Thread: Bed extension for WEN 14 x 20 wood lathe

yes, buy a different lathe.

One look at an image on their website implies it's a fully cast single piece of the bed and legs. And the manufacturer tells you they have nothing. Not sure what you next expect...

That casting looks to be a generic one used by several lathe brands; most of whom will be able to supply an extension. If WEN are saying they can’t supply one it may just mean they couldn’t be bothered to catalogue and stock it.

Take off the tool rack on the end; if you can see a flat machined surface with a pair of holes tapped out to M10 (or 3/8” UNC) then it will take an extension:

0C340E94-BAD9-4054-8CFA-92302D0B5787.jpg

If you have this then go look for a comparable sized and generic branded lathe; the Grizzly G0844 for example looks to me to be identical. Someone will be able to supply an extension that will fit; it may be a different colour but who cares?

Oh, and welcome to the Forum!

Welcome to the forum. I see that Wen sell bed extensions for three of their other sized lathes. I suggest you contact them and ask whether any of those could be adapted (by you) to fit your 34034 - maybe by just increasing the height at the end of the extension if, as I suspect, the bed profile and size is the same for each of their models. Or
as ChiefTiff suggests, check out other brand extensions to see if their size and profile are the same as yours. Holes can easily be drilled and tapped if the locations are different. Or talk to a local machine shop. There HAS to be a way, so don't give up. Bed extensions have even been made of timber, but I would consider that only as a last resort!

oh yeah, right, end of the bed where that dinky plastic tool holder waste-of-space thing is. Geez, I should have seen that. Maybe what they are saying in their answer is that they don't machine that face so there's no guarantee it's worthy of mating against? Not that it's required to be a precision mating with the extension or anything...