There is an interesting article on Hemmings today about a guy who built a lathe out of two slant six blocks. It might offend some slantyphiles but it’s interesting reading.
Slant six lathe
- Thread starter azaustin
- Start date
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Here's a link. This looks like a lot better use of a pair possibly irreparable engine blocks than just scrapping it out to me!
homemade metal working lathe - HomemadeTools.net
homemade metal working lathe - HomemadeTools.net
Seems it would be much simpler to find an old used lathe. They are not hard to find and usually are pretty cheap.
Looks like the bottom slant in the pic threw a rod so no shame in repurposing that one. I would say use a chevy straight six but then your lathe would be breaking down all the time.
Looks like the bottom slant in the pic threw a rod so no shame in repurposing that one. I would say use a chevy straight six but then your lathe would be breaking down all the time.
If you are in a third world county, this concept saves a lot of machine work. I once saw plans for a horizontal mill using this concept.
67Dart273
Well-Known Member
Just as a "somewhat comparison," the earlier South Bend lathes did not have ANYTHING for bearings. The headstock iron casting was precision machined, and the spindle ran direct on the cast iron, with added lube, of course.
Cruisingram
Well-Known Member
I have been on that site for years- love it. it's a hobby of it's own doing that kind of stuff, and makes total sense when you think of the precise surfaces to work with, and that fact that there were so many /6s made
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