to be such that machine tool building became a separate branch long before the industrial era. The best machine-building plant does not make machine tools for itself - it is not up to it. However, it is quite possible to assemble a wood lathe with your own hands, and in such a way that it will keep the maximum machining accuracy +/-0.5 mm achievable on wood long years if not decades. You still can’t do without 2-3 turning operations for metal (see below), but in this case they can be custom-made by a turner of 2-3 categories on a conventional, not increased accuracy, machine, even if it is a restored DIP. And, of course, you will need to buy a set of cutters for processing wood on a lathe, see Fig. Everything else will not require mandatory additional costs.

History and evolution

Further in the text, you will come across technical solutions that are effective, but little known to amateur craftsmen, because. in industry, for one reason or another, they are not used or are used to a limited extent. However, they can simplify and facilitate the manufacture of a home-made lathe for woodworking so much that in some cases it will be possible to limit oneself to a hand drill from a power tool. The machine tool industry of the millennium is developing under the sign of solving the problem: how to make machine parts with an accuracy of, say, 0.2 of the same units on a machine tool with an accuracy of, for example, 1 conventional unit of length? Etc. In order to understand how technology came to such a life, it will be useful to turn briefly to history.

The progenitor of all machines for processing materials by rotation is a device with which Neolithic people made fire and drilled horn, bone, stone, pos. 1 in pic; in recent cases, an abrasive from a wet quartz sand. The primitive Celts, on the same principle, invented a lathe with foot drive, pos. 2; the centers were made of sharpened burnt stakes of hard wood. In England, this unit is still in use among furniture makers. The forest is not cut down there by quarters. Having bought a couple of timbers for felling, the master then takes out ready-made legs, balusters, etc. in armfuls to the track. In a craft of this type, the machine lived approx. until the beginning of the 18th century, pos. 3, although the workpiece in it rotates back and forth and the master has to be additionally distracted to turn the cutter over.

AT Ancient Egypt already in the era of the Middle Kingdom, a lathe with a beam drive was well known, pos. 4. "Motor" was, of course, a slave. In the Russian village community (in the world), with its strong traditions of mutual assistance and mutual assistance, the beam lathe survived in the outback until ... the 80s of the last century! Bulk individual wood construction was in no way included in the five-year plans, but the Soviet leadership in the provinces looked through their fingers at unauthorized logging in limited quantities for their own needs or at unauthorized purchases of wild logs from timber industry enterprises for the universal Soviet currency with a strength of 40 vol. and half a litre.

For fine and / or fine work, a foot loom with twine and bow was not suitable: there are always inhomogeneities in the tree, and the workpiece itself was the flywheel - the damper of torsional vibrations. Radical improvements to the lathe were introduced by master Theodore in Ancient Greece approx. in 400 BC uh, pos. 6. He supplemented the foot drive, firstly, with a crank - now the workpiece rotated in one direction. Secondly, I made the centers rotating and provided one of them with a grip to hold the workpiece. Thirdly, he introduced a heavy flywheel into the kinematic scheme. Separate machines of this design were in operation on industrial enterprises before the start of the electrification of industry, pos. 7 - in the then complete absence of social guarantees, the labor of an unskilled helper was cheaper than the cost of maintaining a steam engine.

The electrified wood lathe (item 8 in the previous figure) has not changed much since the end of the 19th century (see also the figure below):

a - motor rotor and other massive drive parts do not require the use of a separate flywheel;
b - various tips can be placed in the clamping chuck for different kind blanks (see below) or drill;
c - a handpiece with a rotary shelf-stop for the cutter, mounted on a movable carriage, makes it possible to carry out a wide variety of work operations;
d - tailstock with a rotating center allows you to bring the accuracy of processing to the maximum possible on a tree;
e - the screw for feeding the tailstock quill (see below) makes it possible to carry out complex processing of the workpiece into a part in one setting. The tree in the course of processing gives in under pressure of the holder and the center. If the tailstock is rigidly fixed, the workpiece becomes loose during processing. The machine has to be stopped and the blanks reinstalled, which in no way contributes to the quality of work.

What if there is no motor?

