$150

The lathe motor that I use with my B8 Boley Lathe is a 5000 rpm variable speed bi-directional DC motor made in China (link below). It came with a right angle mounting bracket. I ordered an additional mounting bracket from a different vendor to use as a mount for my belt and pulley system. This project includes all of those parts not including the pulley system parts included in the Milling Attachment project. If you only need to power your watchmakers lathe without a milling attachment you can get by with just the motor, one pulley wheel and the belt. If you get a milling attachment later you can always add the additional parts for that later.

The typical way to easily change the tension on the belt is to mount the motor on a hinged plate. By lifting the plate the belt tension is reduced, and by lowering the plate the tension is increased. My W12 lathe came with such a plate which you can see in my videos. For the motor on my smaller lathe I wanted to minimize its profile for camera coverage so I didn't make it adjustable. This turned out to be fine because the tension on the lathe spindle never needs adjusting since the variable speed motor allows for speed adjustments without changing the belt position and the tension on the milling attachment can be changed by sliding the cross blocks up and down the steel tubes of the pulley system.

The total parts cost for this project (not including shipping) is under US $150! The minimal parts necessary to get started with a watchmaker's lathe are the lathe spindle, some collets, the lathe bed, a tool rest, a graver, and a motor. The vintage parts without a motor are easy to find on the used market making this project is a great way to power a minimal vintage set-up while you source additional accessories.

These links frequently break as vendor inventory changes. Please contact me if you encounter a broken link.

Where multiple quantities and or variants are offered please take care to select the quantity and variant that matches my description.

800W 220V variable speed reversible DC lathe motor (select 800W Kit and bracket)

https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DdzoZl9

30mm V-belt Pulley (select 14mm bore diameter)

https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DdUTQcf

58mm V-belt Pulley (select 58mm diameter 14mm bore diameter)

https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DDumgn5

Polyurethane belt (select Diam 4mm, 5 meters)

https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DkUcqW7

additional motor bracket for pulley system (select NEMA 32)

https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DD6Jf1d

12mm vertical support for pulley system (select SK12mm 2PCS)

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001637588876.html

2000W 110V - 220V transformer (not necessary if you have 220V power)

https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DDgPRWf