A very effective small lathe that takes up no permanent shop space, and can be built for almost no cost. This is a great solution for the millions of woodworkers who only need a lathe a few times a year, or who just have no space for even a midi-lathe. It requires no welding or machining, and no purchased parts.
I have free plans available for download at my website at:
psullivancarmel.wixsite.com/t...
I've watched about a dozen DIY Lathe videos and this one is the best by far. I like that you explain every step of job. Please keep making these videos!
I still say the first company that offers squared up housing in their power tools is gonna make a killing
I built this awesome lathe a couple of years ago, and had a lot of issues with the chuck. Great design but I could never make it strong enough ( blew a bunch of them apart). I found a 1/2" dia. steel chuck in a woodworking catalog with straight sides instead of a morse taper, and now it is 100% dependable for those small turning projects. I love it! I even had the same sturdy Milwaukee drill languishing in a drawer. My only modification was to add a tightening nut on the backside of the tailpiece to really lock in that end of the work. Well done plans and very easy to build thanks to your design work. :)
Not only are your projects well thought out and executed, but your filming style and narration are simply superb. It's an absolute delight to watch your videos Patrick. Thank you for posting such professional and enjoyable vids!
That idea with the MDF for keeping the knob square to the bolt is great! Thank you!
You are the MAN! I love this project, and it's so fun to watch your videos!
Built it the same as yours. Worked like a dream. Turned a tapered shaft 800mm in length. Thanks
Patrick, I saw a video which showed how to make little handles in place of the screw head for the hose clamp for people who open and close a particular hose clamp often.
This DIY Lathe is WITHOUT QESTION the best DIY wood lathe I have seen on KZhead. And the best part is can be disappeared onto a shelf taking up no work shop space when not in use. Brilliant!!
Awesome idea! Excellent work and the plans are well made. People, the plans are free on his website!
Thank you for helping me with the free plan. I am from India
Great setup for small projects, love the content and appreciative for the free plans- thanks.
Excellent! You should do a follow up on how you made your turning tools!
I needed a 1/2 inch dowel and all I could find was a 3/4 inch oak dowel at the store. I reduced it to 1/2 using nothing but s spokeshave, card scraper and sandpaper. I should confess, I was pleased with the end result as I couldn't feel any unevenness with my fingers. I spent more than 90 mins to get that smooth result and after reflecting on that unnecessary result, I decided to make a small diy lathe and this video showed up in my search, Let me say, this fits my needs perfectly. I don't have space in my garage, no extra motors to press into service, I will be building a lathe pretty much the same way as you did. Thanks for the video, Let me also say, I have watched many of your videos and I am hugely impressed. I like your scientific mindset and elegant approach to building things. I hope you continue to make more videos. Sincere thanks and appreciation,
Excellent video. Thank you for teaching me new skills
Great design and explanation.
Patrick, I am new to your channel but I am totally hooked and I now want to go back and see every else you have done. Amazing work and great explanation.
Excellent, well thought out video Patrick.
Excellent! Thank you Patrick.
Nicely done Mr. Sullivan .Bravo
Thank you Patrick for sharing your plans.
Nicely done Patrick! Wish that I had seen this video prior to purchasing a lathe which I have not used in years. Thanks for posting..........
Great video. I love how clearly you explain everything
Thanks for sharing your knowledge, Patrick. It's a pleasure to see you working!
Your channel is quickly becoming one of the best I've seen around for helping us beginners and weekend guys get started! Another great video here and I can't wait to get started on this!
I have just discovered your channel and you are already my favored woodworker on KZhead! Thank's for including metric measurements in your projects.
Your drive spur solution is inspirational , just add it to the growing list of well thought out and designed tools that you so willingly share.
Patrick, You make it look so easy, Thank you
Thanks for sharing!!! Love you Patrick!
What a great design, Patrick! And a good video too. Thanks very much.
I have seen many proyects like this one, but yours is the only one that can be stored after work. thanks OLD MAN! G.B.A.
Your teachings are a blessing
Bernie Carr A touch of class and well presented . Good and straight forward.
