Drill Powered Lathe

This lightweight hand drill powered lathe is a bolt on attachment for my router sled design.  It also pairs nicely with my router sled wood chip blast shield design.  Please note that you can use this lathe without the router sled but I'm not sure if spinning a workpiece with a hand drill will give you the speed you need to use traditional manual lathe tools.

I designed it to make straight furniture legs of various diameters.  It can support work pieces with a maximum radius of about 2.5 inches (63.5mm).  Since the lathe and router sled are based on standard 2060 aluminum extrusion and 16UU linear rails, there isn't really a limit on how long a workpiece you can use.  I used 1220mm long 2060 extrusion which should accommodate workpieces of up to 32" or so.  Of course, this lathe is mostly made of plastic so you'll want to use your best judgement about turning anything too large, heavy or unbalanced with it.  

Printing instructions:

Filament: PETG

Infill: 20%

Supports: None needed

Orientation: Use orientation given in build files

Count: Please see the model files below.  You need two of each model, except for axle supports which you need 4 of.

Additional parts:

• 2x 8mm stainless steel rod 300mm

• 2x 48" 2060 aluminum extrusion ( longer or shorter is ok too depending on your needs )

• 5x 608 ball bearings

• Assorted hex socket bolts 

• Assorted t-nuts and bolts for 2020 extrusion

• 4x 8mm rod collars.  I just used some of these by @mathiaspl20 and they work great.  Or you can buy metal ones off amazon.

Assembly instructions:

If you intend to use this lathe the router sled, please build the router sled first.

1. Press a 608 ball bearing into the circular recess in each of the 4 axle supports and one of the end supports.

2. Drill 4 evenly spaces access holes through one of the 2060 extrusions.  These holes should be drilled in the center of the t-slots through the 20mm side of the extrusion as opposed to the 60mm side.  I used a 4.5mm bit to drill the holes.

3. Collect the two 2060 extrusions on the 20mm edges using 4x m5 t-slot nuts ands 4x m5 hex socket bolts.  Use the access holes you drilled in the previous steps to insert an Allen wrench to tighten the hex bolts.  Make sure the two extrusion pieces are perfectly aligned.  I’ll refer to this assembly as a 20120 extrusion in later steps.

4. If you are planning to use the lathe with the router sled tool, it is important to position the axle end supports on the 20120 extrusion so that they are directly under the feet of your router sled.  The simplest way to do this is to bolt one axle end support to each foot of your router sled.  The use m5 bolts and t-nuts to attach the axle end supports to the 20120 extrusion.  You can unbolt the axle end supports from the router sled feet at this point.   If you are not planning on using the lathe with the router sled tool, simply attach the axle end supports to each end of the 20120 extrusion.   Note that one axle end support has a bearing pressed into it.  This will be the side that you eventually attach your hand drill to.

5. Use m5 nuts bolts to attach a left and right end support brace to each axle end support.  Attach each support brace to the each side 20120 extrusion using m5 t nuts.

6. Using use m5 bolts, an axle cover and an axle support connector to connect two axle supports together to create an axle cart assembly.  Use the remaining axle cover, axle support connector and axle supports together create another axle cart assembly.

7. Use a file or angle grinder or similar to create a flat spot about an inch (25mm) long on one end of each 8mm rod.  

8. Slide an 8mm rod through the bearings on each axle cart assembly.

9. Place one axle cart in the middle of the 20120 extrusion with its still round end facing towards the axle end support with the bearing.  Slide the axle cart down the 20120 extrusion until round end of the 8mm rod goes through the bearing in the axle end support about an inch or two.  It has to stick out the end of the axle end supports enough that you can attach it to your drill chuck.  Use bolts and t nuts to secure the axle cart in place.  Put an 8mm rod collar on each end of the 8mm rod to keep it from slide back and forth.  This axle cart plus end support assembly forms the headstock of the lathe.

