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What are the best accessories to go with my bench lathe?

Back to all

What are the best accessories to go with my bench lathe?

The versatile bench lathe is popular among jewelers, craftsmen, and hobbyists for its reliability and performance. The Foredom Bench Lathe itself is a compact, variable-speed lathe used for polishing, grinding, and other tasks requiring a rotating action. 

Here’s a rundown of some essential accessories available for the Foredom Bench Lathe:

Attachment Tools:

Tapered Spindles

These have spiraling threads that screw on and mount the polishing wheels, buffs, and brushes. They attach to the ends of the lathe, allowing users to swap out these components quickly and easily. Tapered spindles are essential for any polishing or buffing task. They can be used on the right (A-TM-6) and left (A-TM-5) side of the bench lathe. They come with every bench lathe.

Precision Collet Holder

The collet holder allows the lathe to accept various collets, enabling the use of smaller shank tools and bits. This is particularly useful for detailed grinding or milling operations. The A-CHA-5 collet holder can only be used on the right side of the bench lathe and comes with a ¼”, 1/8” & 3/32” collets. This allows the user to use expandable rubber drum mandrels or disc mandrels up to 3” diameter. The mandrels can be loaded with sandpaper sleeves or tungsten carbide Typhoon sleeves.   The 2” disc mandrels can be used with Velcro type hook and loop adhesive pads for quick grit changes.

Wheel Mandrels

The M.BL can accept rubber, silicone, and stone abrasive wheels up to 2” on either the right-side A-WM-6 or left-side A-WM-5. They wheels must have a ¼” arbor hole.

Chuck Arbor

There is a 3-jaw chuck available that mounts on the right side the A-JCA-2. It can take shank sizes from 0” to 5/32”.

Flexible Shaft Tools

You can mount our S.B0-516 flexade directly to the right-side motor shaft. This allows you to turn your bench lathe into a flexible shaft tool. Use any key tip type flexible shaft handpiece for grinding, drilling, chiseling, or hammer texturing work.

Accessories:

Buffing Wheels

Buffing wheels are designed for different materials and finishes. These include cotton, muslin, and felt wheels, each providing different levels of softness and aggressiveness for polishing tasks. The bench lathe can accept buffs up to 4” in diameter. They use tapered mandrels

Abrasive Wheels

Stone wheels for grinding, smoothing, or shaping, abrasive wheels can be mounted on the bench lathe. These come in various grits and materials, suitable for everything from rough grinding to fine finishing. The bench lathe can only accept grinding wheels with 1/4” arbor holes up to 2” in diameter and use our wheel mandrels A-WM-6 for the right side and A-WM-5 for the left side.

Unitized Non-Woven Fiber Wheels come in grits 100, 220, 320, 600 & 1000 and are 4“in in diameter by 1” wide. They are soft density and great for metals, acrylics, and plastics. They mount directly onto the tapered spindles.

3M EXL wheels are 3” in diameter by ½” wide and mount directly to the tapered spindle they come in coarse grit/hard density (A-5588) and medium grit/medium density (A-5587) and more aggressive than Unitized wheels. The aluminum oxide grain makes them great for deburring metals and plastics.

The 3” Satin Finishing Wheels are good for removing firescale and producing a uniform finish on metals. They come in extra fine, fine, medium, and coarse grades and are used on tapered spindles.

3M Radial Bristle Discs

3M Radial Bristle Discs can be used on either side of the bench lathe. They can be mounted on spindle adapters A-4561 for the right side or A-4562 for the left side. The spindle adapters use tapered spindles. Or if you use a collet holder A-CHA-5 you can mount them on to the ¼” shank mandrels A-M30 or A-M31. The radial bristle discs can get into hard-to-reach areas and are more aggressive with higher speeds. They are available in 2” or 3” discs in 80, 120, 220, 400, 1,200, 3,000, and 14,000 grit. The grit is imbedded throughout the disc.

My favorite bench lathe accessory is the 4” Foam Rubber Wheel (A-RW) which uses 1” wide aluminum oxide sandpaper belts. The belts come in 80, 120, 240, 320, 600 and 1,000 grit. They make quick work on any material and use tapered mandrels.

 

Dust Collection:

Filter Hood

The MAFH25 filter hood can be used to capture larger particles and debris, preventing them from spreading in the workspace. It’s particularly useful when working with materials that generate a lot of waste, like wood or certain metals. It can be moved to either the right or left side.

Dust Hood

The MADCH-1 hood is designed to fit over the spindles and serve to contain and extract dust and debris, improving both safety and cleanliness. They can be used for both the right or left sides of the lathe. They require a dust collector or can hook up to a shop vac with a 2-1/4” hose.

Dust Collector

An important accessory for maintaining a clean and safe working environment. The MADC20 dust collector attaches to the Dust Hoods or work chambers and helps to remove airborne particles produced during polishing and grinding. It has a cyclone for larger debris and HEPA filters for very fine particulates.

Whether you’re a professional jeweler, a hobbyist woodworker, or a craftsman working with metal, these accessories can help tailor the Foredom Bench Lathe to your specific needs, making it a highly versatile tool in any creative or fabrication workshop.

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