Lathe add-on for pendant motor

Is anyone aware of an add on lathe for a pendant drill?

You will probably have to build something yourself using small bolts or rods, nuts and parts such as rubber faucet washers to make things such as expanding mandrels. If you have a friend with a lathe, maybe he can machine some parts for you. The shafts on the off-the-shelf lathe accessories generally require larger chucks. So for my Dremel, I use 1/8" threaded rod to make a ring mandrel (video that inspired me below). This could theoretically be transformed into a lathe with some creativity but it’s unfortunate that such accessories do not appear to be widely available. It might be due to the fact that small shafts can get bent easily when supporting wobbly off-center objects :slight_smile:

You can always pick up one of those mini-lathes I see on Ebay and Wish…

The design of a lathe run by a pendant motor will depend on the torque needed. What material are you trying to turn?

Silver, gold, bone & plastic.

a few years ago, someone sold a small lathe that was an add on to a foredom flex shaft; might have been rio? It was mostly for small wax turnings.

There is small hobby lathe called a sherline, I’ve turned sterling, fine silver, steel, aluminum, copper and a few other materials on it. You might be better off to get one of those, a few hundred dollars, as a good learning tool. Be warned, though, getting a small lathe leads to getting a small mill leads to getting a CNC leads to… I am now on my 5th CNC, and it started with that small Sherline lathe. No I don;t want to sell mine

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Pendant motors aren’t designed for the torque needed to turn metal using cutting tools. They have enough power for turning using only files and abrasives, but not for proper turning tools. Plastic is soft enough to be turned off a pendant-motor driven lathe.
Mark’s suggestion of purchasing a micro lathe is a good one. Sherline makes an excellent series, and the current line of Emco mini lathes are excellent, though they are likely overkill for your needs.
Your best bet might be to pick up a used watchmaker’s lathe. You’ll need to source the motor separately and adapt a workbench to support the lathe and motor, but it would be the right size for jewelry and you could power it with a motor that is appropriate to the work.

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I have a Taig lathe (similar to Sherline) and use it mainly to turn brass and some steel mandrels and an occasional piece of silver. Between the basic lathe and all the tools I bought with it, I have a little over $1,100 invested in it. Can I live without it, sure, but it is a lot of fun to use…Rob