Thread: The Dancing Lathe!

been there and done that.
In my case the legs on the lathe were very light and with a decent load flexed and off the lathe would go. In the end I had to build a more sturdy lathe stand.

Check to make sure all of your legs/feet are on the floor, if your legs are of a light weight material, extra weight wont do much for you. Dynabolts will help, but the light legs will still flex to some extent and eventually metal fatigue will set in.

If you get the chance post a pic of your lathe, this will give us all a chance to see where the problem might be.

Yeah.

I assume that it only dances when spinning a rough blank?

If it's vibrating all the time, then you have other, more serious problems.

Mrs B how about a photo of the lathe so we have an idea what type it is will help us help you.

I agree with what the fellows have said above only thing is if you bolt it down you must make sure its level and even as it can twist out of alignment and you don't want that.

for your friend he sounds like he is quite capable.


As for near the wall if its plaster I suggest a barrier between as polishes and flying chips and chunks leave stains and holes.

ps if your renting botl it down without permission as many places of late concrete is poor quality and will crack. I know ours is doing it with out any help at all landlord is aware.

What was already stated--- presumably only when spinning rough blanks? Otherwise no amount of securing will actually solve the problem. Also, restricting the movement can stress other parts and your problems could get worse

If your legs (or the floor) are not all at the same height (coplanar) then bolting the lathe down or weighting it down could twist your lathe bed and cause centre misalignment problems.

The wobble seems to indicate that either the floor or legs are not coplanar.

Chocking up the short leg(s) before securing or weighting will avoid pulling the lathe bed out of alignment.

If I were to dyna bolt my lathe to the concrete slab I would still have a stiff rubber pad between floor and lathe.

Hi everyone Thank you for your help. Today I haven't done much to the lathe I just looked at it and still trying to work this out. Yes the floor is not straight so no use bolting it down, I have anti vibration matts under it and now it is like if I put a bit of pressure on it by hand only it would litterally tip over and fall on its side so kill that idea. And Yes the legs are too light for the lathe, I got it from Hare and Forbes I love going there and here is the link to the lathe itself with all the details to it, I hope that you may be able to give me more ideas because I am so not giving up on this IT HAS TO WORK. I have it up against the wall its a brick wall and I am not renting its my own house in the morning Im going to try to move it a bit more away from the wall floor it might be a bit more stable or straight until we all come up with some idea for this, I can't sleep thinking about it is this healthy? hahaha Im losing the plot over a lathe but its really not just a lathe shes my baby oh heres the link to it.
https://www.machineryhouse.com.au/Pr...stockCode=W382

I got this one as a starter for myself I am wondering if I made a bad choice? keeps my fingers crossed for positive feedback Thanks Guys Cheers!

These are not a bad lathe light yes, our group of turners have one and its used for almost everything small and large with out of balanced wood also. BUT it has been built onto, a frame of hardwood with shelves its on wheels for moving it now takes 2 blokes to lift it to lower or raise the wheels.

Good to see your a tool-aholic

The legs are useless, I threw mine away. What I found was with any decent lump of timber they flexed and no amount of extra weight on the tray would stop then from flexing.
So either stick to small turnings or have a new stand made, theres a few good designs around using a single sheet of plywood and having hollow legs to add sand etc if required.

They're not a bad lathe. Not a particularly good one, but you could've been stuck with something far worse. I still have a couple, by different mfrs.

I cut sections of 19mm(ish) structural ply to fit between the legs at each end of mine, bolting the pieces in every 6" or so along the legs.

Used the same weight ply for a shelf on the horizontal rails and loaded it down with "future turning materials."

It made my old beast usable... not ideal, but then again, the lathe isn't ideal.

It also made mine a right PITA to clean up after a turning session, but seeing as how I tend to let the shavings build up to knee high anyway...

Mrs Blackie,

For a fast and dirty fix:

Move it to where you want it.

Pick up each end of the lathe and set it back down.

Try to wiggle back and forth, if unstable, one leg then another on the opposite diagonal corner will come off the floor. If you have a level, put it at right angles to the bed to see which position is more level. If no level, a soup bowl half full of water will give you an Idea.

If it is on a really sloping floor you might want to shim both legs on the low side.

Get a long tapered shim, a wood shingle about 150mm wide is ideal. Lacking that, some cut up cardboard about 150 X 150mm.

Holding the lathe in the more level position, scoot the shim under the leg off the floor until the lathe is steady. Give it a tap or two to get that leg a bit higher, then give that corner of the lathe bed a whack with a stick of wood to knock the leg into the shim a bit.

If using cardboard slip as many as will go under the leg off the floor, then lift and add one more.

After using the lathe, if it gets rocky again, add a bit of shim to the pile.

I have seen lathes braced to a wall, also a lathe fastened to a piece of timber running from a joist overhead to the floor.

All of the above suggestions are good ones, my fast and dirty might get you turning in 15 minutes.

The frame is probably out of square.
I would put the lathe into position and then slightly loosen all the bolts of the frame.
Give the lathe a shake until it sits firmly, then re-tighten all the bolts.

Thank you all for your information and support. I purchased what I could afford for now so I will have to make do all your ideas sounds good so will give it a shot. I think I will start the simple way this morning and start off with what Jchappo said and work my way down the list here Thanks Neighbour from just down the road, if I get too stuck I'm coming to Colyton where my kids go to school and start yelling out Jchappoooooooooooooo till someone comes out and take you home to FIX IT hahahahaha joke..joke. Then I will go down the list here and try what I can I must admit it wasnt as bad in the middle of the workshop but once again a big but....the sun was killing me and I couldnt get a proper vision of what I was doing and it just didnt feel right in the middle of the workshop I hate clutter annoys me so much and always worried about whats behind me while im working on something, this is going to work for me it has to or I'm going to rip the lathes legs off unless it learns to behave hehehe.

your idea sounds great thats next on the list, thank you for that