Thread: What is the correct height for a lathe

Originally Posted by ClintO

As a relatively tall person looking at getting a beginners lathe I was wondering what is the "rule of thumb" for mounting the lathe at the most suitable height. I suspect the standar MC900 metal legs will be too low

I went through this a few months back. The consensus seemed to be that your forearm should hold a tool on the tool rest about level. so I measured the distance between my bent elbow and the floor.

Rule of thumb that I have seen is when you put your hand on the oposite shoulder your elbow should be level with the spindle.

Originally Posted by wood hacker

Rule of thumb that I have seen is when you put your hand on the oposite shoulder your elbow should be level with the spindle.

or about 1/2"-1" higher if you have a sore back or just doing bowls,

Hah, this question again. The answer? there is no real answer, its matter of choice. The elbow thingy is just a starting point or a initial reference to get you going. Certainly if you have a bad back this will add more height to it.

Me, elbow plus about 4" and I do bowls, hollow vessels. I also avoid long bed lathes, preferring the short bed as this suits bowls etc.



How long is a piece of string ?

Agree with all the above, use your elbow height as a start point, try the machine there , I am 180Cm, and set up at that, I made a T section with 70x35mm hard wood .
I then set the wide section on the floor and screwed the MC900 legs to the upright, and as the shed floor is Timber I screwed the bottom of the T to the floor.

1 Thing I did find is that you will need 40 to 50 Kilo of ballast for this machine, make a shelf to fit in the middle of the legs, to fit on the mid frame , and add a couple of bags of sand , from Bunnings . This will steady the lathe when you have timber which is out of balance .

Jeff
vk4

When setting your height its a good idea to have your matting / rubber / whatever for comphort down first, that way when you descide you wont have to compensate for it.

Neal.

Ps: i too have the mc900 / wl 18 / etc. i'm a shorta$$ though, so was a perfect out of the box height for me at 5'10" (185).

Hi ClintO
I have had the too tall issue with my lathe. Im 6ft 7inches I have a technatool lathe now and I built my own bench for it to stand on because the legs it came with are also to short for me. I sometimes turn on friends and club lathes after a little while the back starts to get a bit sore so having the right height is crucial. I agree with that the 1 inch higher is the way to go. Good luck.
Cheers Skewturn

Ps If you cant build a bench I used a folding ladder for a while it gives good height and its pretty sturdy.

This a new frame for my ww lathe.


It has adjustable feet for levelling the lathe but I can also jack it up about an extra 40 mm if I need it.

ClintO,

You could assemble the stand and set it on two chunks of 4 X 4 or 6 X 6 inch timber to see what is comfortable. Keep adding slabs of 2 inch until it feels good.

Originally Posted by hughie

Hah, this question again. The answer? there is no real answer, its matter of choice. The elbow thingy is just a starting point or a initial reference to get you going. Certainly if you have a bad back this will add more height to it.

Me, elbow plus about 4" and I do bowls, hollow vessels. I also avoid long bed lathes, preferring the short bed as this suits bowls etc. ?

I agree with the above.

Bob L,

Really nice stand. If you mount the lathe on it as is you don't have to bother with shavings until they get above your knees.

Hi ClintO,
Most have forgotten about a "Duck Board " to stand on. So make it out of either 1/2" or 3/4 " x 2 " strips of wood, glued & screwed. Spread them at least 3/4in. apart, on 4 pieces of 4 x 2 in. Timber. That way the shavings will fall through to the floor, & you will never be standing in Shavings, which is a Pain anyway.
Now when it is finished, then you measure for your Lathe Height, by standing up straight, then in My Opinion, should be 1 in. above you Elbow.
Also a Good Idea is to Mount your Lathe on Rails, like the 1 in the Photo.
That is my 2 sence worth.

ClintO, next time you are at your local library see if you can borrow a book "Ellsworth on Woodturning". Ellsworth is over 6 foot tall like yourself and while he recommends elbow height for spindle turning he says it is too high for hollow turning. He uses long handled tools for the latter and recommends that the spindle should be 75 to 100mm below elbow height to enables him to be above the tool and gain greater control.

Ellsworth is an interesting fellow and in his book demonstrates a serious of exercises, stretches and other suggestions for looking after a woodturner's body. A worthwhile read.

Gary

Originally Posted by hughie

:


How long is a piece of string ?

I think you will find it is double half its length.

The best explanation I have heard was from Dave Hout, an instructor in the US.
Set your tool rest to center height, take a gouge and hold in a comfortable stance as if to turn, measure from where the tool shaft would hit the tool rest. This is how much you want to raise it. He also brought up that tall people, with the lathe too low, will loose the fine control for spindle turning because the arms are too stretched out trying to reach down to the tool rest.

Trying this I raised my Nova 1624 about 1.5 inches and I am only 5’11”; much much better. Dave stated that for most turners over 6’4” he had to place a 4X4 under the legs.

Originally Posted by

Or about 1/2"-1" higher if you have a sore back or just doing bowls,

+1, +1