How to assemble a lathe for metal with your own hands. Do-it-yourself mini lathe in a couple of hours Making machine tools for metal by hand

Many men in the process of repairing equipment are engaged in the manufacture of the necessary metal blanks in their own workshop. Turning work requires precision and skill. It is possible to give the necessary shape and parameters to metal products using a special machine, additional equipment and tools. Therefore, craftsmen successfully make a multifunctional metal lathe with their own hands.

How to use a metal lathe

A modern industrial machine has a number of characteristics that allow you to perform many different operations. Such a device is equipped with a numerical programming device and has a complex structure. Do-it-yourself lathe does not need so many functions. It is enough to make a universal mechanical installation that will be conveniently placed on a table in the garage.

The main work performed on home-made milling equipment:

processing of the inner surface, reaming of the workpiece;
turning a cone, groove;
thread cutting;
shaped turning;
trimming ledges and sharp edges;
cylinder turning.

The metal lathe is used for processing nuts, bushings, couplings, pulleys, shafts and gears. From such parts, blanks are obtained that allow you to create or improve various mechanisms. Depending on the equipment used, it is fashionable to process not only metal products, but also wooden or plastic blanks on the unit.

A do-it-yourself metal lathe is a complete equipment with a power unit, it has a lot of weight and creates vibration. Before making such a device, it is necessary to carefully consider the design of all parts.

The mini machine for home use has 4 main elements:

Frame.
Caliper and tool holder.
Front and rear headstock.

Frame

This knot is designed to fix all equipment in a rigid position. Being the basis, the frame must be strong and not warp. The machine can be placed on a table or made a floor version by increasing the length of the support. Such a cast frame is made of channels and metal corners. The frame elements are connected by welding or bolted.

caliper

Such an element holds the cutting device and is able to move in a given direction and plane for efficient processing of workpieces. If it is necessary to create complex and non-standard surfaces, special attention should be paid to fixing this assembly. For smooth movement in the horizontal direction, a screw mechanism in the apron is used. The caliper remains movable, but if necessary, it can be fixed. The cutters in the tool holder must be tightly clamped, backlashes increase the risk of injury during operation.

Headstock and tailstock

A gearbox is located in the headstock, which provides a different speed of rotation of the spindle, adjustment of the amount of torque. In addition, the headstock consists of a turning head and a caliper feeder. The headstock provides fastening of the workpiece.

The tailstock at the back of the mechanism provides a strong fastening of the workpiece or tool in the right direction. Such a unit has the function of threading on a metal lathe.

Do-it-yourself step-by-step assembly of turning equipment

A homemade lathe consists of parts that can be found in a garage or workshop. Before proceeding with the processing and assembly of the apparatus, it is necessary to carefully consider the design and characteristics of the unit, its location in the workshop.

Necessary materials

As materials, you can use improvised means:

welded frame (replaces cast frame);
power unit - any motor with an electric drive with a power of 800-1500 W from household appliances (a good option is an asynchronous motor);
belts of different lengths can be used as a driving stone;
screws and nuts for fastening the structure;
guides, sleds made of steel rod;
spindle and tailstock (it is better to find ready-made parts, but you can make them from a profile pipe or a piece of metal sheet);
feed screws - do-it-yourself long rods with longitudinal and transverse threads are suitable for a lathe;
rolling bearings as elements of rotation;
squalls of different diameters;
steel plate with a thickness of at least 8 mm - for the caliper and tool holder.

Where to get a lathe project

An important step in creating a homemade lathe is the design and drawing of a circuit indicating the dimensions of the device. As a basis, you can use examples of factory products or drawings of masters that are freely available on the Internet.

Standard dimensions of turning equipment: 115x62x18 cm. Such parameters are considered optimal for work.

