Thread: Not only girls change their minds

Originally Posted by Briangoldcoast

What excellent pics and excellent work. Thank you--that has stimulated me to take a lot more time with my preparation and more importantly to start taking pics.
I really appreciate your help
cheers
Brian

Thanks Brian and good luck with your stand. As you can see you have made the right decision to build your own stand when you consider what motivated my build.

And yes, I am pleased with the pics. Something to do with the camera and lens being worth as much as my lathe and mill put together!

Thank you Rob
Your video is excellent and full of good info and help. Thank you.
Are you using a piece of square tubing (RHS) for the spine?
regards Brian

Originally Posted by nearnexus

Contraction when welding steel always causes distortion. You can allow for some, but not all.

I fabricated a steel stand recently for an old Schaublin lathe and I got rid of 99% of the distortion by welding in the correct sequence (allow for/let the shrinkage work for you) and also used decent sized ratchet type tie down straps to pull the frame back into shape/square before welding the next section.

This worked fantastically well and they can easily put a lot of tension exactly where it needs to go. Mainly use them diagonally to get back to square settings.

I recommend you have some handy and correct run out as you go.

Here's a video on it.

Make a metal lathe stand that's super rigid - part 3 - YouTube

Rob

Originally Posted by Briangoldcoast

Thank you Rob
Your video is excellent and full of good info and help. Thank you.
Are you using a piece of square tubing (RHS) for the spine?
regards Brian

It's rectangular section on both lathes.

This design only works if the lathe base can fit on the width of RHS available. And RHS in those sizes is heavy and expensive - so it's only an option where you can use recycled scrap steel. I built that whole stand for under $30 including the welding rods and paint.

It is immensely rigid.

Here's another video showing both stands.

Schaublin 102 lathe restoration - part 11 - YouTube

The type of drawers you want to fit is academic - I just use wooden ones and don't really care if they look good or not.

By the way, I haven't congratulated you for taking the plunge and getting into metal turning.

You have essentially travelled in time through a worm hole, and your life will never ever be quite the same again.

Expect plenty of failures, that's normal, and as you become more proficient, the failures will actually increase - as your level of expectation drives you to greater things. Good move.

Cheers

Rob