DIY Metal Lathe (Under $500) Powell Fab Style. Scraps come in handy on this project.

We built a 8x20 ish lathe for under $500. We took a motor out a scrap pile, I-beam left off a job site, scrap pieces of plate and slapped together this super handy little lathe that any little shop would benefit with. We literally rummaged though every scrap pile we could, metal, electrical and hardware. We tossed around the idea of buying a big lathe but didn't have a good way of making it pay for itself. So what better way to justify it then using JUNK to make another cool tool for our tool box. We watched numerous videos and went with the Lets Learn Something video to base our lathe platform off of. Simple, Cheap, Easy 3 things we love here at Powell Fab. ‪@lincolnelectrictv‬ ‪@shopsabre‬ ‪@letslearnsomething30‬
Parts List
Chuck www.amazon.com...
Tooling www.amazon.com...
Pulley x2 www.amazon.com...
Pillow Block www.amazon.com...
Guide Blocks x2 www.amazon.com...
Screw for Short Side www.amazon.com...
Screw Long Run www.amazon.com...
Rails Short www.amazon.com...
Rails Long www.amazon.com...
Extras That I didn't have to buy but links if you want to
Adjustable Tool rest www.amazon.com...
1HP Motor www.amazon.com...

[@randymartin2396]

Great job

[@123suzukisamurai]

Excellent

[@Room1sixtyfive]

Cut your bolts to your spec with an angle grinder, install a nut before cutting to fix the thread.

[@homemadetools]

Nice job. We shared this video on our homemade tools forum this week 😎

[@powellfab.3357]

Thank you, we really appreciate it.

[@NJUSAWEST]

Nice job.

[@jimdean294]

Nice lathe. Now get a variable speed motor and get it attached to your lead screw. Buy or make a half nut and attach to your carriage with a lever so it will engage and disengage. You’ll love the auto feed option when u want it and your finish turn will be ten times cleaner

[@Kai11017]

I´d recommend to use hgr Rails (atleast type 25 or 30) because they are way more stiffer and will reduce vibrations and smoothen the cutting action ( they are a little bit more expensive though but I think they are worth it , they often get used for extension arms on big machinery)

[@karansingh1154]

Is there any way to tell if the rails that you're buying is actually genuine or just cheap junky knockoffs.

[@Kai11017]

​@@karansingh1154 hey , visually no , but on aliexpress or amazon u often get the knockoffs (china imported ) but these are often good enough too, I recommend cleaning the roller bearing slides, the name brands that u find on more serious websites will cost u a lot more, but for a hobby machine the chinese guide rails are good enough , for the price of the name brands I would rather buy a real lathe ( in my area I could buy a lot of beautiful german/swiss made lathes but they are big and heavy and I have no workshop where I could savely put it in, but someday I will

[@lessons4civil]

Very nice job. Thanks for sharing

[@powellfab.3357]

Thanks for checking it out. We appreciate it.

[@golf25radioman]

Enjoyed the video. Very well done. I know very little about lathes, would like to know more. I was impressed by this young man and his friend. They know their stuff, show professionalism, definitely not "shade tree" by any means. I look forward to future videos.

[@powellfab.3357]

Thank you. We really do appreciate it. We have some more videos in the works. Get done with the holidays and we will be back in the shop more. Appreciate the support! 🤘

[@felderup]

read gingery books, it'll give you much theory, you might even decide to build one of his design.

[@P.Trim69]

​@@felderup u say read gingery books ? That the Arthur's name gingery? Or that type of books. Not quite sure what ur saying and I'm interested, definitely not trying be smart mouth. Trying to learn some more of useful knowledge. At fifty years old I definitely got the useless knowledge down pat. If I had knowledge of time traveling deloren I'd go back n kick 🦵🏻 12,13 year old me's, get n gear button🖲️🎛️and twist it to 11 🔘🔛 then break it so there's no chance it won't get turned off. Yeah that would about do it. Or read some books 📚. Lol. Stay safe from ur ole hillbilly buddy.

[@felderup]

@@P.Trim69 dave gingery wrote a book series, lindsay books used to sell them, they're defunct now, but they most commonly were known for reprints of public domain stuff(often very weird stuff), they had a few originals though. the gingery metal shop series starts with the building of a charcoal forge(designed for 20lb flasks) and basics of sand casting leading through the construction of a complete metal working shop. machinist lathe, horizontal mill, shaper, drill press, attachments and custom tooling, cast aluminum pieces with steel fittings, easy to do in a shop that has basics like chisels and hacksaws. the series was followed by relevant others as well as some diy tool designs for other machines published by him and his son. you might find copies at your nearby library but it's more likely you'll have to pirate them to get any access. there are youtubers who are doing or have done videos on their attempts. in march when i hit 50 i might start my own attempt.

[@jdard5308]

Great job 👍

[@powellfab.3357]

Thank you!

[@letkemanfabworks619]

dig your style man! subscribed from Canada.