Manufacturing process

Making a lathe for metal with your own hands is carried out in accordance with a step-by-step guide for the main components:

Formation of the frame according to the drawing. The pipes are cut and welded together, it is important that the corners are even.
Creating side racks (for this it is better to use another milling machine).
Assembly of the support installation, connection of racks with guides, installation of spacer bushings on the sides.
Fixing bushings for the tailstock. If you use these parts of different sizes, you can achieve a greater stroke.
Creating a platform for the caliper.
Installation of the lead screw, fastening the steering wheel and vernier on it.
Installation of the platform of the headstock.
Attachment to the machine headstock.
Creation of a caliper and tool holder.
Formation of the engine subframe.
Installation of the power unit and its connection to the mains.
Test run at idle.

Do-it-yourself metal lathe is quite easy to make. It is important to maintain the design parameters, ensure a rigid connection and select a suitable motor.

Video: How to make a lathe for metal with your own hands

Putting things in order in a pile of electronic trash, I found the remains of tape recorders. A 9-volt power supply, which has a well-recognized shape and was made back in the USSR, those who caught that time and owned an Electronics or IZH tape recorder will perfectly understand what it is about. And also an old electric motor, also from some kind of tape recorder. It turned out that the block and the motor still work perfectly in tandem with each other, nothing has rusted or stuck.

In general, I decided to try to assemble a mini lathe from all this, especially since I always wanted to have a small and quiet machine at hand for processing any small things. Of course, you can collect or buy stray (holders) that turn an ordinary drill into a machine, but such drills are usually very noisy due to all sorts of gearboxes rumbling in them.

In principle, I have a superficial idea about the device of a lathe, at first glance everything seems to be simple there. The only thing that was embarrassing was how to place the electric motor and the tailstock on the same axis. And also, what errors are permissible in this case, because I didn’t want to get a vibrator for a vibrating table or a mobile phone instead of a lathe.

The same old power supply, for our time it is of course huge, but for a trial inclusion it is not so important.

I cut out the casing for the engine with metal scissors, drilled and bored holes for the motor in it, after which I bent it in the form of the letter "Py" and then installed the engine in it. I picked up pieces of wood of a suitable size for the base of the machine. Since I will have a purely experimental machine, that is, assembled on my knee and from improvised means. He decided to first assemble a rough model, and if it works as it should, then it will be possible to bring it to mind.

I screwed it on self-tapping screws, the base for the motor and the back wall, in order to later screw the casing with the electric motor to them.

I redid the ends of the casing a little (bend them inward)

I drilled and screwed the casing with the motor to the back wall and to the base with self-tapping screws.

I cut out a lid from cardboard and put it on a couple of self-tapping screws on top.

Somehow it all looks like this now, in my opinion, in turning terminology, this stray is called the "Headstock"

I sawed squares from the same board, smeared them with PVA glue and pulled them into a pile. This cube will serve as the tailstock of my homemade lathe.

I screwed this cube on four self-tapping screws, a pair on top and a pair on the bottom.

If there was a drill chuck on the motor shaft, then a drill could be clamped into it and it would indicate the direction for the holder in the tailstock. And since I have some kind of brass pulley for the tape recorder on the shaft, I had to go a slightly different way. I just took a sheet of paper and stupidly wrapped it around this pulley, fixed the ends and turned on the motor.

After making sure that the opposite end of this tube rotates near the cube without runaway and beats, he turned off the motor and outlined the contours of the tube on the cube.

I drew by eye the axis of the tube on the side planes of the cube, so that when drilling a hole for the holder, direct the drill along these lines.

Just by eye, brought these lines on the opposite side of the tailstock.

Then I drilled this cube and screwed in a self-tapping screw, which will act as a workpiece holder.

I didn’t hit a little, and this is not so important, since it is impossible to achieve perfect accuracy in this way. But since this is just an experiment, we move on and close our eyes to all the jambs and inaccuracies. :-)

We clamp the workpiece and turn on the motor, bend our head a little to the side, in case this blank wants to explore the expanses of the universe. :-) So that the holder does not drill out the workpiece, I grinded off a little thread from its tip.

I put a piece of gum on the pulley itself, and stupidly glued the blank to it with hot glue. Thus removing the headache about finding a suitable cartridge or holder. And besides, for some reason it seemed that the flexible connection slightly compensates for the curvature of the axis on which the motor and holder are located, and at the same time the curvature of my hands. :-)

Oddly enough, but everything worked like clockwork, the motor is certainly weak, but it copes with its mini-tasks with a bang.

