Glass lathe

[Swampy]

Two spindles hold two borosilicate glass tubes on centre and rotate them at the same speed in the same direction.

I use various sized torches to weld the tubes together, shape them, &c. By plugging the end of one tube and fitting a blowhose and swivel to the end of the other tube, when they are welded to together this creates a 'sealed' tube, allowing the heated glass tube to be expanded (by blowing into the mouthpiece of the blowtube).

Specs:

44mm bore

600mm between centres

110 volt, draws 0.7 amps at 10 rpm, 1.4 amps at 30 rpm

Fun and satisfying to build, this machine helps me a lot to weld tubes together on centre that I could never do by hand.