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Fine Woodturning by Tony Manella |
The Norris White Treadle Lathe |
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My wife's great uncle, who is also my first
turning teacher and mentor, designed and built this treadle lathe himself. Wanting a lathe he
could take with him to shows he came up with a design that utilized spare parts from his old
craftsman monotube lathe, which was no longer operational, and an exercise bicycle he bought at
a yard sale. The design
is simple yet works well for his purpose of turning tops at demonstrations. The finished lathe
weighs around 80 pounds and can maintain 300 rpm's without too much effort. The heavy exercise
bike wheel gives the turned piece good momentum to help maintain a constant speed while turning.
At nearly 80 years of age he can load this into the car himself and turn for most of an eight
hour day. Norris recently sold the lathe to a school in New England for a handsome price.
I made these plans for Norris at the request of Penn State Industries, which wanted to sell the
plans along with the Carbe-Tec lathe parts, of which they have a large stock. After completion
of the plans, which took over 100 hours, they retracted their deal to purchase them, so the plans
remain the property of Norris and myself. Below is a photo of the front and left ends as well as
a sample of the drawings that are included with the plans.
If you are interested in a copy of these plans please contact me. They include
color photos, CAD drawings and written instructions. Parts from a Craftsman and Carbe-Tec
lathes are included. If you are interested in a set or have any questions about the lathe
please feel free to email me.