A non-volatile wood lathe may still come in handy these days; say, in a country house or an unequipped construction site. The muscular strength of a normally developed person is sufficient for turning workpieces from ordinary timber with a diameter of approx. up to 150 mm. In such a case, 2 options are possible (see the following figure): a good old machine with a foot drive (the dimensions of its most important unit - the crank are given at the top right); for more on it, see below, and processing on a goat with a manual drive towline (lower right in the figure). Lesina in girth cannot be rounded in this way, but it is possible to machine the supporting pillars of the porch, gazebo or canopy over the barbecue.

Make or buy?

The first question that needs to be addressed is: since certain obligatory costs (see below) are inevitable, is it possible to purchase a woodworking machine without getting into a loan and without cutting the budget? There are, and very good ones.

If you come across an old UBDN-1 at a reasonable price (on the left in the figure) or its modern counterparts (in the center), do not yawn! There is no need to re-equip anything at home: a motor up to 350 W with double insulation of the windings. The machine is plugged into a regular socket, grounding is not required. And you get in one product:

circular saw;
Electronadzhak for tool sharpening, etc.;
planer;
Disc grinder;
Horizontal drilling machine;
Lathe for woodworking.

Another option, most likely cheaper, but only for horizontal drilling and turning - a drill frame that turns it into a lathe, on the right in fig. The beds of drills for a drill are already being sold almost on the streets peddling, but far from everyone knows about turning. Meanwhile, an electric drill as a machine drive for wood has serious advantages (see below), and a lathe with it will be no worse than a branded one. But much cheaper.

Note: for starters, it's better to hastily build a simple lathe and work on it a little. Wood turning skills are easy to develop, and how to quickly make a simple wood lathe, see the video:

Video: simple homemade lathe

Main material

The next question is what to make a homemade lathe from? The answer seems to be obvious: from metal, after all, there cannot be a machine weaker than a workpiece, can it? And how did primitive people drill stone with wood? How did the ancient Egyptians build pyramids with wood and copper (there was no bronze then)? And see above about the main issue of machine tool building.

A lathe for woodworking can be made of metal (pos. 1 in the figure), metal-wood, pos. 2, from improvised materials with minimal use of metal, pos. 3 and even ... without a frame, pos. 4. So, on any of them, a fairly experienced and accurate craftsman can work regularly for a long time with maximum accuracy for a tree. Wood is not only a noble, but also a grateful material.

What tree?

Yes, but which tree to take? Best of all - oak without defects, seasoned, having undergone complete natural shrinkage and shrinkage. Lathes made of quality oak 100 or more years old still work today. And as for home-made work - the frame and headstock of an oak (in the literal sense) machine are made very simply, see below.

If there is no oak lumber of suitable quality, then you can get by with ordinary drill pine, but the bed will have to be made according to the frame-and-beam power scheme. In Anglo-Saxon countries, where oaks have long been registered individually, such home lathes are very common. Drawings of an "English" wood lathe with a frame made of ordinary timber are given in fig; dimensions in inches. This is actually an ancient foot machine with a crank, adapted for an electric drive. To return it to a non-volatile form, it is enough to extend the middle rack of the bed to the bottom, put it on the paw and mount the pedal with the connecting rod, crank and flywheel, see above.

Drive unit

Working with a muscle motor is, of course, an amateur: now electricity is available almost everywhere. In extreme cases, you can also be powered from the car battery through a voltage converter. If you meet somewhere in other articles on this topic something like: pull a 3-phase cable towards you, make a protective ground, buy a 3-5 kW motor, do not believe the elephant that he is a buffalo. To round a wood of medium "clumsiness" up to a diameter of 300 mm, a machine drive power of 1-1.5 kW is sufficient; for turning a 200 mm log into a figured support post - 350 W.

