Building a new base for the lathe

[ozhunter]

Hello all

My Woodfast is mounted on a steel frame, and as most would know the motor is mounted on the back lower rail, on a hinge.

My question relates to the height of the lathe. I read somewhere that the centre of the headstock spindle should be at about elbow height.

I'm 6'5", so the standard frame is way too low. I put it up on 4" hardwoods blocks but it is still too low, by about 3 inches, according to the statement above.

It will have to do for now, but once I get a few things sorted out and can actually use my shed as a fun shop, instead of a reloading/gun room, storage shed. garden shed etc. I have a plan in my head for the layout.

Is it feasible, taking into consideration the positioning of the motor, to make a good solid hard wood bench for the beast that brings it up to the prescribed height.

Has anyone done this, and if so was it a success, would you do it again and what changes would you make?

Cheers

oz

[hughie]

:U you may well have opened a can of worms here. But as you have mentioned elbow height, this is a bit of a standard guideline. I set mine lathes about 100-150 higher at the centre.
As to hard wood, why not! its all about stability and weight, again my stands are a bit different as I make them with hollow legs to allow me to add ballast etc. This make them as heavy as I want.

[ozhunter]

Thanks hughie

I hadn't considered steel. Don't know why, my brother is very good with with a MIG and fabrication. Something else to ponder.

oz

[badgaz]

G'day Oz!

Here's my lathe bench, made from Akwa (Pometia pinnata) rebated and bolted together. The Bench is a two man lift without the lathe, and it's bolted firmly to the floor. I made this about 12months ago and serves me well enough. I'm 6' and I deliberately built it high so I could work on a tread board as opposed to cold concrete (it's about a 1" higher than my elbow at centre when standing on the board).

Everything is within easy reach and I can bolt and screw fixtures on to it if and when I need to (note the grinder bolted to the end on brackets).

I'll admit I haven't turned any huge, wildly out of round lumps of wood on it, but with the limitations of an MC900 I wouldn't attempt it anyway.:no:

If I had my time again I would have mounted the lathe on top of two sturdy parallel beams (as opposed to the single slab) with a gap between for the wood chips to fall through. Other than that it's been all good...naturally, I'm hanging out for the inevitable lathe upgrade...one day.:;

Kindest regards
Gazza

[orraloon]

Hi Oz,
I went with wood as I reckon it absorbes the vibrations, provided it is good and chunky. Others have differing opinions and steel is a common used material. As Hughie says hollow legs filled with sand or other ballast is preferred by some others. If I ever build another I will make it higher than elbow hight and then use a duckboard to stand on. By changeing the hight of the platform the center hight is changed. I find elbow hight good for spindle work but would like it a bit higher for hollowing.
Regards
John

[ozhunter]

Thanks fellas

I think I will go with good solid hardwood stand....although just had a thought, how would a wood bench handle having the motor mounted to it?

oz

[rsser]

Re lathe height, I was told by an expert, and followed the advice with good results through several lathe changes, that the spindle height should be at your elbow height with your turning arm across the chest with hand lightly curled over opposite shoulder.

[ozhunter]

Thanks Ern. That being the case, mine is about 4 inches+ low at the moment.

I still like the idea of the wooden stand, for no particular reason.

I don't think the motor hinging on the rear lower rail would be a drama if it's built solid and the mounting geometry is kept to tight tolerances.

Might make it along the lines of Groggy's workbench. That'd take the vibration out of 'er:D

oz

[hughie]

Actually my stands are wood and with hollow legs, not steel. But you could use steel .

[swallow]

Hello Hunter, I also support a 6'5" frame and I feel your pain. It ain't easy living in a world built for Munchkins. I built my lathe bench using 4"x 6" hard maple timbers framing a 3/4" plywood box. I then filled that box with sand before bolting down the 4"thick maple top, it's solid and works really well and has no vibration. I don't know what it weighs but I do know that it's not gonna float out of the shop on it's own.

[rsser]

Wood works yes, but needs to be heavy esp if the lathe is swivel head.

My lathe is a bit too high so I'll be looking at duckboards.

[hughie]

here you go have a look at this stand

http://www.woodworkforums.com/f8/stand-design-94071/

[joe greiner]

For equivalent flexural stiffness, with respect to steel, aluminum of the same width should be about 1.5 times the thickness of steel; wood, also the same width, about 3 times the steel thickness. Computed values are 1.44 and 2.7, respectively.

On my lathe bench (sheet metal BTW), I have two 4.5-gallon buckets of railroad spikes on the lower shelf.

Cheers,
Joe

[Paul39]

A flat bench will pile up shavings. A stand built like a saw horse will let them fall to the floor. Your motor bolted to a stout timber will be fine. Dutch windmills and US water powered grist mills were made of wood, including bearings. Some still working over 100 years later.

A stout shelf near the bottom to hold buckets of scrap steel, engine heads, sand bags, etc., will keep things in place and upright when turning out of balance bowl blanks. Steel weighs 490 lbs per cubic foot, sand 100, cast lead 708. Four dead auto batteries would about do it.

Steel, unless hollow and filled with dry sand, will ring. My new to me 1995 Woodfast has a steel cabinet that is a bit like a guitar as it amplifies the sound of the motor attached to the back. I will glue some scrap rubber roofing to the inside to change the vibrating frequency.

I do mostly bowls and hollow things, so I like my center height a bit higher than elbow. Saves having to bend over so much to peer into the end. I'm 6' 3 1/2" tall.

[silentC]

Here's mine:

http://www.woodworkforums.com/f40/lathe-bench-7010/

Made from hardwood. Open stand at the top with a shelf below. It's light enough for one person to pick up - if a bit awkward - but solid when the shelf is loaded up with bricks. Works pretty well but my lathe is not very flash.

[Paul39]

silentC,

That is a perfect lathe stand. Beautiful work and the price of materials is right.

Anyone who makes snide comments about whatever kind of ballast on the bottom of a lathe stand does not do large work roughed out with an ax and chain saw.

A stick of wood for a pen is not likely to throw a lathe over on you.

I dragged home two cast iron heads, and two cast iron intake manifolds from a Dodge V-8 engine as ballast for my new lathe stand.