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Lathe stand

3K views 32 replies 12 participants last post by  Gary Beasley 
#1 ·
After tipping the lathe over it’s obvious the original stand won’t work With the copier attached. I have several sheets of melamine in the rack. Any suggestions on what you have seen that would be worth having with storage?
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#3 ·
Heavy is easy. But it will need lots of storage.

I’ve got an 8/4 top but I may have to make a longer one. ive got a lot of 8/4 Ash and Hickory I may try and use for the frame..
 
#4 ·
My lathe stand is bonded to the basement walls and floor. Can't possibly knock it over and it has the mass of the entire concrete foundation to quell any vibration. I know, not possible for many folks.
 
#5 ·
I always said if I stopped running a cabinet business I'd change my shop to a hobby shop
The time has come. The furnace guy called this morning and said he would install tomorrow, then i can move the rack..
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#6 ·
I did this a couple of years ago for my mini lathe. I like having the sharpening lathe on the bench and the storage below for tools and supplies. It is on casters as well so i can move it when needed. the lathe was elevated just a bit to provide clearance for the Oneway Vari-Grind sharpening jig. Stability has not been a problem with it.
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#7 · (Edited)
Thx Gary..After almost flipping the lathe I realized the lathe is front heavy..May not be a problem with a new stand, but I’m going to keep it in mind..

Looking in the rack I have 2 sheets of white melamine, 3-4 sheets of MDF Sapele. I think I have one sheet of MDF Birch…

similiar…
 
#14 ·
I havent made any extension legs yet, swing-out or otherwise. If the 'swingouts are at at outward angle away from the center on both sides, that should work. Smaller bowls should not tip a lathe over under normal conditions so if you did have swing-out/slide-outs you wouldnt be using them all of the time. once you swing your log close to a balancing point, you could fold the legs back in.
 
#15 · (Edited)
It will be pretty easy. Wife decided to put he grand daughter in preschool in June. From 8-12 This is going to mess up papa's fishing for a month and her will be my helper around the house fixing a window, door and from porch rail.. I'm gonna have to get her a tool belt...
 
#17 ·
Looks like maybe a Central Machinery 34706 lathe. The bed, head and all are great. The stand is too thin...

Whatever you do, make your stand HEAVY. I am setting up mine out of 2x stock with a ballast box on the bottom housing 2@ bags of quickcrete. I have old drawers for kitchen cabinets that will be installed (4 of them) for turning tools storage...
 
#18 ·
Greater stability in a small footprint can be obtained by adding ballast to the base. This will be beneficial not only in lowering the center of gravity (greater tip resistance) but also reducing the overall vibration of imbalanced work (rough stock, off center turnings, material variations in density, etc) My lathe stand itself weighs 150 lbs and I have 300lbs of ballast in the base of it.
 
#19 ·
Would securely anchoring it to the floor and wall provide a similar benefit to ballast? I've been thinking of doing that with a lathe in my dad's workshop. He built a nice stand for it with storage, but it would be difficult to add weight to it. It doesn't need to be moved and it is up against a wall.
 
#20 ·
Would securely anchoring it to the floor and wall provide a similar benefit to ballast?
Yes, anchoring the lathe would be the next best thing. The very best ballast in terms of vibration absorption, is a loose ballast, such as sandbags.

Anchoring the lathe transfers the vibration, while a sand bag ballast absorbs the vibration. End result to the user is pretty much the same. Except anyone on the other side of the anchor wall, will be more aware of the late operation (due to the transfer of the energy into the wall)
 
#23 ·
@KiwiSkyDive
I take it that you only turn small stuff like pens and other spindle work. If you decide to make bowls, I would strongly suggest you move your lathe away from the window. The trajectory of flying fragments will normally be you or the ceiling or the window.
 
#25 ·
@KiwiSkyDive
I take it that you only turn small stuff like pens and other spindle work. If you decide to make bowls, I would strongly suggest you move your lathe away from the window. The trajectory of flying fragments will normally be you or the ceiling or the window.
I got the lathe so I could turn small stuff like handles for tools etc, Knobs for planes and the likes. I have a sheet of what we call "Coreflute" which I put up against the window when turning to help protect the window when the inventible happens. Still very new at using a lathe, so a large learning curve ahead, but another handy tool to have in the workshop. :)
 
#26 ·
Very handy indeed.
If you have any untreated 4x4's ytou can make a mallet. If no 4x4's, just glue two 2x4's together. It will be a smaller diameter but still very functional.
I always use pine for my mallets. The pine will dent well before your project will. I use them mainly for 'easing' things in place while putting together furniture. Also for hitting chisels with.
And.....they look cool.
 
#28 ·
I’ve been wanting to do a little lathe work for years. It’s just sitting there . After an attempt to buy chisels from a Marketplace user who obviously didn’t care if he sold them or not, I lost interest again. I’ve got a bunch of treated lumber I’ve been acclimating for Adirondack chairs, but the wife decided on a swinging bench and the one Ardirondack chair was enough so I have a bunch of it. So I guess I’ll start looking at my options again..
 
#32 ·
Wish I had a plan on this one. Kinda lost and don’t want to build this but once..

Im concerned if I build it forward, yet remove the copier, will this make it awkward to reach?
 
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