Turning Metal on a Wood Lathe - A ‘Woodturning’ Experiment
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- čas přidán 22. 08. 2024
- Is turning metal in a wood lathe even possible?! And if it is, why would you want to do so?
This video is intended as a demo, not a how to. As long as you can secure the work piece properly, drilling into metal on a wood lathe is not much different than drilling on a metal lathe. I’ve demonstrated drilling through a steel blank in several videos.
Using woodturning tools to work metal on a wood lathe is very different than using a metal lathe to complete the same tasks. Even with the aluminum used in this video, a simple task like facing the end of a spinning metal blank is challenging. The cutting geometry on the carbide tool used for the demonstration is also very different than a metal cutting carbide insert.
Why put metal into a wood lathe at all? Because once in a while money, time and deadlines conspire to force an unorthodox solution. The real question is whether this unconventional use of a wood lathe will work at all. Watch the video and find out!
Disclosure:
Some of the links below are affiliate links. When you order through an affiliate link this channel gets a small commission at no cost to you. That commission helps support this channel. Thanks!
Tools & Equipment I Use Regularly
Woodturning Tools
3/8” spindle gouge & 1/2” Spindle Gouge
www.highlandwo...
Crown 1 1/4” Spindle Roughing Gouge
www.highlandwo...
1/2” Crown Pro PM bowl gouge
www.highlandwo...
3/8” Crown Pro PM bowl gouge
www.highlandwo...
Carbide Turning Tool Inserts
www.highlandwo...
3/16” Diamond Parting Tool & 1/8” Parting Tool
www.highlandwo...
Crown 1/2” Skew Chisel
www.highlandwo...
Alan Lacer 5/8” Skew Chisel & 1 3/8” Skew Chisel
stores.alanswo...
Hollow Pro Hollowing Tools
www.mikejackof...
Woodturning Drive Centers & Live Centers
Oneway Live Center
www.highlandwo...
Oneway Safe Driver
www.highlandwo...
Oneway 4-Spur Morse Taper Drive Center
www.highlandwo...
Woodturning Chucks, Chuck Jaws & Faceplate(s)
Beall Collet Chuck
bealltool.com/...
Oneway Stronghold Chuck
www.highlandwo...
Oneway Profiled Spigot Jaws for Stronghold Chucks
www.highlandwo...
Oneway #4 Profiled Jaws for Stronghold Chucks
www.highlandwo...
Oneway Jumbo Jaws
www.highlandwo...
Oneway 4” Cast Iron Faceplate
www.highlandwo...
Vacuum Chucking
Oneway Vacuum Drum Chucks
www.highlandwo...
Oneway Vacuum Rotary Air Fitting
www.highlandwo...
Sharpening
Oneway Wolverine Sharpening System
www.highlandwo...
Oneway Vari-Grind Attachment
www.highlandwo...
Oneway Grinding Wheel Balancing System
www.highlandwo...
Steady Rests
Oneway Bowl Steady Rest
www.highlandwo...
Oneway Spindle Steady Rest
www.highlandwo...
Big Red Steady Rest
www.theokspind...
Misc. Tools
Starrett Combination Squares
www.highlandwo...
Starrett 6” ruler
www.highlandwo...
Adhesives:
Zap CA (cyanoacrylate) Glue
www.zapglue.com
NOTE:
When ordering from www.mscdirect.com better prices can often be found by looking through one of their many sales flyers. All the sales flyers are available online and the lower price often (always?) has a different part number and you need the alternate part number to get the sale price.
Starrett 6” Round Leg Outside Calipers
www.mscdirect....
5/8” Accupro Keyed Drill Chuck
*This chuck requires an adapter that fits the chuck and your lathe.
www.mscdirect....
Great video, always good to make something truly useful. Little tip someone else may have told you, before you cut a bolt or threaded rod, thread a nut on there first. Then when you back it off it’ll clean up ant threads the saw may have jacked up. The file seems to have worked for you just fine, but in a pinch the nut thing is super handy.
Actually, I’ve never heard of using a nut in that manner before. Thanks for the tip.
Thanks for watching and commenting.
This was satisfying to watch. I especially liked when the curls of aluminum were flowing out of the drill bit sides.
I agree! Watching metal chips spiral off a drill bit *is* enjoyable to watch. Cleaning up the mess is less fun though. 🙂
Thanks for watching and commenting.
From what it sounds like - so long as you have a proper grip in the chuck, you can machine metal on a wood lathe.
