Thread: Mini lathe on stand vs mini lathe in bench?

You can stack 200 leg blanks there.
A good place to put your cup of tea with a lid on.
You can put your chisels there.
You can put pencils there so they roll off or get covered in shavings and you can't find them.
You can screw bits and pieces on like dust extractors and patterns.
That is the up side.

The down side is that unless the bench is solid they can move a little more than a stand will.
Feet access can be restrictive.
The bed of the lathe can fill with shavings and in the minis and midis with the motor underneath they can overheat.

I prefer benches myself but be warned about any flat surface, they clutter up.

Here's mine.

The bench frame is 40 x 2.5 mm SHS.
1HP 3Phase electric motor from an old WW lathe slung low provides extra stability
Cheap but effective VSD (I run it from 20 to 100 Hz) so still have to swap the gears occasionally.
I was going to weight in down with some concrete slab shelving on the bottom spreaders but it's more than stable enough for what I do.
At some stage I will remove the original motor as it will make it easier to clean underneath


Have since added adjustable dust collection (Yes I have added a mesh cover to that opening)

You can make drawers or compartments to fit under the lathe. It will take a while to fill with shavings or dust.

I do bigger stuff, so anything on my bench gets buried in shavings. Even with in balance pieces the vibration makes almost everything fall off the bench. Including open cans of finish.

Stand is under construction.

I put my buffer on the bench too and fastened the bench to the wall so nothing moves it. Built tool holders into the bench and put a drawer underneath.

thought you sold the Woodfast https://www.woodworkforums.com/f221/w...woodfast+lathe

Oh you bought the Cougar ........................ or is it a Vicmarc

Not sure why you'd want the extension bed if you have the Nova, its should be long enough. I'd buy the extension for that instead if you need extra length although there is ways of getting around it for one or two jobs.

I reckon stand is best feet legs have room to get under
I have the Jet mini on the bench standing sitting there is APIA as I have to splay my legs to get close.

I sold one of my minis
Cougar are a waste of time and $ and there to dam low for me


the only vicmarc I like is the VL 300 shortbed
The VL175 is cute but its not me, I'm not a fan of swinging the head around

stubby is not to bad but $8000 then another $2000 to get the mods done and around a month wate for one

Stick to the stand, dont waste bench space .

Another thing to consider is how often do you need the extension.

You could have the stand extension and the cast extension sitting in the corner and bolt together when needed.

Originally Posted by nz_carver

I sold one of my minis
Cougar are a waste of time and $ and there to dam low for me


the only vicmarc I like is the VL 300 shortbed
The VL175 is cute but its not me, I'm not a fan of swinging the head around

stubby is not to bad but $8000 then another $2000 to get the mods done and around a month wate for one

I didn't realize you still had the Carb-tec one Dave thought you sold that ages ago. even more so.

That's rite I did sell the carba tec

Originally Posted by nz_carver

That's rite I did sell the carba tec

and more recently the Woodfast as above so what mini have you got now???

Dave I have used a Stand just a Gorilla fold out on demos often its easy to adjust height hold the lathe steady a little room for some tool holding easy to clean off when done.
At home use a bench plenty place to put stuff.

I'd like to know what your opinion is being you started with the Carba-tec min on a bench. Had the Nova 1100 on a bench, Had the Woodfast on a bench and then on a stand your way ahead on this subject I think. I have some photos to prove it.

I have NEVER had a woodfast on a bench
I have had a woodfast on a stand

If you read the first post I was asking about sticking a mini lathe with a bed extension on a bench to use the space I have to its full, I also said that I was thinking about sticking a extension on at no point did I say I was.

I'd love to know were I said at any time that I had a cougar lathe,

I'd all love to know were it says that I don't still have a woodfast?

I am well awear about the lathes I have had and also what they have been set up on,

I have my Jet mini -with-extension on a stand. This places it in a corner where it does not get in the way of my handtools and, especially, my bench. The bench is for handtools, NOT a lathe. (The stand is built like a brick you-know-what).

This was taken after building the stand, as I was setting up the new workshop 4 1/2 years ago.



It looks more like this today (far end) ..



Regards from Perth

Derek

Thanks Derek what's size between centres ?
I was looking at adding the extension on the mini as the bed on the nova is short 600mm with out tail stock and its cheaper to add the extension to the mini then adding it to the nova

how do you find the Hammer bandsaw??