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Building a lathe stand from scraps

Jimmy Wilson

Plastic
Joined
Oct 7, 2010
Location
Lake Placid FL
I'm putting together a stand for a new 13x40 that I just purchased. I have a bunch of 3" square tubing and 5 plates that are 1/2"x10"x20" about 100 6"x9"x1/4" plates. I don't want to forget anything or make some big mistake. Any input would be appreciated.
lathescrap.jpg
 
I did the same thing on my first 12x40 I bought. The so called cabinet stands were flimsy, and I had vibrations. Since I worked construction, I had access to a bunch of "scrap" steel. In my case, I used 4" schedule 40 pipe for legs, and 12" channel for the bed. I crossed up under the headstock end and the tail stock end, and used fine thread allthread to mount and level the lathe.

With your 3" tubing and plates, I'm sure you can make up a rigid framem uch better than before. And height is a biggie! I'm 6-2, and I needed the lathe higher. So I made it about 5" higher than the original stands. Sure does save the back.
 
depending on motor mounting,brake system etc try to make thew frame big enough to get some file cabinets or tool boxes into. Be a shame to make it 1/4" too short to put a rolling tool cabinet into it.
Bill D.
 
I have a 100 series Clausing 12x36 on a home made stand. It is bolted together angle iron and not the steadest bench. It will vibrate while the lathe is running and, I suspect, allow less than ridgid cutting action. I have to watch for leveling too often. It looks like you tubing is stiffer than the stuff this bench is made from.
 
Thanks for the replies. I bought the lathe new- I know it isn't going to be as precise as a nice Hardinge, but it was only $1800 to my driveway. The lathe is the HF 66164 and I didn't want to pay $300 for what looked like a flimsy stand. The two bases were only connected with sheet metal. I downloaded the PDF of the manual for the HF stand and I was going to use the same dims when I saw that their stand was only 27" high. I'm only 5'11" and a 27" stand seems like it would be a little too short. I had a mill/lathe before this and had to clean up a tiny drill press before I could drill holes in the plates so it has been slow going. I'd like to make it mobile, but I think I will just leave some good lifting tabs. I hate to use it sitting on the floor, So I really want to get this done! If you have seen any thing that made you say " I must have that on my stand" please post a picture. My goal is to be able to turn a leveling bolt a 1/4 turn and have the lathe teeter on 3 points. I may use the frame from a JD garden tractor to join the 2 ends at the bottom- If I weld them together it would give me a 9"x4.5"x3/16" tube- maybe fill it with concrete?
 
+1 on the height- I am 5'7" and the bench lathe I have is on a wooden stand made of 4x4 lumber, height is about where I can extend my arm level or a little high and put my hand on top of the chuck, just happened to be that way. My son works at a place where they bought something similar with the factory stand and he is very tired at the end of the day using it, although he IS 6'4"!

I have a couple of stands that I need to make, just haven't done it yet. My thought for a lathe would have been two legs at the headstock side, with a third at the tailstock end. Plate welded to the end of each leg with a hole tapped in it for an adjusting screw (you can even order vibration dampening feet). With the steel you are describing, you should probably be able to make a heavy duty stand, especially if you put a short piece at 45 degrees in the corners to stiffen things. My Monarch 10ee, although on a casting, has allowances for three such feet, two at the headstock and one at the tailstock.

One item of concern is the top of your stand, you have to have some way to make it flat for your lathe. You don't want to bolt your lathe to it and have the bed twist when you tighten things down! Probably a number of ways to accomplish that, one of which could be using shims when you bolt it down.
 
I'd a 12 by 36 that needed a stand and made said of concrete. Weighs about 1000lbs and cost 65bucks. Build plywood forms and poured with rebar or what ever steel was around. Its a three piece: 2 posts and slab. Poured the two posts (16" by 16" by 24" tall) one day and poured the slab (48" by 18 "by 8" thick) the next day setting ontop the posts so as to not left it up. 2 days later I flipped the slab over, grouted with no shrink grout. Bolted down lathe in three points to epoxied studs.

