Router Lathe

Published Jan. 20, 2009 at 9:27 p.m.

Okay, first post and I’m already breaking the rules – it’s not a completed project but I thought some guys could appreciate the lathe idea...Sorry, but this project has been taking months...I keep picking up projects in-between...Got this years 160 hour flu at Christmas and that really slowed me down...Anyway, I bought a few sections of quartersawn heart-pine bowling alley that my wife wanted as a farm table...We’re using a trestle table design...However, the turned legs were a challenge – I don’t own a lathe, and even if I did, I’d probably kill myself trying to turn something this big the first time...Instead, I designed a router lathe and template system that allowed me to turn 2 matching legs for each end of the trestle base...The table is going to be over 100 inches long with the breadboard ends...My wife wanted the feet to be able to take a lot of abuse, as we have two small boys racing cars across the floor, or learning to help mom with the vaccuuming, so the base is made of laminated red and white oak, the columns are pine...The base will get a coat of red, then black paint with a waterborne acrylic clear coat...The column is hollow so I can bolt it together with the leg sitting in a huge round “mortise”...I hooked a drill up to the center shaft for the final sand, and used a bunch of cheap stop collars from Harbor Freight to keep the project centered so the template would be accurate...There was a template on both sides...Later on, I added a foot pedal so I could turn the drill on while keeping my hands on the router...I used a c clamp on the drill trigger to get the right speed – keep in mind it was a big Bosch hammer drill...I wouldn’t have tried it with anything smaller.

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