Over the last few days I finished painting the legs, and as we'd done our Christmas duty with the In-Laws yesterday I was free to play today, so it was all steam ahead in the workshop as I'd decided today was the day I'd put the lathe together.
First on the agenda was stripping the main body of the lathe. My angle grinder warmed my hands whilst I removed all the paint...
I'd had to cover up well whilst doing this too...
All of the hard graft was worth it though, as the lathe went together easily and I got all of the electrics up and running first time. I must say that the detailed instructions from Newton Tesla were thorough and very easy to follow. I was very excited when I turned on the power for the first time, and set the speed to minimum - then hit the Fwd switch and I was away.
I'd also (through luck, not judgement) managed to wire the motor the right way the first time (so that when I hit Fwd it actually rotated forward), so after a bit of playing I thought it was high time to turn something.
The image below shows the lathe as it currently is - no paint on the main column as it's still too cold to paint, but at least we're above freezing now and a thaw is forecast so I may be able to cover this up soon. You might also notice in the image that I don't have the original tool rest - that was missing so I bought a Robert Sorby set from Stiles and Bates which did the trick nicely. I did have to cut down the stem as it was too long, and once again the angle grinder came into its own.
Wow, that was fun!. I received some bowl blanks and Banksia nuts for Christmas from the In-Laws (thanks!) so decided to wade straight in and made three mushrooms. I have to say I'm really pleased with them...
I haven't anything to finish these with at the moment so must purchase something soon before they get handled. Anyhow the wife likes them and I had a really great time turning them too.
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