Old lathe to grain mill project!

[jiggs_casey]

I just inherited a Ridgid WL12000. I know nothing about lathes and really have less interest in woodworking. This particular lathe has no 'rest' and the entire 'assembly' at the far end of the lathe (i really don't know what to call it), is missing and one of the legs has some damage as well.

That being said the belt is also missing but, the motor works! My first thought? Grain mill. The motor is a 1/2hp 1725rpm "Emerson" make. I did a little digging and it looks like I could, fairly easily, step this down to a 180-200rpm. I'll have to do a little more digging into it tomorrow to figure out what size pulley to use but, I can't imagine this being too difficult.

Easier said than done?

 

[wubears71]

That isn't a very good lathe by today's standards. Adjusting the lathe speed is done by manually changing te drive belt location on the headstock pulley. There are 4 or 5 adjustments on it but the slowest speed is probably about 800 rpm or so. You can certainly take the motor out and reduce the speed down with no issues.

 

[Pappers_]

Cool! Good luck with your project, I predict that you will soon have your very own table mounted, motor driven grain mill!