Much more important is the spindle speed. The frequency of its rotation should not exceed 600-700 rpm, otherwise the probability of “biting” the cutter and the occurrence of a traumatic situation increases sharply. It is best to limit yourself to speeds set within (60-70) - (300-400) 1 / min. Then the following is possible. drive options:

Double insulated asynchronous motor with capacitor start + mechanical transmission.
Engine of the same type 2-4 speed.
Electric drill drive.

just a motor

It is not easy, because it is impossible to regulate the rotation speed of an asynchronous electric motor by changing the supply voltage: the slip of the rotor grows like an avalanche and, accordingly. torque drops. Making a powerful frequency converter is difficult and expensive. It remains only 2-3 speed manual transmission. Belt or chain - they dampen jerks due to inhomogeneities of the workpiece, and gear, on the contrary, enhances them. Plus - a heavy rotor, heavy pulleys, an elastic belt. The inertia of the torsion drive turns out to be such that it is possible to sharpen completely knotty blocks of a shape on a cut that has nothing in common with a circle. Minus - you need to order or look for turned pulleys.

washing machine motor

The speed of rotation of an asynchronous electric motor can be changed in steps by switching the windings. Motors of this type are installed in some models of washing machines (only in washing machines with a direct drum drive) and in floor fans with airflow switching. The rotation speeds in both cases are ideal for woodturning. Fan motor power approx. 40-70 W, which is enough for a mini-machine (see below). The motor power from the washing machine is 300-400 W - quite enough.

Drawings of a wood lathe with a motor from a washing machine are shown in Fig.:

A motor from a washing machine with a direct drum drive as a drive for a woodworking lathe has a great advantage: its bearing assemblies are designed for a large unbalanced load, so it will be possible to sharpen the most viscous and serrated wood. But with knots, the situation is worse: the flywheel is only the rotor of the motor, and the cutter will twitch on them.

Note: how to make a wood lathe with a motor from a washing machine, see video:

Video: lathe with a washing machine engine

From a drill

Both machines, from the point of view of the usual home master there is a big drawback: you need to either put a grip on the headstock only for wood, or order an adapter for the motor shaft with a Morse taper for a clamping chuck. Finding the sizes of typical Morse cones on the Internet is not difficult; the dimensions of the cone for a conventional drill chuck No. 1, see fig. on right. But - you need to sharpen the cone with an accuracy of no worse than +/-0.025 mm. That is, you need a metal lathe with increased accuracy of 0.02 mm. A master of sufficient qualification who owns such equipment may simply not be found within reach.

If the drive of the machine is an electric drill, the problems of precision machining disappear: the cartridge can be removed with a home-made puller, and a typical purchased holder for a wooden workpiece can be placed on the cone. Or just clamp the same chuck, but cheaper with a cylindrical shank. Or even make a workpiece holder yourself, (see below).

The design of such a critical unit as the headstock in a lathe from a drill is also extremely simplified: it turns into a simple clamp. Two options for drawings of a clamp for a drill for a lathe are given in fig:

Headstocks - clamps for a wood lathe from a drill

Left metal; on the right - from solid small-layer wood. Wooden is better: it dampens vibrations well and does not spoil the collar of the drill. Its manufacture has some peculiarities:

Threaded stud for clamping lamb 1 needs M10-M12;
A blind hole for the stud is first drilled 1-1.5 m narrower so that it enters it with a turn along the thread;
The upper part of the hole is drilled to the full diameter;
The pin is screwed in until it stops;
The workpiece is laid flat and a through hole is drilled in place for the lock screw 2 M4-M6;
Fix the stud with a locking screw;
Collect the knot finally.

An electric drill as a machine drive has only one drawback: a commutator motor with a thyristor speed controller. At a low speed, the torque on the shaft drops noticeably, this is already felt when drilling. Therefore, on a machine from a drill with a power of 280-350 W, it is possible to sharpen wooden blanks with a diameter of approx. up to 150 mm. However, the simplification of the manufacturing technology of a woodworking lathe driven by a drill is so thorough that drill machines are made in the most variety of options, see video selection:

From improvised materials without a bed:

Video: wood lathe quickly

With plywood frame:

Video: plywood lathe with a drill engine

Regular design:

Video: universal wood lathe

Improved with extended functionality:

Video: improved wood lathe from a drill

bed

The metal and oak bed of a wood lathe have their own advantages and disadvantages. But by combining wooden power (bearing) elements with reinforced metal fasteners, it is possible to get a frame that is made “on the knee” with a hand tool + an electric drill and will last at least 20-30 years.

