Build Your Own Metalworking Lathe From Scrap

So now that you have a furnace, what are you going to do with it? If you are an aspiring machining hobbyist, Dave Gingery's lathe is a very good start. If all you want is a small lathe, the cheap hobby imports might be a better go, but if you want to learn the full gamut of how to produce a accurate piece of shop machinery, building Dave's lathe will fill in much of the learning curve for the novice machinist.

Dave's Shop From Scrap series has been around for almost 40 years now and it still garners interest. I have a full set of all his books in paper, I also have many in my files that I have downloaded over the years. The problem is most are poor quality scans, and I would not repost them without redoing them to a more presentable state. Browsing some of my files recently I found a second copy of "# 2 The Metal Lathe" that was in reasonable shape. A little out of alignment and the picture res. is poor, but very clean and usable. If you haven't found a copy yet, this is one of the cleaner copies around.

To download "Build Your Own Metalworking Lathe From Scrap" go to my Books - Free Downloads  page, # 80 - 1.2 MB - pdf.

Build Your Own Unimat Style Lathe

Many people are familiar with the small hobby class Unimat style lathe. Before the cheap imports got into the game they were the most affordable small hobby lathe on the market, they were European made by Emco and there were many accessories available including a milling head. The bed and cross slide ways were made of steel shafting and therefor this was a very small lathe to remain ridged.

Here is a plan also built by a European, Guenter Kallies, which is similar to the Unimat, but with larger dimensions. All measurements are metric and there are no castings used. Instructions are relatively clear and include material lists. If you want to avoid the castings in the Gingery plans, this may be an option.

To download the 32 page pdf  click Build Your Own Lathe 3 MB.

The Emco - Unimat Model "SL"