Many of you have considered building or making your own homemade wood lathe. Here are six designs to get you started making your own lathe.

Why build your own lathe?

• Money saving

If your a little bit handy and spend a little time planning you could save hundreds if not thousands of dollars by building your own lathe.

• A Manufactured option does not exist

If you need a very large bowl lathe or a really long bed lath, buying a wood lathe may not be an option.

• It’s just plain cool

Lets face it building your own woodworking machines is just plain cool!

Photo: Taunton Press

“When George Archer decided to upgrade his Shopsmith lathe to something that could handle larger projects, he didn’t browse the tool catalogs. Instead, he built his own.

“It does great,” said Archer, a retired engineer from Savannah, Georgia, who cobbled together a heavy-duty bowl turning lathe from $100 of purchased and found parts. “So far, so good.”

What inspired Archer to build his own lathe rather than buying a commercial one? “Probably the $2,000 difference in cost,” he said. Another likely contributor is his engineering prowess. The hobby woodworker spent many years engineering parts for air-conditioning systems.”

Via: Matt Burger, Fine Woodworking Homemade Lathe on a Budget.

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Photo: George Farrel

“The woodturning lathe described here and pictured above is the 4th homemade lathe that I will have built. The frame should be constructed of hardwood (maple is excellent but expensive). In the southeastern states of the US, southern yellow pine is an excellent substitute. Pressure treated lumber is usually southern yellow pine, but is not recommended unless it is carefully chosen to be clear and knot free, quarter-sawn and with no heartwood. The primary reason for choosing something else is that when purchased it is usually saturated with water, so if you decide to use it, it should be stored in a warm dry place long enough to dry out. It is the cheapest solution, and the drying time can be substantially reduced if you use one inch boards. Birch plywood is an expensive alternative but has the advantage of being very stable and already dry, and certainly much easier to use than solid timber of the required size with respect to the mortise and tenon joints.”

Via: George Farrell Full, article Building a “Woodturning Lathe”

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Here is an interesting design that requires no welding. If you are looking to build a small wood lathe this set of plans may be just what you are looking for.

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This lathe design is intended to be a large heavy duty metal lathe, larger than most would require for woodworking. The desing concept is perfect for a shop built homemade lathe and could easily be scaled down to fit your needs.

The bolt together design and use of off the shelf components make this an interesting design for a heavy duty shop built wood lath.

Designed By: Open Source Ecology

Open Source Ecology has a development Wiki describing the lathe in more detail.

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“Making a lathe is fun! Designing one yourself and using free or cheap materials is even better.

This instructable shows how I did it. I got ideas from lots of places on the internet (including other instructables – do a search for ‘lathe’) and formulated my design as I collected materials.

This lathe is made almost exclusively from stuff other people threw away or didn’t have use for anymore, and a big part of the challenge is creatively using these readily available materials. You will probably want to vary your own design from mine, as you will inevitably find you can get your hands on different bits. Don’t worry though I will try my best to offer techniques and advice (including where the best places are to get stuff), anyway it is much more exciting when you have a hand in the design process. I would love to hear what you guys use to make your designs.”

Via: Open Source Ecology

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Here is a great midi size shop built lathe that is really worth a close look for design ideas for your homemade lathe.

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The Twisted Knot Woodshop has built a beautiful behemoth of a wood lathe that you have to check out.

Photo: The Twisted Knot Woodshop

This is a heavy duty 14″ swing shop built wood lathe. It is almost a work of art as well as a well built machine.

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Tell us about your home made or shop built wood lathe. Pen lathes, spindle lathes, bowl lathes are all pretty basic woodworking tools. With a little planning and ingenuity you should be able to make your own lathe to suite your needs.

Making your own wood lathe, we all would like to hear about your design ideas or see what you built.

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Credit: Chasson Guitars

What Is an overarm router?

An over arm router consists of a router mounted above the work piece, and a guide pin protruding from the machine table. A template is made that the work piece is mounted on and that rides on the guide pin.

