# My new lathe.



## 65535 (Dec 31, 2009)

Well it's about time my lathe got its thread, maybe a joke to some of you guys, but it suites my workbench work style.

You guys are all going big, well I'm changing that. Weighing in at roughly 50lbs. (Figure 80lbs. when finished with motor.) Running .25" HSS tooling. a 3.25" chuck and a lever tail stock with .375" chuck. I give you my Taig. :nana:

















As you can see it needs a motor, I'm saving a few bucks for a Baldor M3454 .25HP 3PH motor and a GE D7202 115V 1PH VFD. All for the bargain $230 shipped. (Thanks e-bay.)

Anyways, it's a small lathe and uses dovetails rather than your standard ways.

You may notice that the lathe is on a block of 1018 steel which is bolted to a 1.5" 18x18" piece of G-11 composite. The steel raises the entire lathe to allow handwheel access, and the G-11 was free (payed shipping), and makes the most stable base I could find.

Hope you enjoy, I'll update when I get the motor and everything finished.

Happy machining. :nana:


The lathe is very small, about 14" bed the headstock/chuck takes up about 6 inches. The tailstock takes up about 4" but is easily removable as it weighs about 1 lb. and is just clamped to the dovetail bed. I am keeping it on as a stop for the carriage since there is no rear stop and the rack that the pinion runs on runs out before the carriage reaches the end of the bed.

Anyways, I originally thought, why not add a second mounting foot (yes there is one directly under the headstock) towards the tail end, or a continuous foot. Well the whole thing is very small and as you can see in the pictures, pretty rigid. THe aluminum extrustion is capped and filled with some sort of setting compound, quite heavy. The bed is a large slab of steel and is a dovetail, mounted securely to the extrusion.





















Anyways, it's a large block of 1018 that the foot mounts to which is on the base plate. 

It's in my room because I've been taking measurements to make sure the Baldor will fit, and it should with just enough spare room for a plastic chip guard to keep chips out of the motors fan.

I plan on mounting the VFD on a tall arm about 12-16" above the base plate.


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## wquiles (Dec 31, 2009)

Very cool setup. You have to share with us some additional pics once you get everything running


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## sortafast (Dec 31, 2009)

But its soooo cute.


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## precisionworks (Dec 31, 2009)

Nothing wrong with a Taig, especially when the VFD & new motor are added 

You will be amazed at what that small machine can do. Your base setup is awesome.


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## gadget_lover (Dec 31, 2009)

Ummm 65535.... It aint got no legs. No LEGS at all!


The right side is unsupported. Is that by design? 


Daniel


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## alexmin (Dec 31, 2009)

Congratulation!
You don't have to have a garage to use this lil beauty 
Not that I am big pro in this.... but don't you want to extend your block of 1018 steel so the whole length of bed rests on it?


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## 65535 (Dec 31, 2009)

I added pics and some text to the first post talking about the mounting.


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