# Adding cross slide to wood lathe



## JPW062

Most of my turning experience is on metal lathes.  Manual and CNC.  I've done some wood turning before and now have started some pens.  It seems to me like a cross slide would be extremely useful for wood pens.  I don't see any options to add one to a wood lathe though.  

I am looking hard at the Comet II lathe, but if there is an easy way to do it on another brand I am willing to consider.

Should I just buy one of the $150 Chinese metal minis off of amazon?
https://smile.amazon.com/Iglobalbuy...&ie=UTF8&qid=1483926744&sr=1-9&keywords=lathe

Damascus pens might be interesting.


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## Dirtbmw20

Contact Chris Hightower at Cue Man Billiards, he offers a carriage/cross slide for wood lathes, although its a little more than the little Chinese lathe you have listed above.

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## thewishman

I think that lathe might have some problems with Damascus.


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## Curly

Heavy Duty Mill & Drill Table

While a metal lathe can do stuff a wood lathe can't, it is lousy at curves and free flowing shapes. Practice with your tools and you can do so much more. 

The table linked above or one like it could be mounted parallel to a wood lathe's bed. You'd need to rig a holder for tools and tune it up to take up the play and make it smoother. It could do some of the functions you might be thinking of. If you want a wood lathe with a designed for cross slide you'll need to track down an a pattern makers lathe. Hard to find, usually big, and if in good condition, spendy.


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## BRobbins629

I would stay away from that one on Amazon. It says 7 x 12 but does not use the normal convention for measurements. You might have trouble fitting a pen blank on that one. A true 7 x 12 metal lathe is very useful for making pens but will cost at least 5 x as much for a decent one unless you can find used.


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## dogcatcher

Go to Little Machine Shop and look at their metal lathes.  More money than the Comet, but a lot more in quality.   https://littlemachineshop.com/


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## mredburn

You can sometimes catch a bolt on cross slide on Ebay,  I know Atlas used to make them, I think Delta may have also. Its been a long time since I bothered to look for them. They are not cheap and are mostly for bigger wood lathes.


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## KenV

Nova sold an x-y platform made for 16 inch lathes specifically for ornamental turning.  It has been off the market for about 8 years more or less.  Videos were on the Teknatool web site with a bit of looking.

If you are looking to make a wood lathe into a serious metal lathe, it can be done, but will be a hobby onto itself.  

Ornamental turning does open a bunch of different opportunities for pen making......


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## magpens

Maybe the thing to do is buy a metal-working lathe and add a tool rest to the cross-slide, for the purpose of turning pens.

It seems to me that would be easier and cheaper. . Perhaps you can even get by without such a tool rest as I have.

Little Machine Shop has some very useful metal lathes in the 7 x 14 size range.

They do in fact sell a tool rest for wood turning that mounts on the cross-slide, but frankly, it is quite Mickey Mouse.  If there is nothing better on the market, I think it would be possible to make one or have a machinist make one for you.

I have been using a 7x14 metal lathe for the past six years to turn pens with carbide tools mounted on the original tool post. . I do not use wood-turning tools and I do not have the type of tool rest used on a wood lathe. . I find the cross-slide very useful.

BTW, if you want to turn Damascus, the 7x14 mini metal lathe might not be appropriate ... just saying.

Another BTW ... Cue Man Billiards was mentioned above; his lathes and accessories are of very similar design to Taig lathes.


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## Dirtbmw20

magpens said:


> Another BTW ... Cue Man Billiards was mentioned above; his lathes and accessories are of very similar design to Taig lathes.


Yes, Cue Man Billiards lathes are Taig based lathes. HOWEVER, Chris offers a carriage/cross slide assembly made SPECIFICALLY for a wood lathe, not his Taig based cue lathes.

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## jimmyz

Please educate me!  What does a cross slide table allow you to do?


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## Skie_M

jimmyz said:


> Please educate me!  What does a cross slide table allow you to do?



A cross slide is a milling attachment and tool holder for a lathe ...

It allows you to make very accurate and repeatable cuts, and with the proper setup you can even cut threads with a single point tool in many different thread sizes and pitches.

It allows you to work using any straight angle cuts, including tapers of any degree, and allows for very accurate milling and boring operations that you really just can't do freehand with wood lathe tools.

Imagine a drill press vice locked sideways on top of another drill press vice, with a pair of moving jaws each that you can advance or retreat using a screw.  Both vices can swivel independently of each other, and can be locked into position easily ... the top one has a special locking slot to hold the "tool post".  This is just an attachment that holds your cutting tools in the proper position and orientation for cutting.

The cross slide takes the place of the toolrest AND your tools, in metalworking lathes.  You lose a lot of the freedom of freeform creation and making things like beads, curves, coves, ect by hand ... but you gain great accuracy in making perfect cylinders, tapers, threading, ect ...


They are talking about the possibility of combining the cross slide accuracy of the metal lathe with a tool rest for normal wood lathe use (replace one of the tool posts with a toolrest), to gain the best of both worlds for woodworking.


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## More4dan

thewishman said:


> I think that lathe might have some problems with Damascus.



I would have to agree.  I use a 7" x 10" mini metal lathe and it will turn Damascus blanks using carbide tooling but is approaching it's limits for drilling.  My 7 x 10 is rated at 3/4HP, more likely 1/3 HP in reality.

The lathe in the link has about a fraction of the power of the 7x10 with a 25W motor (0.033HP) It will struggle with wood and acrylic blanks.

I made a simple tool rest for my metal lathe to turn by hand and also a pattern attachment to turn complex curves and longer tapers.

Danny


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## dogcatcher

If you are not in a hurry and have access to a drill press for doing your drilling a Taig lathe might be your answer.  I have one set up for travel, I also have one of every option they offer including the wood lathe tool rest.  I have turned pens, made bushings, made steam engines, made custom nibs and a slew of other "things".   For fast production, it is next to useless, but for making pens it can be done.  

I also use the Taig to make game calls and have made custom tooling for them.  I use the milling attachment to mill square tonechannels in my soundboards.   There was also a version of the Taig that was made under the name of Bonnie Klein.   Not sure if it is still available, but used ones come up every so often on eBay.   A longer bed would be great, but I have never seen one that came with a reasonable price.


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## JPW062

> Please educate me! What does a cross slide table allow you to do?


Pretty much what skie said, although I believe some of what he talked about involves a "compound cross-slide," which is the standard for metal lathes.

As far as capacity, it all depends on tools, desired accuracy, and time.  I could turn a marketable super duplex blank on a rigged 3amp hand drill lathe using files, abrasives, and an abundance of time.  

I have a decent drill press.


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## mredburn

Here is an ebay auction with one for sale. 
Vintage Delta Wood Lathe Compound Cross Slide with Plate for 11" 930 Lathe | eBay


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## Paul in OKC

It can be done, but awful inconvenient, IMO. If you have any interest in metal working for pens you would be better of with even the HF 7x10 lathe. Or keep an eye out for an old Atlas/Craftsman or South Bend. Even as light as they are you will have better repeat-ability and control than adapting something to a wood lathe.


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