Lathe help and ID :)

[drowso]

New member, hopefully looking for a little help with a lathe I bought recently. I am an absolute beginner and know very little about lathes - this will show.

This was only £15 so I'm honestly not too bothered if I can't make it work, but if its possible... It looked like all it needed was a dead centre.

I cannot find any sort of info on this lathe, and am starting to think its at least partially homemade.
It's a strange design compared to the ones I've seen before... the first thing you may notice is the tailstock is just hanging upside down.

It is tightened to this round steel bar by a thumb tightened bolt, so is practically impossible to actually align.


The headstock is immobile but also quite a strange design.

A threaded rod runs directly through the headstock into the back of a nylon chuck collet, which could tighten around something to be used as a dead centre. The collets I have don't match any MT0/MT1 etc size that I'm aware of, unfortunately.

My plan was to make my own dead centre which would fit in one of the nylon collets. However, I'd appreciate if anyone could identify this lathe and tell me if a faceplate or jawed chuck could be fit. It may be possible to remove the bar and tap a new thread onto one the same diameter, although the collar might get in the way of that it doesn't seem to be removable.

 

[minilathe22]

That is a curious lathe! If the motor works then for £15 I guess you got a good deal.

Does the main bar have a groove/recess along its length? Usually with would be used to keep the tailstock from rotating. Does the toolrest freely rotate as well?

If you are interesting in making it into a useable lathe, you might have to spend some time on it.

 

[drowso]

The motor does work, which is actually what I bought the whole thing for.

It does not have a groove or recess, it's a plain 25-30MM round bar. Toolrest rotates, too. As long as its not me being an silly person, I may just use some of the parts to build a slightly different lathe.

 

[minilathe22]

If the goal is just to create something useable, then I agree this lathe is not the best starting point..

If you do make a benchtop lathe, my advice is to either bolt it to your table, or at least bolt it to a substantial piece of wood, much more enjoyable to use a machine that is not rocking around!