>>934503It is pretty easy, depending on what you want to make on the lathe.
https://www.google.com/search?q=diy+latheMine is just a small DC motor, strapped to a board with soup can metal, with the wood shoved onto the motor shaft with a sharpened screw head in the other end of the wood. I use a Dremel to shape the wood. I use a drop of oil on the screw point to keep the wood from squealing. The hole in the wood on the motor shaft side is slightly smaller than the shaft so that it fits tightly onto the shaft.
Since I use a Dremel instead of chisels, the lathe doesn't need to have much torque. It just needs to spin. For chisels, the wood rolls towards you, but for a Dremel the wood rolls away from you. Don't use a Dremel on a lathe that rolls the wood towards you because it can catch and fuck you up. The black paint allows the profile of the wood piece to stand out a lot better for visibility.