[@robertpeters9438]

You can also buy fine or define sharpy

[@the.metalchemist]

cool one 🔥🔥🔥

[@ZURG2424]

Love your work bub

[@powellfab.3357]

Thanks man

[@4eloveg1]

Friend, buy yourself a tap holder! It will make your life a lot easier when cutting threads... You decided to reduce the gap between the driven pulley and the headstock housing, but it was necessary to set the minimum clearance between the chuck faceplate and the headstock housing. But not everything is lost, it is also worth installing the front bearing from the inside as well and try to set the cartridge with a minimum clearance to the sheet of metal. As for bearings: Such bearings are not the best solution because they have backlash. That's why I gave up on them. You need to replace the bearings with tapered ones so that you can choose by tightening the nut axial and radial play. The spindle should immediately be made from a thick-walled pipe, since the absence of a through hole in the spindle axis seriously reduces the options for work. The spacer between the cross feed plate and the tool post should not be narrower than the tool post itself, this significantly weakens the design. And yes, such guides for CNC are rather weak and give large deviations under loads during metal processing. I don’t know which of what I wrote you will understand correctly since I had to use Google translator ... Greetings from Russia, and good luck with your machine building. P.s. The one who does nothing makes no mistakes...

[@powellfab.3357]

Thanks for all the advice. We really appreciate it. We are just some young guns having fun. I like the saying for sure we will have to keep that one.

[@felderup]

hollow axle tube, already machined true, got threads for bolting on pulleys and spacers, space for bearing races, shoulder already milled in for conical or angular contact bearings, bearings in that size common and cheap, can be cut off an old floating shaft truck axle, careful welding of a flange prevents distortion and a second one from the other side in case the first was screwed up, also... the diff can be used as the primary drive.

[@Biokemist-o3k]

Hello my brother. I found your. channel and as you were talking I looked above your head and immediately subscribed. Fantastic my friend. I wish we were neighbors...we could build some awesome stuff. I am starting a small engine repair welding/fabrication business . I am collecting all th 1800's equipment that I can that runs on belts. I want to run it on steam like they did back then , With belts from the ceiling. I guess I could do that with compressed air as well. though.kinf of like living history

[@powellfab.3357]

Would be awesome to see when done. Keep on building! 🤘

[@paultrimble9390]

Yelp it's nice good job

[@ssmsbengaluru]

Great 👍

[@andrewdacunha5695]

Am I missing something? Bunch of comments ranting about stopped because of the flags and such.... What does that have to do with building a lathe? Obsessed much?

[@powellfab.3357]

@andrewdacunha5695 thank you sir. Said it well. Thanks for watching and Thanks for the positive input!

[@RustyInventions-wz6ir]

Just found your channel and Subscribed. Very nice work.

[@paultrimble9390]

Nice looking build ole buddy.

[@powellfab.3357]

Thank you sir

[@paultrimble9390]

No problem, I like it might try to make one my self. I got a DB 200 unimat with mill attachment. Buts it's like new and just little ole thing nice small stuff but don't want wear it out pushing on it with more than it can handle. It's to old and nice just tear up. And buy one from hobo fart and have to fix , work on it new . No that's not good so I like that plan. Ok stay safe from ur ole hillbilly buddy.

[@tommypugh1208]

A tailstock an a steady rest would be ahuge help in turning your parts

[@cahnasusanti6394]

Good job bro 😊👍

[@powellfab.3357]

Thank you!

[@daviddaddy]

Looks great bro! I just found your channel and subbed instantly! Lol. Great editing as well! If you get the time, I'd love to see you build a tail stock for it and you can probably use the lathe to help with a few parts of the tail stock lol. Anyways Thanks for sharing brotha! Take care and God bless you and your family. -David

[@powellfab.3357]

Thanks, man. I really appreciate that! We do plan on building one. We just haven't had time yet.

[@KaidenO]

Awesome job! Any plans to add a tailstock?

[@powellfab.3357]

We would like to just haven't had the time to actually do it yet. Would you like to see a video if we do?

[@KaidenO]

@@powellfab.3357 yes definitely! I'm most likely going to do the same thing so I'd be curious to see how you're doing it and maybe get an idea or two!

[@TheGreggorySmith]

Been wanting to do this for years, but with a big bore headstock and a long bed. Problem I have is all my fab equipment got liberated from my possession by someone who thought they needed it more.

[@powellfab.3357]

Hope you get it done some day man.

[@P.Trim69]

That's a bummer. Hope u found ur stuff and got it back. And at very least got the people that was reliable for it "walking off". But that still sucks they got caught .great but ur still out. Ouch hard one to get over. If I had coins I'd replace all your" lost" stuff with the newest models on planet. With all the latest and greatest options. Come on Powerball. Well got play it first. Maybe I should buy US a ticket for this weekend drawing. Fingers 🤞🏻. Stay safe from ur ole hillbilly buddy. Let ya know if we're going shopping, I need 2 of everything. Lol.

