Home-made lathe photos

Quoted text begins.its pretty darn rough
End of quote.

You're right, Norman, very experimental. I made a number of headstocks and
tailstocks to suit different sizes of stone, from 4" diameter columns to 20"
urns. The axis was aligned using a stringline- close enough, obviously not
engineeringly perfect. The timber stocks take up a bit of error.

The motor spins at one speed (I have never measured its RPM) and power is
transferred through the formply pulley wheel, producing 120 rpm and 240 rpm. The
larger items spin best at the slower speed, and vice versa.

When I first mounted a block 20" diameter and 24" length, I used a stick to turn
the power on as I stood to one side. I make sure that all stones are roughed out
symmetrical before mounting. There has only been a couple of balusters break
while spinning, and they dropped straight down, not forward as you would expect.

Simon