anyone convert a drill press to a lathe?

[GLyford]

You could build from scratch with a motor, a pile of pulleys and v-belts, some "pillow block" bearings, and some keyed shafting (so you don't have to try and mill your own keyways). For a final shaft with a 1/2-20 end, use a fine thread bolt, or get a buffer adapter. The pillow block bearings will be designed for the side loads from the belts and cutting tools.

For slowing down a motor to working speed, put a small pulley on the motor, and a big pulley on the next shaft. That shaft will be slower by the ratio of the pulley sizes. Then keep adding pulleys and shafts until the last shaft is going the speed you want. You can swap out pulleys to change speeds, or get a set of step pulleys to go between two of your shafts (or between the motor and one shaft). You can put the step pulley pairs at each belt if you want more speeds to pick from.

But by the time you do all that, you might be money ahead to have bought a used wood lathe. The advantage would be being able to make just what you want. Also, if you are a good scrounge, you can find pulleys, belts, bearings and shafts from other sources such as appliances. If you are going to be working wet, you could have the shaft come up from below into a cut-off bucket or barrel to contain the spray, as long as you had another pipe sealed to the bottom at the middle for the shaft to come up through, so water wouldn't drip onto your belts.

Shafting:
1/2" x 36" Keyed Shafting | Keyed Shafting | Shafting | Power Transmission | www.surpluscenter.com

Buffer Adapter:
Eazypower 8142 5/8" or 1/2" Motor Arbor Adaptor RH Thread (1-Pack) - Motor Shaft - Amazon.com

 

[Sawyer Rob]

China made wood lathes are very cheep, and at least they are a lathe to start with, so why bother with a drill press...

SR

 

[bunyip]

I have seen some rubbish Chinese lathes with the pressed steel bed, do not align well and flexing can be an issue, if you can find one with a cast bed it will be much better.
Also with a converted drill press you won't be able to do outboard turning as the head is fixed which will limit the size of the stock you want to turn, as you mentioned a plate I am assuming you want to turn bowls.
My drill presses both have morse tapers for the chuck so a plate should drop straight in although I am not sure what size the taper is, most (lathes) use a #2 although my small Record uses a #1.

 

[cqaigy2]

Looking at your picture of the marble sardine can, was the device i would use for that is what i would call a milling machine, but that may just be semantics.

 

[Paddy]

cqaigy2

The sardine can was made from a variety of tools. The outside, rim down was made on a radial arm saw. With the block upside down, saw was set for 10 deg angle.

Inside was removed by drilling a zillion holes, using a air chisels. Finally smoothed by a mini diamond cup wheel on the drill press using the dept gage as a stop.

The lid that is rolled was free hand using air chisel.
Each pc I do is just for fun and I end up using tools in unique ways.

Having a slow turning lathe, 60 to 100 rpm, would open the door to other carvings I want to "attempt".

If making one from scratch, I'd look at using a wheel hub with a wheel rotor as a face plate. Getting the speed down takes a bunch of pulleys.

 

[aczlan]

cqaigy2

The sardine can was made from a variety of tools. The outside, rim down was made on a radial arm saw. With the block upside down, saw was set for 10 deg angle.

Inside was removed by drilling a zillion holes, using a air chisels. Finally smoothed by a mini diamond cup wheel on the drill press using the dept gage as a stop.

The lid that is rolled was free hand using air chisel.
Each pc I do is just for fun and I end up using tools in unique ways.

Having a slow turning lathe, 60 to 100 rpm, would open the door to other carvings I want to "attempt".

If making one from scratch, I'd look at using a wheel hub with a wheel rotor as a face plate. Getting the speed down takes a bunch of pulleys.

Look on Alibaba. It looks like you can get a small mill (which is like a beefed up drill press with a screw driven x/y table) for under $500. If you watch Craigslist, you might be able to find a similar deal, but it will probably be a lot bigger.

Aaron Z

 

[Paddy]

to better explain what I'm wanting to turn. See attached photo of water ripples. Imagine turned out of 3/4 inch stone, 12 in square

 

[dannoGT]

In woodworking this is called a bullseye rosette cutter but it is on a smaller scale you could probably make one yourself you would need a piece of tool steel large enough to grind your profile out of (cross section through the ripples) and then using your drill press take a very very slow cut?

 

[Teachu2]

Keep an eye on Craigslist. I bought a Clausing 12" lathe several years back for $400. It would be great for what you are doing.

 

[sandman2234]

I am concerned that a lathe may not be exactly what the O/P needs. Yes, a lathe is what he is wanting, but I am thinking that a mill may do everything that he is wanting, and more. It may not do the turning quite as quickly, but with a rotary table, a mill will usually do a larger piece than a small lathe can handle. A multi-directional mill may work out better for him. A Bridgeport is a 3-D machine, but several manufacturers built even more angle and directional machines. I gave a Fray All Directional Mill to a good friend who needed one, and Maho and several others made a Universal Mill. I think these might be a better choice in the long run.
I wish the Paddy lived a little closer and I could make him a really good deal on a Maho Universal Mill. I sold one, and the buyer changed his business direction before he picked it up. It can be bought! Shipping is the issue.
David from jax