Leonardo da Vinci's lathe, Stuart King

[webbg6]

What is the wheel made from? I've read descriptions of C17th lathes like this with bronze wheels but mostly smaller 'Wainscot board' wheels. The big wheels, like this one, tended to be rotated by a boy pulling it around with a handle so I suppose this would need a lot of weight in it.

[cesking]

Dear @webbg6 ,,

The wheel is solid pine, it needs to be heavy to retain momentum,

regards, Stuart king

[webbg6]

Thanks Stewart. I have a treadle lathe which pre-dates Whitworth, but not by much I suppose. I make C17th artefacts and I'm hoping to make a C17th lathe for demo purposes but the one I have is powered by a large iron wheel that just fits under the lathe. It is something like the wheels on those carts pulled along tracks by pit ponies or minors. I have references from the period and I would be interested in your opinion about them.

[webbg6]

A good reference is historicgames(dot com)/lathes/treadle(dot)html and mine is almost identical to the one at the bottom of the page.

[dustyherbig]

Hey! Where is your EYE PROTECTION!? I'm sure da Vinci would've wanted to protect his eyes.

[djExprice]

Kickass

[sz42781]

very cool

[bobmillerbob]

Koool!

[Hello458]

That is so cool!!! I've seen illustrations of that lathe. It's great to see a real working example!  Thanks for posting!

[atomicsaladbowl]

nice bit of history, I wonder why da vinci didnt use some gears or belts or something to make the wheel spin the object faster, I would have shot my self if I had to use one of those though to be honest

[slome815]

why make it spin faster you have to press the pedal harder then. with green wood working these speeds are about right.

[martynthegardener]

i guess the heavier thewheel - the more momentum and speed it can produce...

[Takachiado]

No, mass doesn't affect speed that way.

[hewsondion]

thats awesome