My first reaction is you are asking a lot of a treadle lathe… no doubt others will say you need rear toolpost or more horsepower.

But I think the answer is simple: Roll up your sleeves, keep treadling and wind the tool in with a bit more conviction instead of gently prodding the bar. It will be ahrd work and a 1/8" or 3/32" tool would make your life rather easier

The tool is clearly cutting fine when it makes the coiled chips so once that starts wind it in, start sweating and make it work.

Also, keep it sharp and I think you need to tighten the gibs to stop it all flapping in the wind like that.

Neil

Wot Neil said!

You're nearly there. Use a narrower blade, back gear and up the feedrate. There's no reason why you shouldn't be able to part off on the Drummond; depending upon how fit you are of course. A third of a horsepower, 250W, should be more than adequate.

Andrew

I went to use my Drummond M Treadle Lathe for the first time today

Plus I think you may need to develop a bit of technique

Call me a party pooper but day one may be the first day of learning about what the next decade has to offer

And the one after that

And the… well you get the idea

I am not sure about the very fine swarf, Have you got any side relief on the tool? It could be that if the tool is not exactly at right angles then one of its sides would rub and produce the fine stuff. I use WD40 to cut ali.

Slipping belt, need more friction. What sort of belt have you got (flat or vee). The traditional way with flat belts is to use a patent compound or rosin. Vee belts should "dig" further into the groove so the friction increases.

Frank

Well one problem could be the illumination. You should be using gas light really.

;0)

Martin

Looks fun, keep it up.

Unless I'm misremembering again, Andrew's Smiley is well justified. I seem remember an exhausting experiment at school that showed you need about 14 averagely fit youths to consistently output one horse power. After 20 minutes lifting bricks with a rope and pulley we were all knackered. Now I'm older and wiser I wouldn't repeat my part in the experiment without having a medical team present.

I played with a treadle lathe in a museum recently and, even without cutting anything, I found it impossible to keep going steadily . As treadles worked in the past, there must be a knack to it. Presumably it comes with practice. Or perhaps men were men back in the good old days!

Cheers,

Dave

Do you have the right tool tip top rake? Al is usually cut with higher top rake than steel, and all small lathes with higher values than a big powerful one. This is ok because the tool doesn't need to be as strong as for steel. You can achieve this with a flat topped blade by raising it a bit above centre, Don't worry about the 'must be at centre height' bit as this only matters as you get close to the middle if you think about the geometry however extra front clearance may be desirable. With aluminium you want to cut with a fine edge rather than scrape with a less pointy corner. Think knife rather than axe.

If you have a problem with it snatching and pulling the tool in, then stalling, you need to adopt a technique of pushing the crosslide in with one hand so the screw is in effect holding it back. You then steadily turn the handle to let it advance. This takes up all the slack. Pushing the handle while turning it is not the same thing owing to the design and where the play comes from. Alternatively for one handed operation you can pull on the handle while turning it but this presents a problem each time you change your grip.

I reckon men have slowly become weaker but then we also live longer. You only need to look to their living conditions to see why they needed to be fit. I'm sure i'm definitely not as strong as a shire horse. Just look at those things. 

Michael W

Edited By Michael Walters on 30/06/2016 19:56:54

i'm managing a clarke CLM430 on a 1HP, my pillar drill is 1/2hp and it's very strong, it's never struggled on a cut.

To get the biggest diameters you need to have the right pulley/gearing arrangment of course. 

Michael W

Edited By Michael Walters on 30/06/2016 20:17:50

I think the secret is technique ,and a good flywheel. My grandmother was a seamstress and worked a treadle sewing machine all day and she was about 5 stone. I understand that a fit cyclist can produce about 200 watts, a very fit one 500 W for a few seconds– info from local cycling club.

Ah but Martin, I remember you had a lot of bother with your first set up. I think you were unlucky enough to end up fitting a faulty motor and/or a faulty inverter. As a result I don't think you ever saw the smaller motor and inverter working properly, and that's left you feeling they were underpowered. Your 1.5HP motor is working properly and of course it shines in comparison with a dud. 1.5HP is more power than you need, but so what as long as you don't overstress the lathe.

I'd do exactly what you're doing which is to enjoy owning a lathe that does the job.

Cheers,

Dave

Yep no kidding Dave ,"trouble" understatement cost me £230 to learn the hard way . The power from the 1.5hp is the same my friend has in his lathe. Its made my lathe more like his and much more usable, really would not recomend anything less . Sewing machine it was with this old motor. The pulley system should drop speed right down so should be good have had no heat in bearings and use light gearbox oil which seems superb . Have managed to use it as a lathe now and not have had problems. You can however hear the grunt the new motor has from the video

Cheers Martin

Edited By Martin Newbold on 30/06/2016 21:15:57