BUILD YOUR OWN LATHE

By Guenter Kallies

W HAT model engineer does not, at some time, dream of owning a small wonder-machine, that
would make everything?
But when one reads the colour brochures and at the same time adds up the basic unit price plus the
cost of the accessories, nine out of ten readers lay the brochures aside, and the dreams go into the
files.
However, it is possible for a modeller to build a small lathe himself, and so keep the costs to a minimum.
The original idea for this project stems from an EMCO product of some years ago, their model UNIMAT
SL which they quite correctly described as a "small machine" - with a between-centres distance of only
175mm. Our self-built lathe should really be of somewhat greater capacity:

Technical data for the self-built machine

Centre height 58mm

Centre distance 270mm
Spindle bore diameter 8.2mm
Lathe chuck diameter 80mm
Spindle speeds
155/310/620/1350/2700/5400 rpm

Eight thread pitches from 0.5 to 2.0mm

(with change-wheels)

A lathe is obviously a precision machine, which will only provide trouble-free operation when it is built
as carefully and rigidly as possible. On the other hand, a self-built machine demands as simple a
construction as possible.

The main components of this machine are manufactured from light-alloy plate material, as
delivered from the suppliers already cut to size by band-saw. Further reworking of these saw-cut
faces is not usually needed, this would not affect the function, only maybe improve the appearance!
For assembly of the parts, few tools are required, namely a ‘hobby’ drilling machine with holder
and stand, some drills, a good vice, some files, measuring instruments, scribers and punches, also
two tap sets for M4 and M6 will be needed.
However, it should be no secret that, without the help of a friendly mechanical engineer, who will
produce one or two of the more accurate parts, the do-it-yourself project may be doomed to failure!
Alternatively it may be possible to pay for this work. However, this will definitely blow up the costs.
Altogether, the author spent only a few hundred euros to build this lathe, of which the three-jaw
chuck represents the lion's share. Spread over some one-and-a-half year's building time, these
costs are acceptable.
All detail parts were assembled using socket-cap screws. After completing assembly and final
alignment of the individual components, these were fixed additionally with 4.0mm dia. roll-pins.
These small standard parts are not listed separately in the drawing parts lists, and must be decided
by the lathe builder himself.
NOTE: All drawing dimensions and sizes quoted in parts lists are metric. If you are unfamiliar
with this system, please convert to your preferred one before starting work!
Assembly 01 - Machine Bed
A 25mm-thick light-alloy plate is used as the bed-plate for this machine, to provide sufficient
stiffness over the length.
The bed end-blocks item 01-2A and 01-2B are aligned by means of the slide bars and then bolted
and fixed onto the bed-plate. These end-blocks are drilled with three 14mm dia. holes, of which
the two outer holes must be matched exactly with the holes in the longitudinal saddle item 03-1.
Only by so matching can an exact guiding function be ensured, thus these 14mm dia. holes must
be pre-drilled and then reamed out to the finished size together. The end-blocks are sawn through
after the drilling and reaming operations, so that Item 01-2A will form the left-hand end-block for
the headstock, while Item 01-2B will be the right-hand end-block for the tailstock. With this method,
an absolutely accurate matching of these holes is ensured. The third hole is used later for the
longitudinal lead screw, and will be provided with bearings and extension shafts.
NOTE: After the sawing through of the block, the opposing sawn faces should be ‘center-popped’
for identification, so that they are assembled face-to-face later. (i.e. NOT reversed during the
assembly procedure!)
The slide bars Item 01-3 are made from commercial grade Silver-Steel, supplied precision-ground
to an accurate size and roundness. The load-bearer bar Item 01-4, made from bright drawn steel
flat bar, was installed after it was found that the stiffness of the the slide bars was not always
sufficient under higher cutting loads.
The longitudinal saddle can be set to contact this load-bearer bar with two adjustable brass studs,
locked by locknuts. To set up and align this bar, the saddle is moved to and fro with these studs
and nuts installed, and the bar clearances set using feeler gauges - or better still, a dial test
indicator traversed by the saddle.