The design of the combined frame of a wood lathe is shown in the figure:

Basic structural material- a standard oak beam 100x100 3 m long. The overall length of the frame is 1.2 m. The drawing is to scale, the missing dimensions can be removed and recalculated in mm from it. If a good oak there are more, the length of the bed can be increased to 1.5-2 m. Both headstocks are of the same design and are designed for home-made rotation units, see below. The ridges at the bottom of the pasterns eliminate the skew of the centers. The whole structure can be made with hand carpentry tools and an electric drill.

Note: a mini-lathe for wood was made according to a fundamentally the same power circuit, see next. rice. It will fit a motor from a 2-3 speed floor fan, see above, with a 1: 1 gear.

If all the same metal

The totality of the qualities of an oak bed is quite enough for turning wood. The use of metal for this purpose in mass production is dictated by economic considerations: it's just that the cost of a metal product intended for continuous 3-shift operation turns out to be much less than a wooden one. 1 cu. m of aged oak is much more expensive than a centner of conventional structural steel.

Amateur craftsmen, not knowing about it, often “for the sake of strength” make the beds of lathes for wood from a channel. But it turns out rough even for “wooden” accuracy (on the left in the figure), and trimming the working surfaces of channels at home is not realistic. In addition, welding can lead the entire structure with a “propeller”, which is completely unrealistic to fix. Therefore, it is better to assemble the frame from the channel with bolts (on the right in the figure).

Much more reliable in this regard is the frame of twin pipes (on the left in the next figure): when welding, it leads less, you can correct the skew by pulling the frame with bolts to the base, and it is possible to achieve a divergence of the centers of handicraft headstocks of 0.2 mm or less . Drawings of a welded tubular bed of a lathe for wood from a drill are also shown in fig.

grandmother

It would seem that it is impossible to make the headstock of a lathe, and the back one with a rotating center, without precision turning work. No, it is possible - using the phenomenon of oil hydrodynamic cushion (OHD). This, by the way, is one of the ways to answer the question: how to make parts for a machine with an accuracy of 0.2 on a machine with an accuracy of 1. In mechanical engineering, the GDP is rarely used, because. for its formation and stabilization, the machine with the workpiece fixed in it must idle for 2-5 minutes. If a shift lesson is only 10 parts, then every shift loss of working time will be up to an hour or half an hour, which in mass production "rolls over". But in general, in the GDP technique, it is not uncommon. For example, warming up the internal combustion engine of your car is necessary incl. and in order to form a GDP between the connecting rod clamps and the crankshaft journals, otherwise the motor resource is sharply reduced.

What is GDP

The principle of operation of the GDP is shown in Fig.:

Any grease is suitable for it: grease, grease, cyatim, fiol. But best of all - shahtol, special lubricant for mining machines and mechanisms. Due to the difficult working conditions, they, like the Kalashnikov assault rifle, are made with large gaps between the rubbing parts, but they are not required to fire quickly. Shaftol is specially designed for relatively slow moving joints of rotation and is excellent for wood lathe headstocks using HDF.

Headstock

The device of a typical headstock of a lathe for woodworking is given on the left in fig. There are so many metal lathes in it for an amateur, and the shaft journals and bearing cap sockets need to be sharpened with the same accuracy as the Morse taper.

For a home-made headstock using the GDP, you will need, in addition to purchased threaded parts: M12-M20 studs for the shaft, nuts and washers for them, another piece of bronze (not brass!) Foil 0.2-0.35 mm thick and, on the clip, steel tube with walls of sufficient thickness (see right in the figure). The entire assembly is made next. way:

The tube on the clip is cut exactly to the size of the thickness of the wooden body of the headstock, and pressed into it;
The body with the clip is laid flat, laid flat and the tube is drilled along the diameter of the threaded shaft;
The inner corners of the opening of the clip are smoothed with manual scraping - a reamer - as is done when installing air conditioners;
A rectangle is cut out of bronze foil with a height along the thickness of the headstock body and a width of 3 shaft diameters (for M12 36 mm, for M16 48 mm), its corners are slightly cut at 45 degrees. In 3 diameters, because the bronze insert should slightly converge at the edges, and π = 3.1415926 ...
6-8 bronze washers are cut out of the same foil with a ballerina compass with two needles;
The washers are clamped in turn with their palms between plywood with a small skin glued on them and, turning their hands back and forth, remove the burrs;
The shaft is wrapped in the same skin and, squeezing it with your hand, the shaft is pulled several times with a twist in order to slightly remove the sharp edges of the thread;
Wrap the shaft with foil and try to insert it dry into the holder. If necessary, repeat operation 7. It is necessary that the shaft in the foil wrapper enters tightly and is difficult to turn by hand in the holder;
They take out the shaft, remove the foil and screw one of the nuts onto it to the place;
Lubricate the shaft threads liberally with grease;
The same lubricant lubricates the clip inside;
On one side, ordinary steel and 3-4 bronze washers are applied, each generously lubricating with the same lubricant;
Again wrap the shaft with foil and insert it into the holder;
Washers are applied in reverse order on the other side, also lubricating abundantly;
They screw and tighten the other nut so tightly that the shaft can barely be turned by hand;
The nuts are temporarily fixed with locknuts;
Lay the workpiece flat and drill through holes for cotter pins;
Spinning regular nuts. Best off cuts of bicycle spokes, they have very high shear strength;
They assemble the headstock, put its pulley in place;
They twist the pulley with their hands until it starts to rotate tightly, but without jamming;
Assemble the drive of the machine and run it at idle at the minimum spindle speed (in the slowest gear) until the motor picks up full speed. If necessary, push the pulley by hand;
Repeat step 21 at maximum spindle speed (in the fastest gear);
The gripper of the workpiece is put in place - the assembly is ready for work.

If you don’t trust any very smart physics there (although nodes with GFS keep accuracy no worse than analogues on rolling friction), then in fig. - drawings of a bearing assembly equally suitable for home-made circular saw and wood lathe. In the latter case, a flat sole with side supports is not needed - the round body is simply inserted into the headstock body and fixed with a screw. Instead of saw blade put either a faceplate or an adapter with a cone under the chuck (det. 6).

tailstock

The designs of the rotating centers of lathes for metal (at the top in the figure on the right) and for wood (in the same place below) are not fundamentally different, only the “wooden” one is designed for many times lower loads. But in work, especially at home, there is a significant difference: axial holes in turned wooden parts are drilled extremely rarely, because. their strength is greatly reduced by this - wood, unlike metal, cracks easily. That is, by abandoning the quills for interchangeable working bodies, it is possible to simplify the design of the tailstock to suitability for manufacturing “on the knee” with a small share of simple custom-made turning work.

A typical design of the tailstock of a wood lathe is shown in fig. below. On the right there is an insert with a rotating center in a wooden tailstock made from a garage door hinge. It also uses the GDP, and the center shank is fitted to the cage in the same way as the headstock shaft, but simpler and lighter: the gap between the pin and the socket of the garage hinge is approx. 0.5 mm and, as a rule, the assembly turns out to be suitable for work without fitting and grinding.

Some difficulties are caused only by fixing the center from the reverse longitudinal stroke. Slice trapezoidal thread and it is unrealistic to make a locking cracker or an eccentric for it at home, but the usual metric thread the locking screw will quickly collapse. The output is a floating aluminum sleeve. Locksmiths are familiar with this method: if you need to clamp a threaded part in a vice, they wrap it in thin aluminum or put it between aluminum spacers - absolutely nothing happens to the thread.

handcuff

The simplest tool holder for a cutter is a piece of board with a wooden boss nailed / screwed to it. But this is not suitable for fine work: during the point of shaped parts, you need to turn the shelf (stop) of the cutter, without loosening the fastening of the handpiece itself and without moving it. Therefore, the handpiece must be made of metal with a swivel stop, however, custom turning and milling work is not required for this; see drawings in fig. on right.

Holder

So we got to the last question: how to securely fix the workpiece in the headstock of a woodworking lathe? Considering that the tree is easily torn, crushed, pricked, and the blocks on the lathe sometimes come in forms that are simply amazing.

The answer to this question is not as terrible as the devil is painted. Universal holder - trident, pos. 1 in fig. It is these that are supplied with household woodworking machines, for example. mentioned UBDN-1. The shank is either smooth for a chuck or threaded for mounting on a shaft. The trident holder securely holds workpieces up to 100-120 mm in diameter, and round ones up to 200 mm. There is only one drawback: it is very difficult to make a good trident for a wood lathe.