I tried a bunch of different cutters, but most of all I liked to process pieces of wood with an ordinary sheet of metal and sandpaper. Apparently due to the lack of a handpiece or a weak engine, all other tools immediately bite into the workpiece and stop the motor.

I tried to sharpen a tin rod, more precisely lead-tin (solder). Here it was already well possible to process the workpiece with a cutter from an ordinary needle file, sharpened at the end.

These blanks were also planted on glue. The only thing to consider is the heating of the rod during processing. But since the cutter removes very little, I never managed to heat it up to such an extent that the rod peeled off the rubber cushion.

Here I tried to sharpen a prototype for casting shells for this tiger. But later it turned out that his native shells have a more miserable and primitive appearance. And what I carved is more suitable for the royal tiger, so the idea was abandoned.

A little lousy video in which he buzzes.

In general, that's all, the machine turned out to be relatively silent, small, only 23 cm long, but the main thing is that it is assembled by hand and also works. In principle, I expected big problems when assembling a lathe, but as it turned out, the lathe assembled on the knee works great. Perhaps this is due to the scale, if the dimensions of the machine were larger, and the part would be clamped rigidly (into a drill chuck), then there would definitely be more adventures.

By the way, it is very easy to turn this lathe into a mini emery. It is enough just to stick a cutting disc from a dremel on the pillow and as a result we get a mini emery. This emery really helped me when I had to grind 70 plaster castings for this Tiger tank model. Of course, it is almost impossible to center it by eye, unless you grind the disk itself. But at high speeds, the beating is almost imperceptible, besides, it is reinforced, so you can not be afraid that it will break and something will bounce into the eye. But in any case, no one has canceled the safety precautions when working with emery. Therefore, we keep our heads away from the expected trajectory of the fragments of the disk or work with glasses.

I recently assembled my own 3D printer and the first serious printout on it was a mini drilling machine for hobby and modeling (), because I always dreamed of a silent mini drill. In fact, a 3D printer is quite a useful thing, with its help you can easily create cases, brackets and other stray things, and thereby somewhat expand the fleet of various mini-machines for hobbies, and even this lathe can be brought into a divine form.

The article is a step-by-step instruction for making a metal lathe with your own hands. How to make a homemade unit at home?

The use of a lathe is necessary in car workshops, in the engineering industry, in repair shops and training workshops.

The cost of the machine is high and not every workshop or workshop can afford to purchase it. Knowing what parts are needed and how to connect all the nodes into a single mechanism, you can make it yourself.

The main structure of the lathe

The lathe is created on the basis of a bed, stable and durable, withstanding impressive and serious loads. The main system of mechanisms and assemblies is mounted on it.

The first lathes appeared in the 18th century, after the manufacture of the caliper. Russian inventor Andrei Nartov came up with a mechanism that was spun with a flywheel, and on the machine itself, all parts were made of metal, including screws, rails, pulleys.

With the development of technology, the manual drive was replaced by a mechanical one.

There are several types of machine tools for metal, which differ depending on the power, size and productive force:

The desktop type metal lathe has a maximum weight of up to 100 kg and a power of up to 400 watts. Its use is relevant in small workshops and private workshops in which metal parts are processed and repaired, and not produced in large quantities.
A semi-professional type lathe is most often a symbiosis of turning, milling and drilling equipment, on which small batches of products are made. Power up to 1000 W allows you to work in production mode.
A professional metal lathe is usually equipped with automatic program control, has a high mass and high power. Machine tools of this type are used in industries and large enterprises for processing parts up to 3000 mm from materials of various compositions.

Their high cost, large scale and high power are unacceptable for use at home or in small businesses. An alternative option may be their self-assembly, which will allow you to quickly and efficiently produce parts and produce blanks.

How to assemble a lathe yourself?

To make a homemade lathe you will need:

hydraulic cylinder, shock absorber shaft;
metal shafts, angles, channels and beams;
cylindrical guides;
beams, pipe, fasteners;
welding machine;
electric motor, two pulleys with belt drive.

