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Height of lathe workbench

aboard_epsilon

Titanium
Joined
Mar 19, 2003
Location
North Wales GB
Going to sound weired this is ..

Has anyone got any figures as to what height your eyes should be above the spindle of lathe..

need to build a workbench for a south bend model 9a ...

I've got a back problem ...so need not to stoop ...

so lathe will be as high as possible with a safety factor for eye protection .

worked out ...that spindle centre height will be 39-43 inches ....with my eyes height at 65 inches ...

so bench top height will be 27- 31 inches.

lathe is 12 inches from bench top to centre of spindle

I'm 5ft 11

is there something Ive overlooked ..
eg my smart and brown 1024 has spindle height of 42 inches.....and that don't do me any good.

IS THERE someone who has worked out the ergonomics of all this .

ordering the wood tomorrow

all the best.markj
 
Lathes are bad for back. You have to stoop forward a little but all the time to see over the tool post, inside bores, etc.

How tall are you? No standard height works for all people. I suggest you run a couple of human factors experiments to see what specifically works for you. Stand at a workbench or kitchen counter and handle an imaginatry lathe. Have SWMBO stack up whatever is handy to your hand height. Make that height the height of the carriage hand wheel and the cross feed dial. Your lathe is pretty light. Temporarily set it up at that height or sawhorses and lumber blocking and see if it works for you.

From all this you can determine the best height of the machine's pedestal bottom and from that the bench height. You'll still have backache but that goes with the territory; you'll have at least minimized it via careful mock-up.
 
Mark,

The spindle center line of my Harrison 10AA lathe is 42 1/2 inches from the floor. I am now 5ft. 9in. tall and I have back pain from leaning over if I work at this lathe for more than a half hour or so. I have considered raising the lathe by 6 or maybe even 8 inches, but have taken no action yet. With the loafers I am now wearing, my eye height, looking straight ahead, is a bit over 64 inches. I therefore think that somewhere between 12 to 16 inches would be ideal for my eye height above spindle center line.

It would be ideal to have bench legs adjustable to fine tune the eye to work relationship.

Thank you very much for asking the question. Maybe it will encourage me to do the work to ease my back pain. Please let us all know the outcome of your bench plans.

My great-great grandfather and his brother immigrated from Wales to the States as millwrights. I am proud to have Welsh blood and the inherited fascination with all things mechanical.

Jim Williams
 
One rule of thumb for lathes is to make the cross feed crank come to the height of your elbow with your arm down and the elbow bent 90 degrees. It works for me.

Larry
 
Something to consider is that if you build it too high you can always make a platform of wood in front of the lathe to raise the floor up. Also helps the back to have a floor with some flex to it.

Steve.
 
"Something to consider is that if you build it too high you can always make a platform of wood in front of the lathe to raise the floor up. Also helps the back to have a floor with some flex to it.

Steve. "

Steve at my age I would end up forgetting about the step and break my neck...
))
 
Try to find a copy of a book by Henry Dreyfuss:
"The Measure of Man, Human Factors in Design"
It has exactly the type information you are looking for.
 
My HLVH is VERY HIGH,and I am 6'5".I don't have it here to measure,and it's just fine for me. Most everyone else has to get something to stand on,like a 4" thick slab of wood. I've always wondered why the HLVH's are made so tall. To me,it's the most comfortable lathe I've ever worked at.
 
I agree with "gwilson". The Hardinge HLVH at my work is 48" to spindle center from floor. Seems to be a very comfortable height. I am 5'11" tall. I raised up my 9" South Bend at home to 48" as well. Tom Partington from Mass.
 
I am a runt(5'6"and shrinking). An HLVH seems a little high for me. Most other lathes are OK. We have a gap-bed that is too low even for me. I enjoy feeling like I'm 6'tall instead of 5'short
when I run it.
Old Bill
 
I would not want a raised platform around any Machine. Good way to break an ankle or worse. I just know I would forget about that step behind me, especially when handling a large or otherwise awkward part.

Just my 2 bits.
John
 
Mark, I'm 6'4" with lower back problems, sacroilliac, discs, hip joints etc etc etc.

I run a 10" Boxford and built my own stand / bench.

Centre height of lathe 51 1/2", and it generally works well for me, but for close up work (add in dodgy eyesight!!!) another 4" higher would be better.

*TIP* Give yourself plenty of ''toe room'' so you don't have to lean too far forward,..... I've a clip on chip tray extension for when I'm running coolant.

Hope this may be of some help, take care. Sami.
 
Hi all: I just went and measured myself with the 12" Lantaine and with my elbow at 90 degrees, I feel comfortable with the longitudinal wheel center about 3-4 inches below. That being said, the 9 inch Hercus in my shop should be raised. I guess a question now to you all is: should I use 4 X 4's under the steel cabinet to bring it up to where it is comfortable or? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Wayne
 
here's my smart and brown when i first had it about 4 years ago ...
you can just see the blocks of wood it was on that raised it four inches ...

sbasbought.jpg


it was on these for weeks ...thats how i got it off the trolley ..

it was left like this for weeks until i read in here about lathe levelling etc ...worried ..and...
took it off them ...
but I'm sure i felt more comfortable with it at that height ...

for all we know the heights for these lathes may have been decided in the 1800's when people were 4 inches shorter.

bet hardinge had it right ...

will think about a 48 inch centre height ..maybe 49

till then ... thankypou for all the very interesting replies...keep 'em coming.

all the best.markj
 
Glad this came up--I'm in the process of building a lathe bench from an old steel government desk.After removing the legs & doing a little restructuring to add rollers and levelers I realised it would be too short. The 48" center height seems about right. The 9A on a 36" tall counter(kitchen counter height)will have a 48" center height.I'm 6' tall and this height seems about right. So it's back to the drawing board to figure out how to add 5-6" to the welded base that will still be stable.Thanks for the thoughts about this.

Dave
 
Stroll on!!, what a silly s*d I am! When I built my work shop, I made sure that my vice top was level with my elbow (big sweaty manual work). When I constructed my lathe stand, I copied its height from a Myford on a cabinet stand (designed for a midget?) and find that I am absolutely k*******d after 2 hours working on it. I had always put this down to concentration. Its the wrong b****y height. :mad: . This is now at the top of my "to do" list.
Frank
 
I go with the HLV center height. It comes in at around 47 to 48 inches as stated. Its a comfortable height for just about any operation on a small lathe
 
I have had my Jet on a bench that was too high. It may keep your from stooping, but then you make up for it by having to hold your arms up instead of relaxing normally. I prefer to be looking down on the tool to get rake angles and such set.

I'm 5'11" and find about a 30-34" benchtop right for a small lathe.
 
Quote
Hi all: I just went and measured myself with the 12" Lantaine and with my elbow at 90 degrees, I feel comfortable with the longitudinal wheel center about 3-4 inches below. That being said, the 9 inch Hercus in my shop should be raised. I guess a question now to you all is: should I use 4 X 4's under the steel cabinet to bring it up to where it is comfortable or? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Wayne
--------------------------------------------------

I'd say 4 X 4's are ok as long as they're hardwood and bolted down to the floor, IMO light lathes need all the help they can get,..... an alternative would be 4 X 4 say 3/16" box section,......... filled with concrete is even better....... my first lathe was a well worn 10" Logan on an I thought very substabtial wood stand, Glued and screwed 3/4 ply on 3 X 3s,to form a complete box,....... I couldn't bolt it too the floor and it drummed,....... filling the bottom 12" with concrete worked wonders.

Take care. Sami.
 








 
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