Thread: lathe stand

I'd be putting them under the stand, so that you get as much rigidity as you can. You may have to shim your lathe on the stand though so it cuts parallel.

Michael

HI ANDRE,
Personally I would put the Levelling Feet under the Stand itself. In Saying that though if the Top of the Lathe Stand is not really Flat then You will need to use some Packers under each Mounting Point of the Lathe itself. Oh, Yes and we want Pictures of Your Project too Please.

Okay I will make some jacking screws out of 1 inch all thread and weld some 100MM pads on.

Hi Andre,
I with the guys above with have feet on the stand and packers/shims under the mill.
I have always preferred to have the lathe pulled down on it's bases, instead of having the lathe sitting suspended above the stand on 4/6 bolts.

Dave

Hi Andre
Just be careful welding the pads to the 1" thread. If they pull it makes it annoying when leveling especially on uneven floor.

Phil

I might tap the pads instead of welding. Also will four 100mm pads be stable enough?

HI,
Tapping the Pads is not a Bad Idea. The way I made some levelling Pads for My Mill Drill is : I used some 10mm Flat Bar that I Drilled and Tapped to 5/8". I Screwed the All Thread in 6mm and used a Plain Nut on each of the Pads (the Nut is done up against the upper Surface of the Pad - the Nut is left in place forever). I then Mig Welded the All Thread from the underside of the Pad.

As to how many Pads well that depends on how big Your Lathe is (I can't remember what Lathe you've got?). On a Centre Lathe I would use six, four under the Headstock end and two under the Tailstock end. My Lathe is a Bench Lathe - Hafco AL-960B and I have it on its Factory Stand with four of these Machine Mounts M002 | Machine Mount | machineryhouse.com.au .

I was just thinking, considering that Your Stand is going to be reasonably Heavy due to Your Material choice, it might be better to go for six Levelling Pads.

Hello Welder,
I recently raised my lathe up from the tray by 50mm by fitting a spacer block under the headstock end,which is held down by four bolts, and using jacking screws at the tailstock end so that I can easily adjust the bed alignment (much easier than shims). I also have a double wedge block under the tailstock end to reduce any tendency to vibrate.
Russell

A bolted joint is (theoretically) applying a greater down force to the thing it is bolted through, so that the friction between the lathe foot and the stand is enough to not allow movement. In effect with a proper joint the lathe is 'joined' to the frame so that it becomes much more rigid.
On the other hand a jacking screw is effectively putting a relatively thin round projection on the bottom of the lathe foot - that is, a large reduction in section size. It's going to flex. flexing gives rise to chatter and potentially (slight) dimensional changes.
Smaller lathes are lightly built anyway (says he, owner of a 1500kg lathe) so allowing things to flex is not a good idea.

Michael

Hi Andre,

Good to hear that you were able to attend the scraping workshop and enjoyed it. With regard mounting the bench lathe, what has been mentioned is spot on. However another aspect to think of is how to increase the inherent rigidity of the setup - especially with regard the issue of absorbing vibration.

A welded steel frame is not a good as cast iron for absorbing the vibrations generated in the machining process.
When the USA entered the Second World War, they needed to quickly ramp up production of small high tolerance components for the military and needed to get a lot of smaller machine shops and even backyard shops with smaller lathes (South Bend etc) to produce these components.

Vibration was a problem on these small bench lathes in achieving tolerance and so a solution was developed that involved providing instructions for making a cast concrete base with hold down provisions for the particular lathe one had. These concrete bases acted much in the same way as cast iron in absorbing the vibration and providing a very noticeable improvement in the tolerance able to be achieved on such lathes.

I only mention this as you may be able to design the welded steel base in such a way as to allow for the casting in of some concrete within part of it. Obviously the more concrete the heavier it becomes which is an issue when moving it, but with the benefit of more ability to absorb vibration and allow better tolerance to be achieved.

Likewise mounting the lathe base upon a concrete base pad helps immensely too. Many large lathes in workshops used to have a special concrete base often metres deep cast especially for them.
I have written too much, some of which is not really applicable for a backyard lathe setup. However lessons can be learned from the past that still have application today.

I hope this is helpful and suspect that the other forum members will be able to add to, clarify or correct anything written above.

I look forward to hearing of your progress.

Kind regards

Quentin

Here is a progress picture.

Come on Andre, you could make it a bit heavier than that, LOL

That is going to be one solid stand, and will be a good one I think.
I look forward to your updates.

Dave

Do you think it will be strong enough?

Well I think it should be plenty stong it's not even finished and it weighs in at around 80 kg