A Homemade Mini Glassworking Lathe

摘要

This article describes a small home-built glassworking lathe. While no substitute for a professional glassworking lathe, this machine can be used to make small items when a full-sized lathe is not available. This article describes but one approach to building such a machine and is not intended to be an exact "how-to". Your metalworking skills, electronics experience, and pocketbook may dictate an entirely different design.For the uninitiated: a glassworking lathe is a specialized lathe for manipulating glass. A torch is used for shaping the glass. The glass, usually in the form of a tube, is held by two rotating chucks. The chucks face each other and rotate in sync. One chuck is mounted on a stationary headstock while the other is mounted on a movable one. The chucks and headstock shafts are hollow so that the glass and/or a blowhose may be passed through them.