Inverted pin routers are another form of pin router. The router is mounted under the table and the guide pin is mounted on the overarm portion of the machine.

What is a pin router or overarm router used for?

An over arm router is intended for template routing of wood. Making multiple identical cuts or pieces quickly and accurately. It is also very well suited to making stopped dados, rabbets and through dados as well. It can perform many wood routing operations that are difficult or time consuming to perform with a standard handheld wood router.

Pin routers are often overlooked tools for the home shop or small production shop. Use and benefits of the pin router are often misunderstood. To further compound the problem many of the overarm routers on the market are to large and expensive for the small shop owner.

We have found a solution to those problems for you. We have several examples of homemade overarm pin routers as well as two low cost options for purchasing a light duty bench top overarm router. And of course in true ArmChairDIY style we also are providing a set of free plans to make your own homemade bench top overarm router. As you know we are big fans of shop built and homemade tools.

Kent Chasson of Chasson Gutiars has designed and built a very nice homemade pin router for making his beautiful custom made guitars.

Kent says “Here’s my homemade pin router. There’s a pin in the table directly under the bit that rides on a pattern. The unique idea I incorporated in this tool is that the pin is held in a drill chuck. This allows the use of any size pin, which enables me to adjust a cut by as little as .0005″! The use of precision bearings makes this tool extremely accurate and I get results that are repeatable to .001″. I use this for cutting bridge slots, cutting out tops and backs, cutting rosette channels, headstock overlays and inlays, and many other operations.”

Credit: Chasson Guitars

Credit: Chasson Guitars

Here is a video of a very nice heavy duty homemade over arm pin router in action. You can really see the advantages of using an overarm router for repetitive routing operations.

Homemade overarm router in action

MLCS Says this about their Daisy Pin Router:

“Make exact copies of ANY shape! The NEW Daisy Pin Router easily attaches to any router table, and performs operations similar to machines costing hundreds of dollars more. Make unlimited, exact copies of shapes from either inside or outside patterns. Repetitive cuts are easy and error free. The large, 8″ arm, reaches to the center of a 16″ wide piece. Includes four steel pin sizes (1/4″, 5/16″, 3/8″ and 1/2″) and instructions.”

Paul says,”This looked like the answer to a routing problem I was having. I was 100% correct. This setup works great and was easy to install. There was one drawback…be it very small. The unit could be a bit taller giving more table clearance. I accomplished this need with a piece of 3/4″ stock for a spacer between the table and mounting flange.

In operation, it is GREAT!!”

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Shop Fox Overarm Pin Router

“Take advantage of production routing without dedicating lots of space in your shop. This Bench Top Overarm Router bolts or clamps to the top of your workbench and features pneumatic foot control to lower the router into the workpiece, letting your hands control the movement of the workpiece over the pin insert. If you already have a portable router, router bits and air compressor and do or plan on doing any type of production routing, this Overarm Router and your shop made patterns are all you need. Features: 4 plastic router collars fit most router bodies on the market Three reversible pins Spindle travels on double cylindrical ways Foot control allows hands free operation Pneumatic driven head Precision milled cast aluminum table Clear plastic safety guard Adjustable depth stop Specifications: Maximum head stroke: 5-1/2″ Maximum distance spindle to table: 6-1/2″ Maximum distance housing to table: 8-3/4″ Throat capacity: 18″ Router collar sizes: 4-1/4″, 3-21/64″, 3-1/4″ and 3-1/2″ x 2-5/8″ high Router housing diameter: 4-1/2″ Air pressure required: 60 PSI Table pins: 3/16″ x 1/4″, 5/16″ x 3/8″, 7/16″ x 1/2″ Table size: 19-3/4″ W x 14″ D x 1-3/8″ H Overall size: 21-3/4″ W x 28-1/4″ D x~31-3/8″ H Approximate shipping weight: 55 lbs.”

