Wood Lathe

A beginners guide to turning wood

Introduction:

The wood lathe is the perfect tool for working on and shaping axisymmetric pieces of wood for your projects. With a little bit of creativity, our plentiful selection of tools can help you shape anything from rolling pins and honey spoons to bowls and pens!

The AMS Wood Lathe

Safety Basics:

The wood lathe can easily become just as dangerous as one of our saws if used incorrectly. All of the following MUST be done during the operation of the tool:

• Personal Safety:

  • Wear safety glasses at all times

  • Tie up hair, loose sleeves, jacket ties, bracelets, necklaces

• Environmental Safety:

  • Activate the ventilation vacuum

  • Sweep excess debris after operation

• Operational Safety:

  • Have a trained AMS mentor present with you in the wood room

  • Ensure your material is secured in the lathe

Wood Lathe

How to Use:

1. Insert your material into the wood lathe's chuck and tighten it with our lathe chuck key. Ensure that your piece is material is fully centered before you fully tighten the chuck. [Ideally, your material is already an axisymmetric piece of wood.]

2. Move the tailstock close to your piece and lock it in place using the lever on the back.

3. Turn the tailstock hand wheel until the quill is centered on and in your material. Once in place, use the lever on the small lever on the back to lock the quill. Your piece should only be able to rotate now.

4. Set your tool rest to the appropriate height and distance from your material. In general, the tool rest should be just far enough away to give the wood enough space to turn while also being able to fully support your tool. The height of the tool rest can be changed depending on the type of cut you are making, but I like putting it just below the centerline of the piece to ensure your tool cuts on your pieces centerline.

5. Turn the wood lathe by flicking the red lever up and ensure your material is rotating towards you. If the material is rotating away from you, turn the lathe off, toggle the Reverse/Forward switch to the power switches left and turn the lathe back on.

6. Set the RPM of the lathe using the dial above the power switch. The minimum safe RPM can be found by dividing 150,000 by your pieces diameter in mm. The maximum safe RPM can be found by dividing 225,000 by your pieces diameter in mm. Please refer to the provided chart for some general recommendations.

7. Set your chosen tool on the tool rest and begin to remove material from the wood. To ensure safe handling of tools during use, follow these steps at all times:

   1. Ensure both hands remain on the tool

   2. Always keep the tool touching the tool rest

   3. Never move the tool in an up and down motion (The tool may catch on a knot in the wood and fly out of your hands)

   4. Only move the tool translationally or rotationally to the left or right for broad or fine movements respectively.

   5. Refer to the pictures below for some basic guidance as to what your hands should look like

8. Be safe and have fun! If you have any questions at all, please contact an AMS mentor

Basic piece size to RPM range chart

Basic guidance to holding and moving the lathe tool

OEM Manual:

Jet - JWL 12" x 21" Variable Speed Wood Lathe