First of all, we manufacture the main frame structure with longitudinal guides. For this, two channels and two metal rods with a thickness of at least 30 mm are used with a working area of the machine from 50 mm. Two longitudinal shafts are attached to two channels using guides with petals. Each petal is attached to the channel by bolting and welding.

The headstock is made from a hydraulic cylinder. In this case, with a wall thickness of 6mm. On the inner diameter, two 203 bearings are pressed in on each side. Inside the bearings there is a hole with a diameter of 17mm, in which the shaft is placed. Lubricant is poured into the hole of the hydraulic cylinder. Under the pulley is a large diameter nut that prevents the bearings from being squeezed out.

The pulley comes from a washing machine. The diameter of the pulley shaft must match the shaft on the motor. Then by rearranging the pulleys of different diameters, you can change the speed of rotation. The headstock is mounted on a metal beam.

The cross support is made of a metal plate to which cylindrical guides are welded. Two guides are driven into them, a shaft from shock absorbers is used as guides. To move in the transverse plane, tightly fitted bushings are put on each guide.

The tool holder is made of two thick metal plates. It is fixed on a stand made of brake shoes through a metal nut. Between themselves, the plates of the tool holder are connected by bolts.

The cartridge for fixing the part is made of a metal pipe. Fastening is done with four bolts. Which are screwed into pre-welded nuts.

For the drive, the engine from the washing machine is used. In this case, 180W. The engine is connected to the headstock via a belt drive. The machine is equipped with a self-tensioning mechanism. The belt is tensioned by the weight of the engine. The design of the corners is attached with canopies.

All parts are assembled into a single design. The lathe is ready for operation.

Video: making a metal lathe at home (several parts).

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A homemade metal lathe is quite easy to make with your own hands, but first you need to figure out what this equipment is.

The lathe was invented many hundreds of years ago. Initially, it was a hand-held equipment, but after going through many different upgrades, it has changed and become easier to use.

Today, the lathe is an indispensable device in absolutely any production. Now you can find various forms and configurations of this equipment, which are designed for different purposes.

What is used for

The lathe can be used in production for various purposes. The main purposes of this equipment include:

processing of face, internal and external bodies of revolution;
thread.

Machining with a lathe is the most common way to manufacture various rotational bodies, such as discs, shafts or nuts. At this time, there is a change in the shape and size of the workpiece due to the removal of the allowance. The machinability of a particular material depends on its structure, as well as its physical and chemical properties.

Threading on a lathe is done using a cutter. This tool is usually divided by experts into 3 types:

prismatic;
rod;
round.

But it is important to remember that threading on a lathe can also be done using taps and dies. The former help in the production of metric internal threads. And the latter are used for threading the outside of bolts and studs. The speed of this kind of work with the help of dies for steel products is less than five minutes.

Device

The lathe has a rather difficult structure. Its main element is the spindle. So it is customary for specialists to call a hollow shaft made of steel, which has a cone-shaped hole. It is thanks to the latter that the installation of various tools and mandrels is carried out.

The spindle has a special thread, which is primarily intended for fixing a faceplate for a lathe on it. Some types of this equipment have a special groove on this main element. It is with its help that such a danger as uncontrolled folding of the cartridge is eliminated.

The spindle is the main component of any lathe precisely because it is only thanks to it that really high-quality processing of any part is possible. Therefore, it is important to remember that the node in the radial and axial direction had no play, that is, a gap or gap between mating parts.

The power of the lathe also depends on the spindle. The performance of this unit will be higher if its main element has a high drive motor power.

Also an important component of the lathe is the caliper. It is this element that ensures the fixation of the cutting tool and its movement in various directions. On it is a tool holder, which is also commonly called a cutting head.

Do it yourself

Despite the fact that the lathe has a rather complex structure, you can make a lightweight version of it yourself without spending a lot of time and effort on it. It is also important that it does not require large material costs.

The main components of the lathe:

grandmas (front and back);
frame;
drive unit;
centers
stop for cutting tool.

Note: You can avoid vibrations while working on the machine if you place the centers of the device on the same axis.

