How much of a lathe would I need for this turning?

[Steve Gerard]

Hello - I'm looking to purchase my first wood lathe to make "ACORN" finials for a table I'm setting up for production. Looking for advice on how much Horse Power in a lathe I should get to efficiently turn these acorns. I'm thinking a mini or midi lathe. I'll probably make a dozen acorns at a time (not on the same blank, but twelve total). The acorns will be made of white oak. Any suggestions on how much H.P. I need? Thanks.

 

[robo hippy]

Well, any of the mini lathes out there should work, and to me, mini is a 12 inch lathe. I would expect them to have better resale value, if it comes to that. I would check with the local club there and see if some one has a lathe you can get used rather than new. You could probably pick up some tools as well. I figure the lathe is about 1/4 the cost of 'things' you will need to start turning.... Sharpening system, tools, abrasives, finishing stuff, grinder, chuck, though not essential, it really comes in handy. A work bench for the lathe, dust collection, safety gear, maybe a bandsaw......

robo hippy

 

[Rusty Nesmith]

I would also buy one with variable speed.

 

[hockenbery]

You could easily turn 2 at a time from 10” blank.

This may not offer a speed increase if there is something like a dowel joint planned to pout them on something like a bedpost
Then a twist lock pin chuck would be real quick and automatically center on the hole.
A screw chuck would work too.

Any midi of mini would work. A 1hp will make the roughing from square to round faster and easier than a 1/2 hp.

 

[Bill Boehme]

Those acorns would be easy to turn on my Jet 1014 fixed-speed mini lathe which has a ½ HP motor and 10-inch swing. If you want a lathe with variable speed then I would recommend getting a lathe with a 1 HP motor.

 

[Mark Jundanian]

I suggest the Jet 1221 EVS. It has most all the features you'd want in a lathe for this and future projects. Variable speed, reversible, can turn very slow & very fast. Small enough that a movable headstock won't be missed. Good resale and you can find them used as people step up.

 

[Doug Freeman]

I suspect you many want them “duplicated” as closely as possible. As this is your only reason for getting a lathe, I’d recommend a duplicator lathe or an add on duplicator. It depends on how close of a match you want.

This is not a great lathe in general, but for the light work you are after its fine IMO:

14" x 37" Wood Lathe with Copy Attachment at Grizzly.com

<h1>G0842 14" x 37" Wood Lathe with Copy Attachment</h1> <h2>The ideal wood lathe for the hobby furniture maker.</h2> <p>The G0842 Wood Lathe with Copy Attachment allows you to easily reproduce stair spindles or chair and table legs up to 8" in diameter by 32" long using a template or master...

www.grizzly.com

Grizzly and others make “copy” or “duplicator attachements” to fit some different lathe sizes as well.

The copy process uses a scraping cutter which can leave a not so great finish, which could then be scraped in with shear scraping or negative rake scraping with some finish sanding.

You can use a flat template to guide the copy attachment, or a full part.

 

[Randy Heinemann]

My first lathe was a Nova Comet II Midi Lathe. It worked great and was designed to handle up to 12" diameter blanks so this would work well. It's a little bit of a step up from most mini lathes, I think, as it has speed control with 3 pulley speed ranges, so doesn't involve a lot of changing pulleys to move to a different speed. Pricewise, I don't know how it would stack up against most mini's these days.

 

[Steve Gerard]

Thanks for all your information, helpful in making purchase. I found a Rikon 70-150 on sale at Acme Tools ($625 incl. shipping - a very good price, usually sells around $750-850). It has 1 hp and variable speed and 12" X 16-1/2".

 

[Steve Gerard]

You could easily turn 2 at a time from 10” blank.

This may not offer a speed increase if there is something like a dowel joint planned to pout them on something like a bedpost
Then a twist lock pin chuck would be real quick and automatically center on the hole.
A screw chuck would work too.

Any midi of mini would work. A 1hp will make the roughing from square to round faster and easier than a 1/2 hp.

Hockenbery - I do need to put a dowel hole at the bottom of the acorns. And I am looking into your ideas of a twist lock pin chuck or a screw chuck. Otherwise I'm thinking I'll have to build some sort of jig to hold the acorn in place while I drill the dowel hoes. Thanks.

 

[Tom Gall]

Hockenbery - I do need to put a dowel hole at the bottom of the acorns. And I am looking into your ideas of a twist lock pin chuck or a screw chuck. Otherwise I'm thinking I'll have to build some sort of jig to hold the acorn in place while I drill the dowel hoes. Thanks.

I think he means to drill the hole first - all turning will then be centered on the hole.

 

[hockenbery]

Hockenbery - I do need to put a dowel hole at the bottom of the acorns. And I am looking into your ideas of a twist lock pin chuck or a screw chuck. Otherwise I'm thinking I'll have to build some sort of jig to hold the acorn in place while I drill the dowel hoes. Thanks.

If possible drilling holes before turning is best.

Using a screw center that matches a dowel diameter makes it easy to center the turning on the hole.
Sometimes finials are attached with metal fasteners.

Making a useable screw chuck is simple with a faceplate, block of wood and a lag screw.

 

[Tom Albrecht]

When I did production work making newel post finials in acorn shapes, or ball shapes, whatever, I most often turned a round tenon (dowel) as a part of the whole piece when roughing down to approximate size. Then I would mount the dowel in a 4 jaw chuck for completing the entire finial. The advantage to that was that I could make tenons that were fairly large diameter.

If you care to travel to Evanston, I could give you a demo if you are interested.