Roy Underhill produces a TV series on traditional woodworking. He's definitely a hands on guy who prefers the feel of a wood plane over an electric planer and a brace over a cordless drill. I just tuned into one of his programs that really caught me off guard because he was demonstrating a small metal lathe! It fact it was a Barnes 4 1/2 treadle powered crew cutting lathe. He cut a thread, turned a 60º center point, and a taper using tailstock offset. Now, where the hell do I find one of these? It looks like a heck of a lot of fun!
Tom
http://video.pbs.org/video/2296983856/
Nice video.
Luv the guys enthusiasm
DaveH
It's a fun show to watch. He's not the greatest craftsman, but what he lacks in that area is made up with enthusiasm.
Tom
Very neat, did you catch where he was running the centre bit into the end grain.
If you find one of those Tom you'll be getting rid of the Hardinge.
That's a
little lathe.
Ed
here is a pic of mine
a real workout turning steel, not bad on brass
have another 4 1/2 and a 5 not complete the pedal drive is gone "electrified" .
Hey Greg, maybe I could keep the Hardinge and just add a treadle.
They seem to be fairly common. There is one for sale a half hour from me for $400. Unfortunately it has been electrified.
Tom
you can buy most of the pedal mechanism plus the seat. I have that info somewhere, cattail foundry in Pa, was doing the castings. 400 is about what they have been selling for.
Thing is, about the last thing I need is a new project.
That was one cool little lathe
, it has the added bonus of ' the more you turn, the fitter you become '
Cheers Mick.