that was probly a shit explaination, but just look at this link below,

http://tinyurl.com/34euqq

what that thing is for the drill press (enabling you to do small/light milling if ur press is powerful enough),
i'm looking for the thing thatd be analogous to a wood lathe. like something you lock on the bed in place of the tool rest and get it inline with the centers and it has the precision crank controls and the cutting tool of a metal lathe.

does anyone known if such a thing is out there? or have ideas for something i could rig up to do the same thing? i have a Delta midi-lathe if anyone's familiar with it and has ideas. i know its not a suitable machine to try and be turning metal on, but im not wanting to do heavy duty shit. the direct reason im looking for some way to do this is im interested in trying to build one of those stationary model steam engines with all the real working components modeled in brass and copper and such. if theres a way to rig up a tooling system like this i know the lathe would be strong enough. i dont have the money (or the room) to go buy a micro metal-lathe... and i'd hardly ever find uses for it.

You could buy that vise and fabricate an adapter for it. Doesn't look like it would be too hard. Alternatively, you could buy some Taig accessories and adapt them to your lathe.

Only if you want to do really poor quality work.

You need one of these badboys.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y21/brownbomber/00002-7.jpg

what that thing is for the drill press (enabling you to do small/light milling if ur press is powerful enough)

You need a real mill & drill machine if you are going to do something harder than aluminum and brass. My machinist didn't even recommend doing any sort of milling unless the drill press has two bearings in the shaft.

I would just buy the vice and see if you can make an adapter. They almost definitely don't make wood-to-metal "adapters" because the quality will be pretty bad, plus the motors probably aren't designed to take that kind of force.

By the way, do they make adapters to turn WOOD on a METAL lathe?

By the way, do they make adapters to turn WOOD on a METAL lathe?

Yes, they do. (http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=50247&cat=1,330,50260&ap=1)

i doubt they make one for it.. if they do its probably to pricey for what it is, doesn't function that well, and you could probly DIY something that will do it better for a fraction of the price.

you gotta link to the lathe you wanna adapt or were you just asking outa curiousity? Someone let me try theirs out a little cause i've always wanted to. I just ran a couple passes over mild steel stock to true it up... kinda nerve racking at first but pretty fuckin cool to have that unique kind of precise control and power with such little exertion from the user personally.

http://tinyurl.com/5vykcz

I didn't get a chance to thoroughly inspect the tool positioning setup when I ran it, but i know it was the normal heavy lock-down deal that holds the little carbide cutter bits. I dono if all of em are just like that but one like that wouldn't be to hard to do the wood adaptation on. Probly remove the top part that bolts over the bit and fabricate your own out of square steel stock, such that any of the wood chisels you want to be able to use will be able to fit and be held tightly. If you wanted the normal "tool rest" setup, you could build one that'd attach in place of the piece that holds the carbide bits in.... just a straight piece as long as you want in whatever shape you want, with some point on it drilled to bolt on. Wither either one of these setups you'd still have use of the precision threaded adjusting rods, which I think would be very valueable, I often wish I could put my tool rest in weird places easier.


ok end rant.
let me know about ur metal lathe though (if you have one). im toying with the idea of buying a miniature one, like 5x12, but I'd be shopping on the cheaper end of the range and I'd rather not buy one yet than spend $350 for something thats going to be frustrating.

-Jon

-Jon

I don't own a lathe, but I am fairly certain that you don't want to buy a cheapo lathe. Lots of people have success buying very old lathes and restoring them. A good lathe made in the 50s can still turn down steel to .001" accuracy. Damn i wish they still made good tools like that. Half my tools belonged to my grandpa, and all I ever need to do is sharpen them. The other half are modern east-asia-made shit that breaks every 6 months.

Mine was made in the 30's. That lathe in the picture is actually mine. I rebuilt the fucker.

that's fair quality.


you can lathe timber on a metal lathe. I did it back in highschool tech class. lol.

you can turn damn near anything on a good metal lathe, as long as your cutting bit is harder than the thing you are turning.