Homemade Wood Lathe: Hardwood Bed, Sliding Headstock and Tailstock, Steel Spindle With Stepped Pulley (Boy Mechanic, 1915)

"A strong, substantial lathe in which wood and light metal articles may be turned can be made by carefully following the description below and the detailed drawings of the parts."

Cut two pieces of straight-grained, smooth 2 by 4 in hardwood, 5 ft long, and hold them apart at each end with blocks of wood 2 in wide (Fig. 9 shows 2 in rails with a 2 in gap). The bed can be longer or shorter.

Make the two hardwood end pieces to the shape of Figs. 1 and 2 (2 in thick, 2 in apart on an 8 in base, 7-1/2 in high, 6 in wide at the bottom) and screw them to the base. Nail a slider 1 in thick and 10 in long, just wide enough to slide between the bed rails, under the base, 2 in from its rear end. Bore two 1/2 in holes through base and slider and put two 1/2 in bolts through them and through another slide and board under the bed, so tightening the nuts clamps the headstock. Screw a half-round wedge-shaped brace inside the frame against the front end.

Make the spindle of tool steel or steel tubing, 3/4 in in diameter and 14 in long, and cut a thread on one end. Rivet on a hardened steel collar, 1/4 by 1-1/2 in, to turn against another collar of the same size on the headstock; screw a third collar to the rear end piece and fix a collar with a removable pin on the spindle, fitted to turn easily with no end play. Drill brass tubing for the spindle as bearings and wedge them into the headstock 6 in above the bed, in line; drill small oil holes from the top.

Make the pulleys 2 in wide, with the diameters on the drawing: 6, 4-1/2 and 3 in. Fasten them to the spindle with a removable pin. (Turned hardwood is our choice of material; he does not say.)

For the chuck (Fig. 3), take shafting 1-1/2 in in diameter and 2-1/2 in long, drill a 1/2 in hole through its centre, ream and thread one end to fit the spindle, and fit a setscrew over the 1/2 in hole. Make a wood-turning centre, and other centres and drills, from 1/2 in tool steel.

Build the tailstock (Figs. 4-6) of three pieces of hardwood 2 in thick and one 1 in thick, shaped as drawn, held together with four bolts 7-1/2 in long. Give it sliders and clamp it to the bed like the headstock, but with one bolt, and weld a handle to its nut for easy clamping. Drill a piece of tubing 2 in long for a 1/2 in dead centre and set it 1-1/2 in into the joint between the two upper pieces. Bore for a 1/2 in bolt to slide in the tube; chisel a recess behind the tube for a 1/2 in nut; turn a bolt 7 in long, threaded for 2 in, into nut and tube, and rivet a handle or wheel on its end. Make the centre of 1/2 in tool steel with a tapered point.

The tool rest (Figs. 7-9) has a slide 3/4 by 3 by 13 in with a slot 1/2 by 6 in. Bolt the rest base on the slide so it can be adjusted, and screw the rest to the base. Raise or lower it with wedges between slide and base, and clamp it to the bed like the tailstock.

From "How to Make a Wood Lathe" by E. E. Hulgan, Marion, Ind., in **The Boy Mechanic, Book 2**, Popular Mechanics, 1915 (Project Gutenberg 44585; checked on the archive.org scan boymechanicbook200chic2, pp. 434-436). Part shapes come from his Figs. 1-9; he gives no pulley material and no countershaft or foot-drive details. The pulley material, tools and metric figures are ours.