When creating a machine, it is important to know that you cannot use a collector-type electric drive for it. It is strictly forbidden to do this precisely because it is too powerful for a home device, and during its use, the processed element may simply fly out of the clamps. This threatens to damage the device and can lead to various injuries.

An asynchronous drive is best suited for a home machine. Its main advantage is that its RPM stays the same.

caliper

As mentioned earlier, the lathe caliper is one of the components of this unit. It is used to fix the cutting tool, and a tool holder must also be installed on it.

Due to the wide variety of different electric motors today, it is quite difficult to choose one that fits exactly. All drives are divided according to their power. For a homemade machine, as mentioned above, the best option would be an asynchronous electric motor, since it is he who does not change the speed.

Drill machine

There are many different ways to create a lathe yourself. Some make this unit with their own hands from a drill. It is perfect for light turning work at home.

In order for this machine to perform its main tasks more efficiently, it is necessary to fix the drill on the frame with a vice and a collar that is fixed on the neck.

Important to remember: the frame of such a device must be heavy and have high strength.

Summing up, I would like to note that a home lathe can perform simple functions no worse than the one used in production, while its manufacture will not require too much cost.

How to make a lathe with your own hands, see the following video:

It will find its application in any private house or garage workshop.

Such equipment allows you to cut parts made of metal, wood, foam plastic and a number of other materials, drill holes, cut threads, and process ends.

Anything that involves changing the shape or surface of a part is done on a lathe. These works are possible both at home and in a specially equipped office.

It is not surprising that the first, most primitive prototypes were made in ancient Egypt, stone was turned on them.

In museums there are turning and milling mechanisms for metal of the 14th-15th centuries, the rotation in them was due to the foot pedal.

The rapid development of industry at the end of the Middle Ages required a qualitative breakthrough in equipment - the manual mechanism was modernized, and the first turning and milling machine for metal, powered by electricity, appeared.

A little later, equipment with numerical control (CNC) was created.

The modernization of production required more and more highly specialized tools, and CNC equipment began to be created not only for working on wood or metal, but also performing very narrow operations, for example, edging a door leaf or drilling cavities for a lock insert.

In this form, they are used to this day.

In this article, we will review existing equipment and look at how to make a simple do-it-yourself machine, and how self-upgrading can improve equipment.

Industrial equipment is divided into light machines, weighing up to 1 ton, medium in weight - up to 10 tons, and heavy - over 11 tons.

Each machine performs one or more actions for processing wood or metal at home or in production.

All modern turning equipment is equipped with CNC from the simplest to the most complex, controlling the turning of the part with an accuracy of tenths of a millimeter.

The modernization of machine tools has divided equipment into heavy and bulky, performing tasks for heavy industry, as well as miniature high-precision, producing tiny details of precision instruments - these are desktop CNC machines.

Regardless of the size and purpose of use, lathes have the same basic components and components.

It consists of a base on which a bed is installed, along which the caliper moves along the guides.

At opposite ends of the equipment are the headstock, which transmits rotation through the workpiece spindle, and the tailstock, which moves freely and is fixed depending on the size of the workpiece.

The CNC is connected both to the engine (it stops rotation at the necessary moment), and to the actual cutting element.

A close relative in terms of the principle of operation is a milling machine. It is also used on wood and metal.

The milling mechanism, due to the milling cutter installed in the spindle, performs a rotational movement, and the translational movement of the part feed can be either rectilinear or at an angle β, depending on the task.

Usually the milling mechanism is equipped with a CNC. A very wide application has a center that performs both milling and turning a set of works.

DIY equipment

There are many options for how you can create a homemade turning mechanism.

If you often have to do the same work, then bench-top lathes in your home workshop will be a good help.

Most often, a drill is used for the working part of the equipment, which is strengthened on the base. With the initial skills of working with electronics, it’s really possible to come up with even a CNC machine.

The base or frame of turning equipment can be made from corners of metal or wooden beams.

Desktop turning mechanisms can have a base in the form of a strong chipboard.

If you are faced with the task of short-term processing of small parts, then it is quite possible to use a motor powered by a 220V network.

