Tiny Working Lathe

This is part of another one of my "back burner" projects that gets worked on from time to time.

This is a FUNCTIONAL miniature lathe. The machining was done by a friend of mine, D. Johnson, and I did shit loads of filing and sanding to the parts and the final painting.

The raw materials came in the form of a "kit" from PMResearch. I say "kit" only because you do get the materials, but much of it has to be laboriously reworked to become actual "parts". The gears have to be cut from stock, the castings have to be sanded and smoothed, and there are many elements that REQUIRE professional level machining. D. Johnson did all the precision machining, and in thanks for that, I bought two kits. Between us, we assembled two of these little lathes. I have one, and he has the other.

What's mind-bendingly fantastic about it, is that the chuck works, the feed-screw works, and this little bugger can turn actual screw threads, (in plastic only, since it's so small, but still...)!

Why did we do this?

Because a dear friend of mine and I were talking about dollhouses one day, and I talked about maybe building one. Then my friend said, "I can just see you building the Mad Scientist's dollhouse!" The top of my head came off.

Sooooo....in the other room is the ongoing mad scientist dollhouse project, which has this tiny working lathe in the mad scientist's workshop. There is also a working drill press, belt drive system, and even a tiny particle accelerator! There's lab glassware from Britain, and elaborate tudor furnishings.

This project is on hold for the moment, but one day, I will reawaken it, and more pictures will be posted. Consider this a sneak peek...

My everlasting thanks to D. Johnson for his help!

And in case you're curious, that is one dime perched on the lathe bed for scale.