It just seems that you may want a different style of tool holder
Thanks, I have a similar project and I use carbide turning tools. I wasn't sure until I saw you do it.
Glad I could help. Whatever you do be careful. Good luck.
Great video, answered a lot of my questions, thanks for sharing.
Glad it was helpful! Thank you for commenting.
Very good information and nice work!
Excellent! I’m glad you found the video useful.
Thanks for watching and commenting.
Just found your channel and subscribed. Very interesting. Nice Work
Welcome! I glad you like the content on the channel.
Thanks for watching, subscribing and commenting.
From my calculations carbine tooling cutting aluminum, cut speed is 900 or so cut speed x 4 = 3,600 divided by diameter of stock not sure I’d say roughly 1.5” = 2400 rpm so if you wernt already I’d crank that puppy up almost as hot as she will turn
That may work on a metal lathe where the tool is fixed in place and the cutter geometry is optimized for metal/aluminum cutting. However there is no way I’d use this makeshift setup at a speed that high. The chance of an accident too high for me.
Thanks for watching and commenting.
Great video. I'm a novice when it comes to wood lathes but I do have a Jet Mini-Lathe and no chuck. I would like to buy an inexpensive chuck that will allow me to clamp wood dowels that are under 1" in diameter... perhaps 3/4" so I can cut a tapered shaft that starts at 9/16" and tapers to 1/2". Most bowl-turning chucks seem to bottom out at around .93" or something like that. Can you recommend a 4-jaw or 3-jaw chuck that will clamp down to smaller dowels but will also have the ability to clamp over 1" or even more? I was thinking a Vevor K11-100 4" chuck but I'm not even sure if it mounts up to my Jet Mini. TIA for your help and advice.
For a lathe that size, my advice is to buy a Oneway Talon chuck and also get a set of spigot jaws for the Talon chuck. The *profiled* spigot jaws will grip small diameter stock really well. You need to make sure the spigot jaws are what Oneway calls ‘profiled’ or now ‘premium profiled’ jaws. The grip pattern on the profiled jaws is much more secure than anything else I’ve tried.
In fact, this video features the Talon chuck’s big brother the Stronghold chuck with the Stronghold spigot jaws.
I realize a Oneway brand chuck is not the inexpensive option. However, in my opinion there are absolutely the best use of your money. They are widely available, very well made and have a wide range of jaws available. With the proper adapter, the Talon chuck be mounted on a huge array of lathe spindle sizes too. This means you can change lathes and all you have to do is buy a new adapter, not a whole new chuck. I also suspect they have a much better resale value than any other brand.
Good luck with your final decision and thanks for watching and commenting.
Interesting video. I have something very similar. I have a gimbal head in which the 3/8”-16 threads have stripped out that would thread onto a tripod. The area where the threads are is very thin and I don’t know if I can use a thread repair kit. It would be so much better to machine a new base out of solid aluminum and tap the center.
That is a bummer! Gimbal heads are usually expensive and thread repair is always a pain in the backside. Best of luck in finding a repair solution.
Thanks for watching and commenting.
Wow, I'm surprised that you could tap threads under power. Thanks for sharing this as I've been wondering if it would work.
You’re welcome!
Tapping under power can be done . . . however . . .
My lathe has a lot of low speed torque *and* this is aluminum *and* the tap hasn’t been used that much. All three of which make tapping under power easier than it would be with different equipment and/or materials.
Glad you enjoyed the video. Thanks for watching and commenting.
It's called power tapping and I think machinists are careful about when to use it
Just grind down your adapter a bit until it's flat then drill and tap for a short piece of threaded rod Loctite the threaded Rod into the adapter and it's fixed
This sounds like it would work. However, the adapter wasn’t particularly high quality to begin with and I needed parts that wouldn’t break. And I needed several of them.
Thanks for watching and commenting.
Well done
Thank you. I’m glad you liked the video.
Gotta use what you got
My thoughts exactly.
Thanks for watching and commenting.
Big like!👍👍👍👍👍✅💪Felicitări! Great video 👍👍👍😎
Thanks for watching another video. I’m glad you liked this one too. Cheers!
I need to turn some cammed parts for a maker's project.. they do not need to be accurate, they're parts for visual athetotic. I was hoping to buy a cheap Ryobi wood lathe for the job and (of course), sales people will try to sell you a metalworking lathe for 10X the price. You're the first person I've seen who has shown me that turning aluminum on a wood lathe is entirely plausible. Thank you.
