Around the Woods

Wood Turning Hollow Forms a Little Easier

Making a foot switch for your lathe.

One of the hassles with hollow turning is having to stop the lathe every couple of minutes to remove the shavings. I decided that a foot switch would make things a lot easier. At first I used a push on/push off button but had difficulty finding one that was heavy enough and would last. So I turned to a rocker switch as used for electric lights.
Here we have an extension cord, an electrical box, a rocker switch, a couple of marrettes and some pieces of 3/4" plywood.
The side pieces are each about 5" long and tapered from 1 3/4" to 2". The ends are each 2 3/8" long and 1 3/4" and 2" high respectively. The taller end has a notch cut out for the extension cord.
The box is held together with glue and brads.
The extension cord is cut about 6" from the receptacle and the wires separated and the ends stripped.
Basically then the switch is wired into the box. Two wires are held together with the marrettes1 two go to either terminal of the switch, and the green wires are secured to the box so as to ground it.
And the switch is in place and works well. This is a lathe with a simple on/off Switch. Some variable speed lathes could not use this type of switch.

If you make one please let me know how it turned out.


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