Tony's Pipe Lathe

[tonybert]

Many of our DYI CNCs use black pipe for the x,y and z axis. A while back there were some pretty sharp lathes fabricated by others and well beyond what I was looking for or willing to attempt build. I was rooting around a local hardware store looking at pipe fittings when I realized with the right reducers, bushings, pipe studs, washers and a couple of pieces of 2x4 scrap I could make a hand drill lathe and remove the paint from the black pipe with my random orbital sander.

The first picture shows the two reducers from 1" to 1/2" and 3/4" to 1/2", a 1/2" to 3/8" bushing and a 3/8" pipe stud. I used 2 sets of these (1 for each end) as I was using 1" pipe for the x axis and 3/4" pipe for the y axis.

The second picture shows a 3/8" to 1/4" reducer and 1/4" pipe stud. This was used to reduce the 3/8" pipe to a size my drill would accept.

You can adapt the fittings to fit your needs.

The last picture shows the lathe assembled with a piece of 2x4 and the black pipe attached and the electric drill drive pieces. The 2x4s are clamped to a workbench.

I'd suggest a variable speed drill at low RPM since the pipe fittings are not always concentric and some "wobble" will be observed. I used 80, 120 and 150 sand paper in my random orbit sander and the final pipe surface looked smoother then the drill rod I was using for my Z axis. BEWARE that there will be lots of paint dust created and possibly other contaminates (zinc?) if you remove and galvanized coating, so I would suggest the use of appropriate respiratory protection and use this at your own risk!

Good Luck with yours

Tony

[Coogrrr]

Too smart!!! I love the Zone!. So my thought was to use my skate bearings (100 for 25.00 at vxb) and adapt the 3/8 threaded rod to said item to be spun. One adaptor for each end. This would let me have a nice smooth spin in the bearings and attach the drill to either end! My afterthought is with a cone shape on the adapter any size diameter pipe can be placed onto the cone at each end and make sure to keep a good squeeze on the boards to squish the cones into the ends of the pipe. The cone could be one of those el-cheapo hole drilling bits that look like a stepped cone but it is set to fit into a drill???

Coog

[Slowanimtion]

forget about applying the pressure to the boards. Excessive pressure isn't neccesary just use a lathe dog type setup. If you aren't familiar with term http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lathe_carrier

Turning between centers is very accurate.