Lathes can be big, powerful, harmful machines. but in some cases there’s a call for making very small parts out of soft materials, like plastic and wood. For jobs like this, you could use something like this 3D printed mini-lathe.
The benefits of 3D printing a tool like this are plentiful. The design can be personalized and fine-tuned by the end user; [castvee8] notes that the device can be made longer simply by enhancing the length of the lead screw and guide rails. The device does rely on some metal parts and a motor; but the real power here is that if you can’t source the exact components, you can always customize the data to suit what you have on hand.
[castvee8] aimed to make the entire build as easy as possible for the novice – even the motor and speed controller are off-the-shelf modules. It’s a testament to the golden age we live in that an entire lathe can be developed out of modules and 3D printed parts. The project makes up another member of the family of 3D printed tools [castvee8] is showing off on Hackaday.io.
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