You’re welcome! Part of the reason this works is because the lathe I’m using is very heavily built for a wood lathe. The lighter the lathe, the less you’re going to able to do with it. That said, I’ve never tried any of this on a mini lathe so I don’t know what the exact results would be. But as you’ve seen, some minor non-ferrous metal turning is possible.
You might want to look into some online CNC machining services. I can’t recommend anything, but I have seen them used in other videos. If your dimensional tolerances don’t require high precision, this could be another option and perhaps less expensive as well.
If you want more information on metal lathes, check out the channel Blondi Hacks.
czcams.com/users/Blondihacks
And more specifically this import lathe buying guide video:
czcams.com/video/znZgT3Zmf5Y/video.html
Blondi Hacks is easily the best home shop/small scale machining channel I’ve seen.
Good luck with your project and thanks for watching and commenting!
@@CroakyOak I took the geek route and bought a Anycubic Photon Mono resin printer instead. :P
It will be delivered tomorrow. The resin isn't cheap, but the quality promises to be incredible. I'll also be able to print out any greebles I might need etc.
The way I see it, its less of a risk this way even though resin SLA printing is messy.
Thanks for replying to this thread. Prior to your response, I had not heard of this machine or the process. I think you made the right choice. Even with the resin being as high as it is, I suspect the total cost for this process is the same or slightly less than buying a lathe. A lathe -metal or wood- is really just the start. You’d still need to buy tools and work holding equipment, which can easily cost more than a small lathe.
Have fun with your projects.
It can be done but I don't know about using a mini wood lathe to turn even aluminum. Metal lathes have auto feeding carriage so you can make a consistent chatter free feeds, and if something happens (like something binds up, comes loose) worst is you break lathe tools or whatever, but imagine a turning tool being ripped out of your hand.
Experiencing a catch severe enough to yank a woodturning tool out of your hand is quite rare, but is still something many woodturners have experienced at some point. It’s not a pleasant experience. No imagination necessary. 😳
Nice job
Thanks! A wood lathe is definitely not a metal lathe, but there are a few things that can be done in a pinch.
Thanks for watching and commenting.
I have this on paper for now. I'm designing an attachment for my wood lathe to cut metal. I have a small mill vise that can cut precise stock. You have any ideas shout back at me. Good job using just the bar for cutting.
I have nothing to add other than to tell you to enjoy yourself *and* be careful. 😀
Thanks for watching and commenting.
So I've been wondering this myself, what is the actual differences between the two? The I know the chucks are different and the tool post, but could this all be converted over or isn't it even worth it?
The short answer here is no, converting a wood lathe into a metal lathe or vice versa isn’t worth it.
Using a metal lathe for spindle woodturning would, in my opinion, be more workable -though still less than ideal- than using a wood lathe for metal work. Notice I didn’t mention face work such as turning a wood bowl.
On a metal lathe the carriage and the spindle are mechanically linked. This enables the carriage and usually the cross slide to move a constant amount per revolution of the spindle. And, there is gearbox between these parts which allows the operator to change the amount the carriage or cross slide moves per revolution of the spindle. There is no such mechanical linkage on a wood lathe.
A metal lathe is also far more rigid and heavy than a similarly sized wood lathe. A metal lathe with the same capacity as the lathe in the video could easily weigh five times more. The accuracy and depth of cut capability of a metal lathe is related to rigidity, and more rigidity usually means more weight.
The one thing a good wood lathe has that a metal lathe does not is access to the workpiece. The size and position of the bed, the carriage, the feed and lead screws etc. on a metal lathe all obstruct the work being turned. Metal lathes also have more protruding parts trying to mangle you fingers. Cleaning wood lathe is also far easier. Imagine trying to get wood dust and wood chips off of lubricated lathe ways and out of all the parts on a metal lathe. YIKES!
Drilling into the end of a workpiece is about the only thing they can do somewhat similarly.
If I was going to make more of these parts, I’d cut the aluminum round bar on a chop saw with a non-ferrous blade. This would eliminate all the steps except the drilling and tapping.
I hope this answers your question.
Thanks for watching and commenting!
Yes thanks for the detailed explanation. I always knew there was a difference I just didn't know what all those differences are. What you said about it being a much heavier machine makes a lot of sense to.
What speed?
I honestly don’t remember any of the exact speeds.
This was truly an experiment so I set the speed for hand turning by feel.
I only use the low range on my lathe for drilling metal, so the spindle rpm was less than 700 rpm. For drilling the larger holes the spindle speed was probably less than 500 rpm.