Please ignore lathe and concentrate on its foundation.;)

1.jpg
 
The concrete stand looks very stable! Kind of like raising the floor up to meet the lathe. I am building the stand from the top down. If you look at the picture I posted, you will see that I have the tray for the lathe upside down and I'm starting from there and building up to the feet. I have drilled the mounting holes in the 10"X20" 1/2" plates and I will be using 3/16" 3"x3" tube in the front and 3"x2" tube in the back to tie the plates together. Almost exactly as the picture shows. I'm not 100% sure what I will do after that. I'm thinking I will probably use 3X3 in the front and 2X3 angle in the back to make 2 20"x15" support columns and somehow tie them together from the back- It would be nice if I had a 30"x20" 1/4" plate.
 
scrapstand3.jpg
It feels like I'm moving in slow motion. It seems much stiffer than I thought it would be. I'm sure as it gets more tied together it will improve even more.
 
Lowcountrycamo
You must have been rooting around in some of the old WW2 info to come up with that stand. There was a bulletin put out buy the gov in WW2 on how to pour up a base for the small home lathes, to stiffen them up for doing precision work on them. A lot of home shops produced a lot of the small parts during the war, they were supplied the material, and once a week someone would come by to pick up the product.
The basic method, was to set your lathe on a piece of plywood, and mark the mounting holes, then the lathe was removed, a mold frame was built to the size of the table. Holes were bored thru the ply wood, and studs were set into the plywood for the anchor points of the lathe. Then you would coat the plywood, and frame with a release agent, set rebar in it, then pour the concrete. After it had cured you would knock the frame off. You would then get your friends and turn it over and mount on table, then mount the lathe. Supposedly stopped the vibration, and flexing of the smaller lathes.
 
I suspect the scrap steel you are using to make the stand is worth far more than the new lathe.
The poured concrete is a good idea. Just incase the whole thing in it and presto a boat ancor.
 
Here are some pictures of the stand I made for an older Seneca Falls 9" X 60" lathe. The legs are 3" square tube with leveling screws on the bottom. The top plates for the lathe legs are 3/4" plate, and the chip pan is made from 16 ga sheet metal. The pan slides out for cleaning on pieces of 1" angle iron welded to the bottom of each leg mount plate. There are spreader bars between the legs made of 1 1/2" square tube. I've used this stand over 12 years and haven't found any need for improvements.
 

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Lowcountrycamo
You must have been rooting around in some of the old WW2 info to come up with that stand. There was a bulletin put out buy the gov in WW2 on how to pour up a base for the small home lathes, to stiffen them up for doing precision work on them. A lot of home shops produced a lot of the small parts during the war, they were supplied the material, and once a week someone would come by to pick up the product.
The basic method, was to set your lathe on a piece of plywood, and mark the mounting holes, then the lathe was removed, a mold frame was built to the size of the table. Holes were bored thru the ply wood, and studs were set into the plywood for the anchor points of the lathe. Then you would coat the plywood, and frame with a release agent, set rebar in it, then pour the concrete. After it had cured you would knock the frame off. You would then get your friends and turn it over and mount on table, then mount the lathe. Supposedly stopped the vibration, and flexing of the smaller lathes.

Yeah, I found it in one of the stickies on the Monarch forum I believe. It is solid, quick, and cheap!
 
I suspect the scrap steel you are using to make the stand is worth far more than the new lathe.
The poured concrete is a good idea. Just incase the whole thing in it and presto a boat ancor.

For what I needed, I got the most for my money. I'm not building 4000bar pumps or anything like that. Have you used a jet, honden, enco or any of the other china lathes? I'm a young dog.
 
scrapstand4.jpgscrapstand5.jpg
http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z5/jwilson4940/scrapstand4.jpg
http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z5/jwilson4940/scrapstand5.jpg
I will probably just go with triangle bracing from the feet to the center on the back and 2 pieces of 2X3 slid between the plates to connect the center plate to the upper plates that the lathe mounts to. When I had it level, about 1/4 turn of a 3/4"x10 bolt got it to wobble, So about .025 of flex before lifting. With the additional stiffening and continuing the weld beads on the plates, I hope to be at the same 1/4 turn when the lathe is on it. I also have about 300lbs of small 1/4" plates that I can use for making it more solid if I need to. The back goes further down and has the feet extended. I extended the rear feet for increased stability because I plan to add 2 3"x3" uprights to have 3 shelves at 5' 6' & 7' above the lathe with some lighting under the 5' shelf. I will cut 1" holes in the top and 3.125" in the bottom and weld solid 1"x3.75"x3" blocks into the middle of the feet and tap them for 3/4"X16 bolts to push down on capped hockey pucks. A picture when done will probably be the only thing to explain it.
 








 
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