DIY mini lathe

Woodworking lathes are almost inevitable in woodworking, woodturning and in making furniture. Lathes consist of an adjustable horizontal metal rail – the tool rest – between the material and the operator accommodates the positioning of shaping tools, which are usually hand-held. With wood, it is common practice to press and slide sandpaper against the still-spinning object after shaping to smooth the surface made with the metal shaping tools. Lathes are usually used for making wooden handles, furniture legs, wooden pens, round ornaments and basicly every piece that need to have round and fine finish.

To make a quality product with your wood lathe you need a few good chisels, you can check some sets on our post about wood carving tools, and some basic sanding paper set. Price of mini wood lathes in stores varies from 150$ to 3.000$, depending on what extra features you want on your lathe. For most of hobby woodworkers that is too much because they don’t use it every day. For all of woodworkers who use a lathe few times a month it is easier an cheaper to construct a DIY mini lathe than to buy an expensive lathe. For woodturners that is a different story because the lathe is one of their basic tools and that has to be a quality and long lasting piece like Fox, Jet or Grizzly.

If you are a hobby woodworker and in need of lathe then you can make your own DIY mini lathe using only power drill, threaded rod, rod coupling hex nut, worm gear hose clamp, some spare wood and good instructions. In the video below you will see how easily you can construct your own DIY mini lathe.

Source: Jack Houweling