If you have mind to try this yourself, be careful. Experimental and makeshift techniques like this can be dangerous.
Thanks for watching and commenting.
What speed? Also, looks like you were cutting above centerline?
The lathe drive was on the low speed pulley, so no more than 700 rpm and probably less.
I was *trying* to stay at the vertical centerline of the work. However, maintaining an exact cutting angle with a freehand tool is difficult to do. I was also searching for an angle this cutter -which is designed for wood cutting- would/could cut aluminum. So yeah, I was above center for some of the cutting.
Thanks for watching and commenting.
Do you think brass is workable on a wood lathe?
Free machining brass should work but it will be tougher than the aluminum used in this video. Another viewer suggested using some cutting oil would “work wonders” and although I’ve never tried using cutting oil with these techniques, I think he’s almost certainly correct. If you try working brass on a wood lathe be careful and stay safe. Good luck!
Thanks for watching and commenting.
A little bit of cutting oil would work wonders.
I’ve never tried using any lubricant with these techniques, but I suspect you are quite correct. I’ll be using some sort of light oil the next time I do this.
Thanks for watching and leaving a tip!
@@CroakyOak ....It is basically the same principle as using oil when you are drilling holes in steel.
It's sketchy as hell, and you really should reduce the speed to eliminate chatter. The problem is if you end up making a heavy cut you can just about rip that tool out of your hand (not good). I don't have a wood lathe, I only have a metal lathe, but it should turn wood easily.
Metal lathes have auto feeding tool posts for a reason.
I experienced very little actual chatter while making this video. What you’re hearing is mostly the result of the video being sped up. All segments of my videos that have the speed altered -up or down-, have a number indicating the amount of change in the lower left corner of the video. Admittedly, the segment at the beginning where I’m facing off the workpiece does *sound* a lot like actual chatter when sped up.
Cutting aluminum with a carbide cutter designed for cutting wood progresses quite slowly. So slowly in fact, that the average CZcams viewer won’t hang around to watch the cutting action take place in real time. Ergo, I either speed up the video or lose viewers.
In woodturning when a tool digs in accidentally (and consequently takes too big of a cut) while being used, it’s called a ‘catch’. And you’re right, they are not fun. 😧 Fortunately, most of the time it’s only the project that ends up injured. 😛
Was this an unorthodox project with less than ideal equipment? Yep. It was however, still successful. I have made several of these light stand adapters. They are both far better quality and about 1/10 the price of anything I could buy.
Of course like many things on CZcams, anyone who tries this for themselves does so at their own risk.
Thanks for watching and commenting.
@@CroakyOak I just tried to turn a piece of wood on my victor 16x30 lathe (it's a metal lathe). Everything was fine, got the piece looking good after hours of work. Then I use a parting tool to part the piece off and this is where things went wrong.
I don't know if the chuck no longer gripped the wood, or something, but basically within half a second the workpiece came off, made a huge score on the tail end of the workpiece, tore the parting tool from the tool post, and the piece flew loose and dropped to the back of the lathe.
I lost the parting insert. I do not know if it's any good even if I can find it (it's small and held in by friction).
Ruined the project within half a second.
Good thing the tool is in the tool post and not in my hand.
What I really need is a chuck designed to hold wood, like those spur center thing. The chuck I use is designed to hold metal and it digs into the wood quite deeply.
Edit: It turns out what caused the problem is that in the 4 way tool post I am using there's another tool in the tool post that has been quietly cutting the tail of the workpiece without me knowing, causing it to eventually knock the work piece out of the chuck.
Wood lathe chucks and metal lathe chucks are quite different. One of the more obvious differences is the jaws which can be attached to the chuck. There are *dozens* of different chucks and jaw sets available for wood turning. Whereas an enormous amount of work on a metal lathe can be done using the jaws that come with 3-jaw and 4-jaw chucks.
The jaws I used in this video are actually for gripping small pieces of wood. They can grip metal in a pinch, but are less than ideal.
Thanks again for watching and commenting.
Turning on the lathe and holding your saw against it will cut your piece.
I’ve tried this method and don’t care for it. To me, the saw feels too likely to bind and/or kick back.
Another viewer did leave a similar comment and claimed to have had good results as well. Perhaps the difference is the blade in the saw, not the method itself. That said, if I make more of these I’m using a non-ferrous blade in a chop saw to cut the bar stock.
Thanks for watching and commenting.
@@CroakyOak Like all things, it has to be done slow and carefully but I've done it as a cabinet maker, professionally holding the saw with two hands.