Woodturning Lathe Build Process

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The next job was to get on with the part I'm calling the "tool rest slide". This is the bit that will slide along the bed and back and forth and support the tool rest in whatever position I want it. I'm making this as a sort of "t-slot" thing so it can be clamped down in any position. The easiest way I could think of making that (with the bits of steel I have available) is to fabricate it out of some lengths of 12 mm × 35 mm and 10 mm × 20 mm EN3B I had in the drawer:

Rather than welding them together and worrying about distortion, I thought I'd just use M6×50 socket head cap screws. That meant I spent a little while drilling holes, a little while drilling and counterboring holes and a little while drilling and tapping holes...

All the bits with lots of holes in them:

This shows the pieces half assembled to give an idea of how they go together:

Once they were screwed together, I put the assembly in the mill's vice and used a long end mill to skim the ends flat:

Once both ends were flat, I mounted the assembly to an angle plate and drilled and tapped some holes for some end plates:

Two more holes were drilled and tapped for attaching the bit that the tool rest will fit to:

For the end caps, I cut a couple of slices off a bit more 12 mm steel:

That got squared up and milled to size and then some more holes mysteriously appeared:

This shows where the tool rest will sit:

At 57 mm high, it's a lot thicker than it (arguably) needs to be, but with a 128 mm centre height, I'll still be able to turn spindles that are up to 142 mm diameter, which is way bigger than anything I can imagine wanting to turn. If I ever get the urge to try bowl turning, the tool rest slide won't be under the workpiece (I think) so I'd still be able to turn bowls up to 256 mm diameter.

I am a hobbyist metalworker and woodworker. I work as an electronic design engineer and spend most of my working days in front of a computer so I enjoy having the opportunity to use my hands and make things in my spare time. I particularly enjoy making tools as I can then use them on other projects. This website showcases some of the things I've made.

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