The Shop Fox overarm pin router would make a fantastic addition to the serious home shop woodworker or light production runs for the professional.

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Now The Big Dogs

Here are a couple example of industrial quality pin routers. The C.R. Onsrud is an inverted pin router with the motor mounted under the work table. While the Woodtek is an over arm pin router with the power head mounted above the work table.

C.R. Onsrud Inverted Pin Router

C.R. Onsurd 10 H.P. 3 Phase Inverted Pin Router

Woodtek overarm pin router

5HP WOODTEK OVERARM ROUTER

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Now that you know what a pin router can do you want one too.

Well ArmChairDIY is big on shop built homemade tools, so we found a really nice set of plans to build your own bench top pin router.

Popular Mechanics built a nice very nice light duty overarm pin router.

Here is a set of free plans for you to make your own shop built overarm pin router.

Send us photos of your pin router you built, we all want to see what you have been up to in your wood shop.

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Get to Work and Keep Her Happy!

Need a drywall panel lift, but you don’t want to spend the money to buy one. Build your own homemade drywall lift. This is a perfect design for occasional use.

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I have often wished I could add a protractor that I could use on some of my angle jigs. I drew up this generic protractor for you to use too. It is a standard 180 degrees with major tic marks at 5 degree increments, minor tic marks at one degree increments as well as half degree tic marks. You can print it, cut it out and use spray adhesive to mount it on your jig. A couple coats of clear polyurethane over it will help protect it.

Get out of your chair, and into the shop and build that jig! Send us a photo and show us how you used it.

This 3m adhesive is great for gluing the protractor to your home made jig or fixture. It has many other uses around the shop as well.

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A poorly functioning table saw fence can make even the best saw worthless.  A few nights in the shop, a little bit of steel and a twelve pack should be all the supplies you need to complete your new homemade table saw fence.

The fence in the photo is homemade. Nice looking isn’t it.

Delta BC50 Left Handed Biesemeyer Commercial Table Saw Fence System

Vega PRO 50 Table Saw Fence System: 42-Inch Fence Bar, 50-Inch to Right

Shop Fox G9220 The Classic Fence w/ 7' Rails & Legs

Keep us updated on your progress as you build yours and show us your homemade table saw fence when you finish it.

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Vetuses Ultra Cheap Home Made Router Lift

Around the ArmChairDIY shop we love home made, modified, hacked, or better than new tools. Even better is if we can do it cheap.

Vetus over at Instructables posted his homemade ultra cheap router lift. It’s very similar to the one I fabricated for my Porter Cable plunge router. You can see my router post Right here. The big difference is mine required more machining welding and fabrication. Vetus did a great job of simplifying the process.

Look at them both and see if you can adapt it to your router. We would love to hear about your shop built router lift.

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Here is a really nice homemade 18″ woodcutting bandaw!
I found Steves site a while back and it looks like he did a really nice job of putting this together.

He does not have plans for sale, but he has posted a lot of photos. If your thinking about a similar project you really should take a close look.

The saw looks like it has a very nice blade guide design that could be retrofited to some older saws.

When your saw is built, check out Steves wood chipper!

Nice work Steve!

If you build a saw like this or any other tool ArmchairDIY would love to hear about it.
You may be able to find some parts to use in your building project here Replacement Tool Parts

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I machined this one out of metal, the rod is 1/2″ thin wall pipe with 3/8″ nuts welded on the ends. You Could make the handle out of wood if you do not have a metal lathe.

The 3/8″ threaded rod fit into the existing base threads, I ground down the jamb nut to maintain maximum depth of cut.

Finished Router Lift handle

This may spark an idea on how you can improve a tool that you own.

Threaded insert detail. This is were the threaded rod will be fitted.

Detail of the lift rod joined to the router base

Update: I ran across another shop built router lift today. I thought you might be interested in. Here is the post here at ArmChairDIY. Cheap Home Made Router Lift

Don’t forget to tell us about your home made router lift.

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