Lathe Attachment for Drill Press

I just saw this Instructable: [www.instructables.com]

It's intended for wood turning but it looks like you could do small metal pieces as well.

It wouldn't be much use with my old WWII era drill press. It's not got speed control, just on-off.

---

-------------------------------------------------------

Hell, there are no rules here - we're trying to accomplish something.

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.

Thomas A. Edison

Greetings all,

IMHO, this is a dangerous way to do lathe cutting.
Nothing you're going to make is worth a hand or an eye!

If the drillpress's chuck comes loose from the side loads, it could cause *serious* personal injury!

-- Larry


PS:
The comments on that page (by "Hands Without Shadows") are IMHO quite correct:

Drill press bearings are not built for any kind of side load. This will kill them and render your drill press useless.

The taper in your spindle isnt built for any side load. It could loosed and release, sending parts flying. Thats why mills use a drawbar.

Drill chucks are not built for any kind of side load. They can loosen up and throw themselves or whatever your spinning across the room. Thats what lathe chucks, collerts, actual live and dead centers, etc are for.

---

Larry Pfeffer,

My blog about building repstrap Cerberus:
[repstrap-cerberus.blogspot.com]

Well all is true Larry,
but to be fair, that setup is not too far away from what we have announced as afghan lathe here: [reprap.org]

So at least it's not too bad to mention

'sid

I'll second what Larry said. Drill presses are not made for this. They neither have the bearings nor is the chuck attached in a way that supports their use as a lathe.

Keep in mind that a lathe is a dangerous machine and provides many opportunities for being hurt or even killed. Substituting a drill press, for a lathe, only increases your risk.

I really doubt that using a hand drill is much safer. However, drill press usually is much more powerful than a hand drill.

Regards,

Brian

Thanks for the safety lecture, guys. I seriously didn't know that about drilling machines not being able to handle lateral loads. That's going to make me change a few ideas I had about making a printable lathe.

---

-------------------------------------------------------

Hell, there are no rules here - we're trying to accomplish something.

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.

Thomas A. Edison

Just to add fuel to the fire, here's a hobby lathe from Grizzly: [grizzly.com]

It takes an electric drill as its motor and is intended for use with wood. I recently bought one of these and am in the process of modifying it. Note: It doesn't come with the drill. You need to buy either their drill or one that fits their collar.

The chuck is attached with a screw thread on hand drills so I can't see it flying off. Turning wood won't generate massive lateral forces so I would think it would be fine.

Doing metal work is another matter completely.

---

[www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]