[@joachimruelle8445]

Bonjour super proget.ou avez vous trouver les poulies qui vont sur l arbre porte mandrin c est pas préciser dans les liens c est quel diamètre merci pour votre reponse😊

[@powellfab.3357]

We got them off Amazon. Im not exactly sure of sizes. I think the large pulley was 4.5in and small side was 1in. The shaft i believe was 5/8

[@LuisGuevaraaguilar]

Que tal !¡ que medida de Sbr usaste?

[@alejandromunizramirez2991]

Great. 👍👍👍 Wath size is the chuck?

[@terryp12345]

Nice work on the lathe... Subscribed when I saw your overhead decorations too.

[@oiu7890]

Where did you buy your ways? How did you lock the tool carriage down?

[@powellfab.3357]

The ways I got off Amazon I left a link in the description. The tool post there is bolt through it then it's a crimp lock on the new one.

[@hiddenworldforge374]

Only thing I'd do is buy a couple mighty mags and put some mighty mags on it with dial indicators for more precision movements

[@powellfab.3357]

That is a good idea. Thank you

[@donnellnordin350]

What size of shaft did you use for your headstock?

[@powellfab.3357]

1.5in

[@P.Trim69]

The effort I've put in to this. Yeah lol. Sitting here watching is hard. Shoot you put in the effort in just making and editing this build. Not to mention the build itself. And probably the very hardest part getting the sucker to load up to KZbin or download how yall tuber's do it. Lol😊. Not me. Not very computer savvy to begin with. So yeah it's hard work sitting here watching. He he. But really in all seriousness now thanks for talking the time to do these videos. I wish there was more on my end i could do beside comment,like,sub. But as it is here livin rough. Now get me wrong do have roof, windows, vehicle there all used when i got um, Nissan Altima is my sons and ole lady's mistake. Took over payments on it. trans on them junk but that's another story another time. Everything is right at limit of lifespan, or families been handed down (wore out when leaves this family no more handing it down). And finally at limit of being payment behind. Send a payment in and its due again in day or two. Lol. So if i could flip ya little support i would. Only keep watching, commenting, liking. (Ha ha) right now at time typing using WiFi data and calling on my phone lol as it shut off midnight 1st or about 1am on 2nd. Oh well not starving, grandbaby had a good xmas , my kids had good xmas i guess. Well my young adults. 23,19 year olds. time to give dad a break find places of their own. Again. Lol. Yeah so all n all im broke but here. So better than rich n gone. So I can't complain 😮 wait a minute 😁 i believe I did. Opps sorry 😞 about that. Well more than enough rambling on for this year all ready. So I'll let ya get back to making something nice. Not have to read this book. So stay safe keep on keeping on, from ur ole hillbilly buddy

[@TheKnightstar13]

Great, but tool post is the wrong way round...😊

[@lucasbrewer4451]

Parts list?

[@powellfab.3357]

I will get links together and drop them in the description

[@powellfab.3357]

I updated the description all the parts i bought are in there

[@rikujkoivisto]

Greetings from Finland! Nice video, thanks! GO TRUMP!!😃

[@greggorycook3770]

Thanks friend! I can't say I ever expected someone so far away would care to watch us learning. We sure do appreciate the support!

[@ThisMFINGuy]

Love the flags

[@freddiepasitenggpawi6084]

Sir can you send the materials and all the size or diagram sir

[@powellfab.3357]

I will. Be a few days but definitely will. Most of the parts are in description as well

[@freddiepasitenggpawi6084]

@@powellfab.3357 Thank you so much sir I'm very interested to make that mini lathe machine.kindly I appreciate sir

[@mundodasmaquinas5071]

Muito bom parabéns. My channel friend " my homemade milling machine Project

[@powellfab.3357]

Looks awesome 👌. I will have to sit down and watch them.

[@mundodasmaquinas5071]

​@@powellfab.3357ok 👍

[@Mike61259]

Under $500? Good frame cost more than $500. Do it well or don't do it.

[@rikujkoivisto]

Good video, stupid music 😊

[@narcissistwhisperer]

I was interested in watching the video. Until I saw the trump flags.

[@flat-earther]

me too until I saw the fisheye lens

[@alfreddurbyn642]

Really? Why is everyone so damn political nowadays? You don't realize it but anyone that has any authority in politics is corrupt and who knows what else, the regular politician is just a lot better at lying to you. Trump can be a big baby at times but he has no filter and says whatever is on his mind. I have a lot more respect for someone that isn't just telling me what they think I wanna hear but I want be voting for either one.

[@narcissistwhisperer]

@@alfreddurbyn642 Because Trump wants to end democracy. I cannot support anyone that supports this. Trump does not just 'have no filter'. He lies every time his lips are moving. He is the ultimate politician.

[@littleredridinghood5622]

Shut it off soon as I saw all the Trump banners ...

[@powellfab.3357]

Thanks for Commenting!

[@matthewmoilanen787]

Ah Trumper, lost me.

[@Impuritan1]

Ohhh noooooo….anyways.