Screw chuck for small clean work (for example, turning wooden glasses), pos. 2, it is generally impossible to do without special equipment, but it is successfully replaced by a clamping chuck, pos. 3. If you need to process, on the contrary, a large workpiece with an irregular configuration in the cut, use a faceplate, pos. four.

A faceplate for turning wood can also be made independently from bakelized plywood with a thickness of 12-16 mm. In this case, the washer is made 2-layer: the same one made of sheet steel 1-1.5 mm thick is attached to the plywood circle on the back side. Holes for spikes in a plywood circle are drilled through, and instead of turned spikes, then you can put cut-off nail tips. A glass for installing a faceplate under a nut on a threaded shaft shank can also be made from plywood rings and a steel bottom.

Finally, on the basis of a 3-4 layer faceplate, you can make a homemade cam chuck for wood, pos. 5. Are the cams sure not to converge? So the accuracy of the workpiece is even worse. But you can sharpen bowls, saucers, etc. from cuts of a valuable tree. products that do not leave traces of processing.

Note: the variety of wood blank holders is not limited to those described. For example, see the video on how to make a mini lathe with a hole holder for the smallest woodwork:

Video: mini wood lathe

Finally

Making a machine and working on it are different things not only in industry. Therefore, in the end, see a selection of videos on how to sharpen a tree on a machine and make a copy machine for wood for turning balusters out of a grinder.

It will find its application in any private house or garage workshop.

Such equipment allows you to cut parts made of metal, wood, foam plastic and a number of other materials, drill holes, cut threads, and process ends.

Anything that involves changing the shape or surface of a part is done on a lathe. These works are possible both at home and in a specially equipped office.

It is not surprising that the first, most primitive prototypes were made in ancient Egypt, stone was turned on them.

In museums there are turning and milling mechanisms for metal of the 14th-15th centuries, the rotation in them was due to the foot pedal.

The rapid development of industry at the end of the Middle Ages required a qualitative breakthrough in equipment - the manual mechanism was modernized, and the first turning and milling machine for metal, powered by electricity, appeared.

A little later, equipment with numerical control (CNC) was created.

The modernization of production required more and more highly specialized tools, and CNC equipment began to be created not only for working on wood or metal, but also performing very narrow operations, for example, edging door leaf or drilling cavities for a lock insert.

In this form, they are used to this day.

In this article, we will review existing equipment and look at how to make a simple do-it-yourself machine, and how self-upgrading can improve equipment.

Industrial equipment is divided into light machines, weighing up to 1 ton, medium in weight - up to 10 tons, and heavy - over 11 tons.

Each machine performs one or more actions for processing wood or metal at home or in production.

All modern turning equipment is equipped with CNC from the simplest to the most complex, controlling the turning of the part with an accuracy of tenths of a millimeter.

The modernization of machine tools has divided equipment into heavy and bulky, performing tasks for heavy industry, as well as miniature high-precision, producing tiny parts of precision instruments - this desktop machines with CNC.

Regardless of the size and purpose of use, lathes have the same basic components and components.

It consists of a base on which a bed is installed, along which the caliper moves along the guides.

At opposite ends of the equipment are the headstock, which transmits rotation through the workpiece spindle, and the tailstock, which moves freely and is fixed depending on the size of the workpiece.

The CNC is connected both to the engine (it stops rotation at the necessary moment), and to the actual cutting element.

A close relative in terms of the principle of operation is a milling machine. It is also used on wood and metal.

The milling mechanism, due to the cutter installed in the spindle, performs a rotational movement, and the translational movement of the part feed can be either rectilinear or at an angle β, depending on the task.

Usually the milling mechanism is equipped with a CNC. A very wide application has a center that performs both milling and turning a set of works.

DIY equipment

There are many options for how you can create a homemade turning mechanism.

If you often have to do the same work, then bench-top lathes in your home workshop will be a good help.

Most often, a drill is used for the working part of the equipment, which is strengthened on the base. With the initial skills of working with electronics, it’s really possible to come up with even a CNC machine.

base or frame turning equipment can be made from corners of metal or wooden bars.

Desktop turning mechanisms can have a base in the form of a strong chipboard.