10. Place the other axle cart, which will be the tailstock, on the 20120 extrusion such that the flattened ends of the 8mm rods in both axle carts face each other.  As with the cart in the previous step, you should put 8mm rods collars on each end of the 8mm rod to keep it from sliding back and forth.   Use m5 bolts and t nuts to attach the cart to the 20120 extrusion.  I have found that as I use this tool, I often want to reposition the tailstock in particular.  As a result I found it useful to use longer bolts and knurled knobs so I can attach and detach this cart without tools.

11. Sink two m5 heated inserts into the holes on the shaft of each screw on faceplate.  Loosely screw m5x16 bolts into each threaded insert.

You may notice that each end support piece of the design has all the same holes and can therefore perform the same function as an axle support piece.  This gives you the freedom to reconfigure your lathe to suit your needs, such as to accommodate longer work pieces.  I'd start with the default configuration above and once you understand how the tool goes together and operates, then modify it as you need to.  I've tried to include extra, unused m5 bolt holes in places around the design in the hopes that they give me places to bolt on additional components as I find the need for them.

Usage: 

1. Clamp the lathe assembly to a sturdy work surface.  I use dovetail clamps with square clamp pads which just happen to fit snugly inside the left and right end support bases to clamp the lathe down when I'm using it.

2. Attach your drill chuck to the 8mm rod that is sticking out through the axle end support of the lathe.

3. Attach a screw on faceplate to each end of your workpiece using 4 screws.

4. Loosen the t nuts on the axle cart that is not attached to the drill.

5. Slide a screw on faceplate onto the flattened end of each 8mm rod.  Make sure that the 8mm rod is pushed into the faceplate at least an inch.  Also make sure the rod is rotated such that flat part is under the threaded inserts in the faceplate.

6. Tighten the m5 bolts in each threaded insert of each faceplate.

7. Tighten the t nuts on the axle cart to secure it in place.

8. If you are using the router sled attachment, bolt it on top of the axle end supports using 4 m5 nuts and bolts.  Adjust the height of your router sled so that it doesn’t contact the workpiece anywhere.  Spin the workpiece by hand to double check.  Adjust the height of your router bit to just barely contact the workpiece at its highest point.

9. Turn your drill on to start the workpiece spinning.

10. Start removing material using the router sled, sanders or whatever.

Start cautiously and go slow.  Remember this tool is made of plastic.  Plan on removing just a little bit of material at a time.  When using the lathe with the router sled attachment I found that it worked best to try to remove at most 1mm of material per pass.  Obviously your results will depend on many factors such as the type of wood you’re using, the sharpness of your bits and how well balanced the piece is.

Related models and additional parts:

• Router sled

• Router sled blast shield

• Extra faceplate storage

• Bolt on 5x1 gridfinity baseplate

Future improvements:

• As is this lathe only really supports creating cylindrical furniture legs.  If I were to create a part that bolts between the lathe and router sled and allowed me to tilt one end up, I would then create tapered legs which would be cool.

• At times it would be nice to be able to lock lathe so that the workpiece cannot spin.  This would allow me to create things like hexagonal or triangular legs which could be interesting.

• It would be nice to have drill rest integrated into the design.

Changes:

• I added a faceplate cover I'm calling a knuckle saver that slides over the exposed m5 bolt heads on the simple screw on faceplates.  These covers simply cover up the bolt heads on the faceplates so that when the lathe is spinning you aren't as likely to hit tools or body parts on the bolts as they spin by. 

• I added a new version of the simple screw on faceplates that uses m5 nuts instead of m5 heat set inserts.  I found that the heated inserts would rip out over time and I generally try to avoid specialized parts like heated inserts.  Use whichever you like better.

Disclaimer:

Using a router is dangerous.  Using a drill is dangerous.  Using a router and a drill with this design is even more dangerous.  Use this design at your own peril. I assume no liability for any injury or damage that occurs while using this design.