# Slow Speed Lathe For Epoxy and Painting Work



## Kelly (6 d ago)

After grinding grooves or lines that wrap around a stick, filling them with epoxy was problematic, because the epoxy wants to sluff off. To solve that problem, I took (stole) a lesson from the fishing pole builder guy across the street and built a slow speed lathe, which solves the problem:

(1) To drive the lathe, I used a variable speed, reversible BBQ rotisserie motor, which turns at around 5 to 15 RPM.

(2) For the tail stock, I used a couple methods:

(a) One method allows me to turn things up to about 3' long. It relies on a tail stock I made from wood and which tightens in a T-track via jig knob. 

A hole drilled in the tail stock allows me to insert an actual #2 Morse taper from my wood lathe, or turned variations of it I turned on my wood lathe. Examples can be seen in the photos.

(b) The other places no limits on how long things can be. It's just a caster from a bed. The type that had two elongated wheels side by side, so the item being turned could be rested on them and they can turn in opposite directions, allowing the stick to roll freely.

(3) For "chucks" to drive the stick:

(a) If the stick was going to have a cap, I just drilled the initial hole in the stick at a size that allows me to press it onto the shaft of the drive motor. If a bit sloppy, I just add a bit of blue painter's tape.

(b) For other sticks, I turned a whole bunch of different shapes that fit over the end of sticks.

(4) For the lathe bed, I was going to just cut a piece of plywood about 6" wide and 4' long, add spacers down the edges, then install 1-1/2" plywood over that to create a T-track in which the tailstock could ride, but the fishing pole guy owed me favors and gave me on of his old aluminum beds.


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