The frame design must ensure that the following conditions are met:

both the leading and the driven center are located on the same straight line, which is parallel to the axis of rotation;
the center of symmetry of the part coincides with the axis of its rotation;
the part is securely fixed on the headstock.

Turning a part that rotates between the headstock and tailstock can be done using any tool - files, files and other things.

Homemade desktop lathes are designed for side processing of parts. For example, it will be convenient to handle the baluster of a wooden staircase on them.

With your own hands it is easy to create not only desktop, but also full-fledged lathes.

The main difference between desktop options and a full-size machine is the engine.

The larger the homemade machine, the more bulky parts it can process.

And to work with large workpieces, of course, you need a powerful engine.

Engine lathe

Consider a home-made machine, created with your own hands from the engine and power supply of an old Soviet tape recorder.

Its basis will be a wooden board, from its pieces, cut in the form of squares, the side of which is equal to the width of the base of our future machine, we will form the tailstock.

We will form a casing from metal, in which we will cut a hole for the output of the rotating mechanism. We fix the engine on the casing.

Now you need to find the projection of the center of rotation on the tailstock.

To do this, you can make a cylinder out of paper that clearly corresponds to the distance between the headstocks, fix it on the headstock and wrap it around the axis several times using the drive.

If the cylinder rotates smoothly, then the fixation point of the part will be the center of the circle that describes the cylinder on the tailstock.

In the center we start a self-tapping screw or any other holder for the workpiece. Of course, this work is done by eye and does not imply high precision turning.

Modernization, which will increase the accuracy if the distance between the tailstocks is more than 20 cm, is possible if the workpiece clamping center is leveled, putting it between the engine head and the tailstock.

We made the simplest mechanism with our own hands.

On it, you can process the side surface of a long part of a cylindrical and conical shape, as well as a simple bar.

Given the low power of the machine, it is applicable only for wood parts. Similarly, you can make a milling mechanism with your own hands.

Lathe with a drill

Modernizing the idea of search for an affordable electrical device that produces rotation will prompt you to use a drill for a do-it-yourself turning mechanism.

She can be found in every home. Often, and not one, because an inexpensive option is usually purchased, and then it turns out that it is rather weak in power.

For the turning mechanism, you will need a drill, any base (a piece of plywood, a board or a plate), a wooden skewer on which the workpiece will be put on, and a wooden square for the tailstock.

We fix the drill in any way, at the marked length we fix the tailstock made of wood, insert the rod into the drill and drill a hole in the headstock.

The skewer and workpiece rotate, and a person processes the workpiece with sandpaper.

Such a mechanism can be upgraded, during which any processing device (for example, a file) will be attached to the base, which will be a manual analog of the CNC.

So, if we need to make a cone-shaped recess around a wooden part, we can make the following improvements - we take two flat files, fix them so that they touch the part, and a trapezoid is formed between the surface of the part and the base with files.

Now we need to use a simple spring mechanism to feed the files evenly forward and at an angle.

Options for improving the mechanism:

Modernization for metal work can be done by replacing the skewer with a healing mechanism. Attach a spring fixation with a plate to the metal rod, install one such rod in the drill, and the second in the tailstock. A metal workpiece will rotate between the plates, and we will be able to perform turning work on metal;
At home, work with long workpieces is often required. You can make a collapsible drill fixture, easy modernization of the base of the mechanism will allow you to rearrange it to process longer objects;
Modernization of equipment can be carried out if we take a more powerful engine (for example, from a washing machine) and make the base of a larger area. There is no direct relationship between the area of the base and the power of the engine, but it must be taken into account that vibrations occur during the operation of the engine, and the base of the machine serves as a support, due to which the equipment itself with a rotating part will be in an equilibrium position.

We looked at how easy it is to make a homemade mechanism for turning work from parts that you probably have at home.

Upgrading the simplest equipment to your specific needs will help you process items in a more complex way.

To create a home lathe with a full-fledged CNC, you will need a control unit, however, it is difficult to make it without special knowledge.

As we have shown, the hand-held analog of a CNC can be simple woodworking or metalworking tools fixed to a base at the right angle.