Uses for an old lathe?

[curtisrider]

I have a few wood lathes knocking about that aren't really much use as actual lathes as they are low end things (Kinzo and Woodwise) however I don't want them to go to waste. Has anybody got any good ideas for uses with them? I've seen disc sanders but I have already built one with an old motor I found. Has anybody made a belt sander with one? I could just steal the motors and switch gear for other things but they won't be massively powerful so will have limited uses.

Kinzo:

Woodwise:

 

[marcros]

Buffing machine maybe?

 

[katellwood]

Not sure what work you do but a few years ago I turned a full length cylinder on a lathe spiraled a length of abrasive to it (secured both ends with jubilee clips) then mounted the lathe vertically.

This was used for sanding a wreathed handrail prior to moulding

Probably didn't do the bearings any good but it worked excellently for the job in hand

 

[curtisrider]

Ive already got a floor mounted polisher otherwise that would be a good plan!

The cylinder/drum sander idea is good and could prove to be handy. I do bits of everything really, i'm quite keen to try out new things and just learn

 

[MattRoberts]

Check out John heisz' latest videos on YouTube - he's going to do a whole series based on using a lathe as the basis for a variety of attachments. He just prototyped a belt sander / grinder.

https://youtu.be/If37emlfV1Y

 

[heimlaga]

I have a lathe similar to the second one. Utterly useless as a lathe but I have often thought it would make a nice benchtop disc sander.

 

[curtisrider]

You could make a double sided one as it can take a faceplate on each side 8)

I think I'm going to make a vertical and horizontal belt sander like these:

Of course I can't go as large as the power won't be there, I did have the Axminster horizontal one but didn't have enough space for it at the time and ended up pretty much giving it away as nobody wanted it!

 

[graduate_owner]

A second, or even a third, disc sander would allow you to have different grades of abrasive without having to peel off sanding discs. A bit wasteful on space but quite convenient.

K

 

[Moonsafari69]

I have a disc sander attachment for my lathe and use that all the time. Not sure I'd go down the road of a dedicated sander though due to space. Nice to have the options though, will be interesting to hear what you decide.

 

[curtisrider]

I'm very fortunate that I have lots of space in my new workshop so having multiples of machines really isn't a problem. I have a few motors i'll use for a disc sander, however I'd probably make a larger one than 12" if possible as I have some 2hp motors now.

I'll get sorting out my new space and then I can get attacking the lathes and see what I can come up with!

 

[graduate_owner]

Getting the disc to run centrally on the motor shaft can be a bit tricky. If it is not dead-on then obviously it won't be much use. I tried it once - what a disaster!! Wobbled all over the place. At least the cheap lathes should run true, albeit perhaps not as powerful as you wanted. Could you replace the lathe motors with your 2HP ones?

K