Benchmaster Horizontal as a lathe

[Shawn]

Not that I need another lathe but I can't stop thinking about how useful my little horizontal Benchmaster would be if I could use it as a lathe as well. I got a good deal on a 1hp DC motor and bought a couple of deep cell 12v batteries that will be used in series to generate the 24v I need, I'm just waiting on the motor controller to arrive to put everything together. In addition to the variable speed I bought a MT2 with a threaded end to accept the 3jaw and 4jaw chucks from my Unimat 3 lathe. I have designed a tool post for holding lathe bits and will design the cutoff tool post when the Sherline cutoff tool holder arrives in the mail. If everything goes as planned I might even think about converting the mill to CNC control. I have tried the mill in lathe mode holding a lathe tool in the mill vice and it works very well, I might even have to make a back plate to use a larger 3jaw chuck as I think the mill/lathe is more powerful and ridgid than the chuck will be able to handle. Just a couple pics of the progress so far, will update as things come together.



A render of the tool post I am thinking of building.



Cheers
Shawn

I haven't been around much as work is keeping me very busy so this project will be progressing pretty slowly for the next month or so.