Gingery Lathe

[scorch]

A Gingery Lathe made based on the book "The Metal Lathe" by David Gingery. My lathe is by no means perfect but it is an example of a functioning lathe that I continue to use. I included a couple pictures of the wood patterns I used in the process of casting the lathe parts out of aluminum.

There is scrap aluminum from a variety of sources living on in this little lathe, from Grandma's old lawnmower engine to an old pool ladder I picked up on the side of the road. The riveted steel mechanism that the motor is mounted to is made from an old bed frame.



Below are some of the wood patterns used to case the lathe parts.


Here are the wood patterns arranged roughly as they appear on the lathe.


Here is a picture of the tail stock patterns alongside the as cast aluminum lathe parts. I used the Router Mill
that I previously posted to finish the tail stock parts because I had grown tired of hand working the cast aluminum parts for the lathe.


I used this lathe to make some of the parts for my other tools like my Injection Molding Machine I posted a while ago.

Scorch

[DIYer]

Thanks scorch! We've added your Gingery Lathe to our Metalworking category, as well as to your builder page: scorch's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Gingery Lathe by scorch

tags: lathe, chuck, motor

[Paul Jones]

Scorch, this is a fantastic build. One thing nice about home made lathes is being able to build other lathes with further refinements and improvements in each generation. What type and size of bearings do you use in the headstock? Thank you for the photos of the patterns.

[scorch]

Thanks Paul, I started with bronze sleeve bearings (bushings) as Dave Gingery specified in the book. I swapped them out for needle bearings which fit in the same space as the original sleeve bearings. I also added thrust bearings. I sometimes think about swiching to tapered roller bearings but that would require a new headstock.

[rossbotics]

Hi Scorch
Nice job there, I never did to much casting, I'm sure you had a lot of time in just making your patterns let alone the machining and finishing.
That lathe will be better than anything you could buy made in China, Want a real challenge ? Make some graduated dials for it.

Great Work !!!

[LeeRoy]

Awesome job, Scorch. I have the Gingery series and am about to start this project myself. Are there any surprises, or does it go as smooth (but labor intensive) as it appears in the book?

[scorch]

Awesome job, Scorch. I have the Gingery series and am about to start this project myself. Are there any surprises, or does it go as smooth (but labor intensive) as it appears in the book?

It is pretty straight forward. I did have to read a few things over and over to really understand them but once I got it did made sense. Sometimes it is the simple things that get you.

If you start the project feel free to ping me with questions.

[ncollar]

Scorch
Do you have an idea of the cost of your lathe? Very nice job on it.

[scorch]

Scorch
Do you have an idea of the cost of your lathe? Very nice job on it.

I found an old spreadsheet that I was keeping track of the cost of the Gingery lathe on. It looks like I got to about $150 before I stopped tracking it (that included some tools like a lathe file, scrappers and a countersink). I would guess I put another $50 to $100 into the lathe after that.

[ncollar]

I found an old spreadsheet that I was keeping track of the cost of the Gingery lathe on. It looks like I got to about $150 before I stopped tracking it (that included some tools like a lathe file, scrappers and a countersink). I would guess I put another $50 to $100 into the lathe after that.

Scorch
Thanks for the reply. You have around $300 into the lathe that you made. The part of your investment seems to be the tooling to make the machine, but that is the start of your tool box. You can not go out and buy a lathe for less than $500, so you are ahead of the game. Looking good, now it's time to make something. Thanks for sharing.