Make Your Own Treadle Lathe

Book excerpt: Full color paperback edition. This title is also available as a B&W 'workshop-friendly' paperback edition and as a Kindle eBook."Make Your Own Treadle Lathe" is a practical, step by step guide to building a foot-powered lathe for light duty wood turning. You can build your own treadle lathe by following the well illustrated steps presented in this compact book. The book covers: - Materials & components - Frame and headstock - Belt and tensioner - Tailstock - Tool rest - Flywheel - Using the lathe The author also provides information on some non-turning uses for the lathe and sources for, and some shop-made alternatives to, the parts you may not have. All of the wood needed to build your lathe can be found at the local lumber yard or home center. Use 'Make Your Own Treadle Lathe' to make a near-duplicate of the author's lathe or as inspiration to build the unique human-powered lathe of your dreams. -------------- From the Introduction... Why this book exists: During the twenty years or so since I built this foot-powered treadle lathe, I have received many requests for drawings or plans. The lathe has been used as part of our traditional woodworking demonstrations and it never fails to draw a crowd. Of course, the reason the lathe exists is because I felt a need for it as a tool. Design considerations: Some of the main considerations when designing the lathe were: * Human powered - our solar energy system was pretty small at the time * Size - it had to be less than 42" tall to fit into our old truck * Compact - since it would sit in our small shop most of the time, a small footprint was essential * Portable - as in not too cumbersome or heavy * Functional - it had to perform the basic duties of a light-duty lathe * Adaptable - I had in mind several non-traditional uses for the tool, such as sanding --------------- Many unique and usable lathes have been built using earlier editions of this book. This book provides you with the instructions, photos and illustrations, and inspiration to build your own treadle lathe!