This looks so much better than many of the lathe builds I've seen on here. And +1 to some videos on how you made your own tools.
Yep, I am making this one. Usually these types of projects look really sketchy but this looks great. Thanks for the video!
I have printed out the plans for the disappearing and to express my appreciation for them without cost. Thank you very much.
I have watched all of your videos and I am very grateful. You are very articulate in your process of steps. Keep up the great work. Thank you
You are a gem. Thank you for the free plans!
Very well done. Excellent attention to detail which pays off in the long run. Thanks!
Thank you for all of the great ideas and all of the hard work by sharing designs on your website. I’ll subscribe.
INGENIOUS! Perfect for smaller projects, and for someone with a suicidally small workshop, it can stashed out of the way, or "disappear" when not in use. I've watched many vids on this topic, this one is much better built, engineered and just makes more sense for my particular situation. Thank you Brother Patrick. Gunna start mine tomorrow.
Thank you so much. I love your videos! Exact instructions, no extra jibber jabber and no music. Love, love 💕 love
Patrick you have done a great job of explaining and building the lathe your explanation and smooth voice makes this a great video. Big thumbs up!! New subscriber.
That’s a great little lathe, and just what I have been looking for! Thanks very much for sharing your skills and designs. 👏👏👏👍
Thank you for this great project and free plan! Mine worked out great thanks to your very well produced video.
You just solved the problem I have been grappling with! Ingenious! Thanks!
That's fantastic, Patrick.
This is awesome, I'm new to woodworking and have been keen to try wood turning but as my workshop is only a small shed this would be ideal. Thank you for sharing
Excellent, I have an old Millers Falls power drill from the 50´s or 60´s and was wondering what to do with it. Now I know. Thanks for the ideas.
Bravo Patrick, j'adore tes vidéos et tes plans en libre accès. Merci pour tout et continue ainsi très très longtemps ! 👍
Excellent work Patrick, it was a pleasure to watch. Cheers!
Creativity in itself, very clean and tidy work. All thanks and appreciation to you. I handed your hands on the effort, my regards
I had just measured out my wood for another type of lathe, and now I am having to remeasure it. This is perfect. Just what I wanted. I can't believe how simple this looks, yet so effective. Can't wait to start this project.
I really like this. Just what I need in my tiny shop - where there is no space for a full lathe. Am always missing one to make handles etc.
04:56 I think I can judge how skilled a woodworker actually is by looking at the tools he uses. This high end block plane tells me: woodworking on a *superior* level.
Very well done all the way around, on the lathe and the video. Thanks!
This is out-freaking-standing. And that handle you turned with it... My God!
Many thanks. It is appreciated your contributuon.
Nicely executed! Looks like a fun project and I am going to build one. This would also be a great tool to use to introduce a child to wood turning!
really inventive and useful demo Mr Sullivan, great video
Beautiful job!
Fantastic work Sir!!! Thank you for sharing.
Nice work. Beautiful project. Great video, editing, and narration. Super clear, useful, and interesting.
Simplicity is brilliance.
Many Thanks for the free plans: very accurate and useful! Greetings from Italy!
Very nice Compact Lathe , perfect for a small shop ,Greatvideo and narration thankyou
They make compilation videos on KZhead called "Most Satisfying Video in the World." This was one of them for me. Absolutely inspiring. Thank you!
I love how you're moving from a table saw to a drill press to a scroll saw in order to make a lathe that clamps to the bench, presumably to save space and money. That said, this is an ingenious design that I hope to modify to turn my drill into a temporary grinder so I'm not spending hours grinding on chisels with decades of bad sharpening behind them.
Lol a lathe is almost as big as all 3 of those tools side by side, not to mention significantly more expensive and single purpose. Good job though.
Very nice! I've been watching drill powered lathe videos for awhile now. This one is a winner! I don't need an expensive lathe for the small jobs I'll be doing.
Great design ...Amazing simplicity and utility
Well, I guess I have another project on my to-do list. This is just what I need (want).
