21 century lathe, DIY motor?

[DngBat7]

Did some engineering this afternoon, will post pics in the next few days when complete, looks good and very solid, I didn't use the bottom of the lathe just the two stands and with the RCBS motor mounted on the same block of finished wood it is an exact fit.

I actually would like to see. My rcbs motor will be here by weeks end.

 

[Shooter13]

I actually would like to see. My rcbs motor will be here by weeks end.

Will do

 

[AJC]

So i dont have one of these but i was considering good options and what may work well is a sewing machine motor. It is variable speed and can be run with a peddal. It gives the variable speed option and the switching is already figured out. The side benifit is that your hands are free to do other things. I have done something just like this on my drill press for adding a third hand option.

 

[243Lapua]

I built my own neck turner lathe of an old Bodine motor chemical stirrer. It had a pulley with variable speed selection depending where you placed the belt. At the end shaft it has a 3/8 x 24 threaded chuck that I run a Sinclair neck turning shell holder. Finally decided to change the pulley setup and bought MXL type pulleys of EBay and know have a constant rpm of 250. Thomas Scientific is the company that sold this setup, kind of vintage but works perfect. I think I spent about fifty dollars for the whole setup. I've been trying to find another on eBay, but no luck.

 

[243Lapua]

I found a similar unit. Does not show rpm, but maybe if you contact the seller he can provide rpm stamped on plate of motor. 192280574775 EBay. Shaft might need to be threaded for chuck.

 

[243Lapua]

222994005872 E Bay. RPM is kind of high, but would work perfect if using carbide cutters or attaching a Little Crow case trimmer setup. Weekend project build a stand for it.

 

[Shooter13]

The first image is the base under the motor of the RCBS, I used a dremel tool to cut off the extension, I used a 2X6 board and put some washers under the motor to align, works like a charm, now it is a bit of a pain having to use your hand to move the whole motor but I think due to the constant RPM of the motor the cuts are smoother, may just be me.

 

[fatelvis]

Interesting.... if you screwed down the base of the motor, couldn’t you use the lever to move the cutter, instead of pushing on the motor with your hand?

 

[Shooter13]

Interesting.... if you screwed down the base of the motor, couldn’t you use the lever to move the cutter, instead of pushing on the motor with your hand?

I'm working on it, it is a very fine line of being able to get the case in the holder and having enough movement to cut to shoulder.

 

[DngBat7]

So I finally took everybody’s ideas from this thread, 6 months to a year later, better late than never. I did not use walnut to be fancy. It was extra I had from a project that heals been sitting in my garage and was nice and dry and wanted to use a hardwood to resist warping. But I wanted to come up with a way to not only use with a lathe, but Wilson trimmer and melplat trimmer and any other rotery item. I think I got it!