If you are faced with the task of short-term processing of small parts, then it is quite possible to use a motor powered by a 220V network.

The frame design must ensure that the following conditions are met:

both the leading and the driven center are located on the same straight line, which is parallel to the axis of rotation;
the center of symmetry of the part coincides with the axis of its rotation;
the part is securely fixed on the headstock.

You can turn a part that rotates between the headstock and tailstock using any tool - files, needle files and other things.

Homemade desktop lathes are designed for side processing of parts. For example, it will be convenient to handle the baluster of a wooden staircase on them.

With your own hands it is easy to create not only desktop, but also full-fledged lathes.

The main difference between desktop options and a full-size machine is the engine.

The larger the homemade machine, the more bulky parts it can process.

And to work with large workpieces, of course, you need a powerful engine.

Engine lathe

Consider a home-made machine, created with your own hands from the engine and power supply of an old Soviet tape recorder.

Its basis will be a wooden board, from its pieces, cut in the form of squares, the side of which is equal to the width of the base of our future machine, we will form the tailstock.

We will form a casing from metal, in which we will cut a hole for the output of the rotating mechanism. We fix the engine on the casing.

Now you need to find the projection of the center of rotation on the tailstock.

To do this, you can make a cylinder out of paper that clearly corresponds to the distance between the headstocks, fix it on the headstock and wrap it around the axis several times using the drive.

If the cylinder rotates smoothly, then the fixation point of the part will be the center of the circle that describes the cylinder on the tailstock.

In the center we start a self-tapping screw or any other holder for the workpiece. Of course, this work is done by eye and does not imply high precision turning works.

Modernization, which will increase the accuracy if the distance between the tailstocks is more than 20 cm, is possible if the workpiece clamping center is leveled, putting it between the engine head and the tailstock.

We made the simplest mechanism with our own hands.

On it, you can process the side surface of a long part of a cylindrical and conical shape, as well as a simple beam.

Given the low power of the machine, it is applicable only for wood parts. Similarly, you can make a milling mechanism with your own hands.

Lathe with a drill

Modernizing the Idea of Finding the Affordable electrical appliance, which produces rotation, will tell you to use a drill for a do-it-yourself turning mechanism.

She can be found in every home. Often, and not one, because an inexpensive option is usually purchased, and then it turns out that it is rather weak in power.

For the turning mechanism, you will need a drill, any base (a piece of plywood, a board or a plate), a wooden skewer on which the workpiece will be put on, and a wooden square for the tailstock.

We fix the drill in any way, at the marked length we fix the tailstock made of wood, insert the rod into the drill and drill a hole in the headstock.

The skewer and workpiece rotate, and a person processes the workpiece with sandpaper.

Such a mechanism can be upgraded, during which any processing device (for example, a file) will be attached to the base, which will be a manual analogue of the CNC.

So, if we need to make a cone-shaped indentation around wood detail, we can make the following improvements - we take two flat files, fix them so that they touch the part, and a trapezoid is formed between the surface of the part and the base with the files.

Now we need to use a simple spring mechanism to feed the files evenly forward and at an angle.

Options for improving the mechanism:

Modernization for metal work can be done by replacing the skewer with a healing mechanism. Attach a spring fixation with a plate to the metal rod, install one such rod in the drill, and the second in the tailstock. A metal workpiece will rotate between the plates, and we will be able to perform turning work on metal;
At home, work with long workpieces is often required. You can make a collapsible drill fixture, easy modernization of the base of the mechanism will allow you to rearrange it to process longer objects;
Modernization of equipment can be carried out by taking a more powerful engine (for example, from a washing machine) and making the base larger. There is no direct relationship between the area of the base and the power of the engine, but it must be taken into account that vibrations occur during the operation of the engine, and the base of the machine serves as a support, due to which the equipment itself with a rotating part will be in an equilibrium position.

We looked at how easy it is to make homemade mechanism for turning work from parts that you probably have at home.

Upgrading the simplest equipment to your specific needs will help you process items in a more complex way.

To create a home lathe with a full-fledged CNC, you will need a control unit, however, it is difficult to make it without special knowledge.

As we have shown, the hand-held analogue of the CNC can be simple tools for working wood or metal, mounted on the base at the right angle.