Patrick this is a great idea,design,build,and tutorial thank you very much for sharing your hard work with us,i enjoyed your filming style the shots are always clear all the best to you and yours
Simple, compact.. Very nice!
Today is the first time I have seen your videos, and I am really enjoying them. Your explanations are concise (not needlessly drawn out), and yet I never feel like anything you have demonstrated was too complicated. Great job.
Excellent! The only reason I want a lathe at all is to make tool handles. I will definitely be building this design. Thank you again, Patrick!
Sir, excellent creation, I've no words to describe, thank you so much...(Srinivas from India)
Enjoyed your very informative video. Always a pleasure to watch people with talent and abilities, and to see the benefits of the end result of what they made... Bravo!
I tried to make a lathe out of a Milwaukee right angle (hole hog) 2 years ago, and I still maintain it was the worlds most dangerous lathe ever created. Thank you once again, face shield haha! I really didn’t have the means to correctly build out the supports and some of the parts you’ve so meticulously explain here. I am definitely going to make a run at version 2 after this. Can’t thank you enough, Mr Sullivan. I like your style, sir.
Thank you
Thank you so much for sharing this fantastic project with us, Patrick! I've tried other DIY lathes here on KZhead, but they all didn't really work for me. I just finished building your lathe and, oh my god, it works just so great! I made some changes here and there, but nothing really too far away from your design. I did, however, change the way the drill is mounted to the headstock. As I don't have a table saw, I thought for a while about another way of getting a real snug fit for the drill. I ended up building a small box of the same dimensions as the headstock, melting some polypropylene in it (oven) and pressed my drill in. After letting it cool down, I have the best mount possible. The drill fits really well, while it's still easy to remove. Maybe this idea helps someone else who wants to build the lathe. Again, thank you so much for sharing your wonderful idea!
Awesome. Great idea and realization, for small working areas
Excellent work & neatly explained....
This just came up on my KZhead recommended videos and I can't thank you enough for it Patrick, it's a beautifully well thought out and implemented design that fits my needs perfectly (better than many similar drill lathes that are decent enough but take up a lot more space once built). BTW earlier in the year I devoured your previous vids on making small chisels and working with carbide so thanks a mil for those too!
sorry to be offtopic but does anybody know of a trick to log back into an Instagram account? I somehow forgot my account password. I would appreciate any help you can give me!
@Jakob Cain instablaster :)
@Kareem Cain i really appreciate your reply. I found the site thru google and im waiting for the hacking stuff atm. Looks like it's gonna take a while so I will reply here later when my account password hopefully is recovered.
@Kareem Cain it did the trick and I actually got access to my account again. Im so happy! Thank you so much you saved my ass !
@Jakob Cain Glad I could help xD
Excellent work !
A pleasure to watch,expertly done.
Great video and thanks for the free download plans.
Thanks Patrick!!! Nice!!
amazing sir! Thanks for sharing your plan!
Thanks for creating this!
your videos are great... easy to follow and understand.. thank you..
Good grief! Where have you been all my life? I need this lathe, and a bunch of other stuff you've made videos about. I saw the end-grain glue vid, was skeptical, but then I saw a bunch of positive comments by some of my favorite and most respected woodworking KZheadrs, who obviously hold you in high regard. I've been putting off getting into turning, because of the potential expense of a lathe and the tools, as well as a whole new skill-set. But yesterday while I was making braces for a stool with a draw knife, I started thinking that maybe a small lathe would be a good thing. So I just downloaded the plans, and I'll start on this soon! Thanks!
Great video and tool design idea, great for mini lathe needs.
Excellent ! J' étais en train d' en fabriquer un, j' arrête tout pour prendre exemple sur votre procédé ingénieux, simple et pratique ! Merci.
Thx for sharing. Also thx for the plans . I may build one in the future.
it's wonderful! many thanks for this video and for plans...
Thank You for the inspiration!!!
Thanks for a great video.
Wow just what I need. Thanks for sharing
Fantastic, simple easy way to try out turning
This is awesome! Thank You!