Lathes built from this book

Updates and "Lathe-Share"

The treadle lathe E-Book has been downloaded an average of 450 times a week lately and a special thanks to those of you who have sent along a contribution to help with this project or purchased the CD or print versions of the book.

Since publishing this little E-Book I have heard from quite a few folks who have built a treadle lathe from the book. Most have been a bit creative and made some design changes, which is fine with me. The folk process at work! In this spot I thought I would post any significant improvements or enhancements of the lathe (as pointed out by the best editors I could ask for - You!)

Special Note - October 5, 2009: Although many folks have built lathes from the downloaded or purchased E-Book I thought I'd let you know that a second edition will be coming out some time later in the fall of 2009. The new edition will incorporate the contributions below as well as some not published here. No major changes but I just wanted you to know. Steve

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Treadle Lathe built by Bill Yeates

Bill used salvaged exotic woods and some
nice brass screws to build this lathe.

Bill Yeates, wrote from Louisiana to let me know that he had tried my suggestion for a crank you can build yourself. He followed the drawing in the book (also below, left) and after about 5 hours of use the hole in the washer had elongated and the shaft had become grooved badly enough that his treadle was hitting the frame on the down stroke. Not good.


Original Design		Suggested Upgrade

He is going to try to locate a rod-end bearing to replace the failed components. I agree with his decision but would add a bronze bushing between the shaft and bearing as rod-ends are not designed to be rotational bearings. Just checked on line and you should be able to get a decent rod-end bearing for less than $10. I have seen the bronze bushings at our local hardware store.

Granite-weighted flywheel! Lathe is being used in a mission in Cambodia
and is designed to be pumped from the back side by a helper.