My little weekend project......

[John_Nicholson]

A couple of years ago I acquired a lathe from a fellow. It was an old Rockwell/Delta. It did not have a motor. It was an old school lathe where you you had to change which pulley the belt was on to change the speed. I started researching to find out the proper RPM for the motor. While doing this I ran across a post on a random forum where a guy had taken the motor out of a treadmill and used it on his lathe. It had the advantage of now being a variable speed lathe without having to change the belt to a different pulley. Well I filed that information back in my brain until a couple of weeks ago when I was talking to a buddy and he said he had an old treadmill that he needed to throw out......BINGO......anyway here are some pictures showing the progression....

No pictures of the first part of the project. Taking apart the old treadmill without damaging the electronics and then figuring out exactly which parts of the electronics were needed and which parts were expendable.

Part two. Looks a little rough but I was just trying to see if I could get the thing spinning. You can see the piece of wood towards the back to keep it straight. I promise that was just a temporary thing....LOL.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y14/DiscusJohn/IMG_20160327_104434190_zpsf0bwygxt.jpg (http://s2.photobucket.com/user/DiscusJohn/media/IMG_20160327_104434190_zpsf0bwygxt.jpg.html)

The legs on the thing tilt in and I was able to sink a couple of bolts through the adjustment assembly and the leg.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y14/DiscusJohn/IMG_20160327_104440773_zpsekr27do1.jpg (http://s2.photobucket.com/user/DiscusJohn/media/IMG_20160327_104440773_zpsekr27do1.jpg.html)

This work quite well except as you can see wood chips/dust were getting all over the electronics.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y14/DiscusJohn/IMG_20160327_104453643_zpswl5xvojk.jpg (http://s2.photobucket.com/user/DiscusJohn/media/IMG_20160327_104453643_zpswl5xvojk.jpg.html)

So I took the "platform" of the treadmill and made a crude housing. I left the end with the motor open. I did not clean up the saw dust before taking the picture. Hope y'all can forgive me. I did run out od material and had to use a little plywood for the lid. It is removable.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y14/DiscusJohn/IMG_20160329_185732924_zpsn4gzne0q.jpg (http://s2.photobucket.com/user/DiscusJohn/media/IMG_20160329_185732924_zpsn4gzne0q.jpg.html)

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y14/DiscusJohn/IMG_20160329_185743256_zpsjk6txzsk.jpg (http://s2.photobucket.com/user/DiscusJohn/media/IMG_20160329_185743256_zpsjk6txzsk.jpg.html)

Lid removed.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y14/DiscusJohn/IMG_20160329_185808489_zpsrqgnprnt.jpg (http://s2.photobucket.com/user/DiscusJohn/media/IMG_20160329_185808489_zpsrqgnprnt.jpg.html)

So all in all it came together pretty good. At the end of the day I have $16 in the project.

-john

[Akili]

Very Nice, Great Job Well Done John!!

[LizStreithorst]

I'm impressed. Doing that took more brains that I have. Well done, John. Now, show us something you've made with it.

[brewmaster15]

John thats a great DIY project !

Those treadmill motors are great for alot of things I have one sitting here right now for a DIY project. Very impressive work there. .. but whats also impressive is your photo skills have improved greatly! LOL!!!:bandana:

Nicely done!

al

[ericNH]

I tip my hat to you. My father would've adopted you on the spot. He was a great tinkerer/builder, too. He once brought home a ridiculously overpowered electric motor from the shipyard where he worked, welded together a framework for a tablesaw around it, and voila, he had a ridiculously overpowered tablesaw. All the house lights would dim when he turned it on. I could hear him running that thing several blocks away, and he ran it often!

[John_Nicholson]

Thanks folks. It was not that hard to do but it wa a lot of fun.

Al the pictures were easy....there was no dirty glass to shoot through...LOL.

-john

[brewmaster15]

John I would really enjoy seeing pictures taken with my Pentax Camera of your lathe in action...hint hint.http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?122968-A-Camera-s-Journey

[rickztahone]

Very cool John! I would love to get a Lathe one day. I happen to have a treadmill EXACTLY like the one you have pictured currently, lol. It is being sold locally as my mother got me an elliptical for Christmas. I believe she was trying to send me a message..

[DJW]

John, what are going to do with that lathe? I thought a little show-n-tell would give you some ideas. I started making these balls out of glue-ups, and I made a couple of jigs for it. There are a lot of possible ideas for the pattern, but so far I just have been getting the technique figured out. When the boys were small they liked to fight on the stairs and broke some of the spindles, thats about the only practical thing I have ever done on the lathe was make more spindles.

96469

[John_Nicholson]

LOL....I have absolutely no plans or thoughts on it currently. I just have it is I need it kind of thing. Those balls are cool.

-john