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I actually HAVE a wood-turning lathe as part of my Shopsmith Mark V, but I've never used it. (I use the other tools on the Shopsmith all the time, as often for for cutting metal as for wood). So when I need to turn small wooden things, I do it on the minilathe. I think the fear of water is overblown. First, you're probably not turning GREEN wood but seasoned wood, which doesn't have much water in it (although sawdust can attract water). Second, what do you think the WD in WD-40 stands for?? People are always knocking WD-40 here, saying it's "a water-displacement compound, not a lubricant."? It actually is a light waxy lubricant dissolved in solvent, but they're completely right that water displacement is what the stuff was invented for.? So spray your lathe with WD-40 before you start turning the wood, then wipe it down afterwards and you'll be fine.? Concerning the backsplash and water getting trapped there, I thought everybody already removed those and threw them away. That's certainly what I did. I don't think a backsplash is particularly useful on a tiny lathe with so little room between the backsplash and the lathe bed. But if you're fond of your backsplash spray those seams with WD-40 also. Finally, drilling tiny holes and cutting wood are the only times I use the "high" range on the minilathe.? They recommend against doing a lot of wood turning on Myford, South Bend, and other lathes with bronze bearings, because the high speeds necessary for wood turning can overheat the bearings. But our lathes do perfectly fine at those speeds. Mike Taglieri? On Fri, Apr 19, 2024, 6:22 PM Walter Wpg via <walter.wpg=[email protected]> wrote: Like many of us here, I have made a few accessories for my mini-lathe and my micro-mill - stops, carriage clamps, indicator holders, things like that. I don't think I have ever copied an existing design, mostly because I don't have easy access to the large blocks of steel or aluminum that those designs often need. So, I figure out a design based on the raw materials that I have on-hand. In figuring out a design, I almost always make up a proof-of-concept model made out of wood. I don't have a huge scrap bin of steel, brass, and aluminum, but I do have plenty of hardwood, Baltic Birch plywood, and lots of woodworking tools. With the wood model, I figure out approximate dimensions, where to put holes and fasteners, will the accessory interfere with features of the lathe, etc. I'm not afraid to re-make wood parts that aren't quite right. Eventually, when I have the design worked out, I'll make a metal version. But in some cases, the wood model has been good enough for my needs. I used a wooden spindle crank for a number of years, and I still use a couple of wooden indicator holders (which have embedded rare earth magnets). |
