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I'm too tall/my lathe is too short. Ideas for raising it?

Ksracer

Aluminum
Joined
Nov 28, 2015
I'm 6'4" and I recently acquired a Kingston HJ-1700. With the machine setting at normal height, I'm bent over in an uncomfortable position to reach the controls, and I'd like to raise it about 6". This is a semi-permanent installation, it might be there for a year, or 15. The simplest solution seems to be pouring some thick concrete pads on the floor under each end and then leveling the machine out on top of them, but that might be a little more permanent than I like. The other option would be to bolt some heavy square tubing to the bottom of the pedastals and relocate the jack screws to the bottom of them before leveling.
I'm certainly not the first person to run into this problem, has any body seen any clever solutions?
 
I had a frame welded up from 3x4 tubing with 4” round pipe sections housing leveling feet. It has worked great. I’ll try to get a picture or two posted. I have shown this before but don’t see it in my attachments here. I think maybe some pics were lost in a forum upgrade. You might do a search on posts by me to find it because maybe I’m not looking hard enough.
 
Concrete pads with a bond break...just knock them loose if you want.
We used non shrink grout under leveling pads with a bond break.
It would pop right up later.
 
I installed drop anchors(3/8?) at all four bolt down locations. I took 6" PVC water pipe and cut four pieces 12" long. Coffee cans or dollar store water pichers would do.
I made a base form of ply wood to align the mold and the core hole. I put a piece of small pvc off set from center then dropped the 6" pipe over it vertical. I then filled the pipe to level with wet concrete keeping the core pipe located correctly. Let it set a few hours then I pulled the core pipe leaving a vertical hole top to bottom.
I let each pedestal dry for 2-3 days. then I set them in a bucket of water for a week to harden. Pulled them out and let therm dry a few days.
Put all thread in each anchor so it stuck up 12" plus some extra. drop the pedestal over the all thread and then sit the lathe on top of the four pedestals. I placed a metal plate on top of each one to spread the load from the base jack bolts. I installed a washer and nut on each bit of allthread so it can not fall off. Finger tight is enough unless you get involved in lathe leveling with the jackscrews.
Bill D.

I could have pulled the pipe forms and only used one but I felt my concrete skills would not look pretty and I had enough short pieces of pipe kicking around. I spray painted them before installation.
I went 12" high for comfort and a little above comfort level so I could slide milk crates of stuff under the lathe foot bar. It will also allow me to crawl under to adjust the brake and other stuff if needed.
 
Wooden blocks crossed my mind. Any concern with humidity causing them to swell and taking the machine out of level?
 
Wooden blocks crossed my mind. Any concern with humidity causing them to swell and taking the machine out of level?

Yup, and them being on the floor, will soak up oil, coolant, dog pee, etc.

I would suggest a box tube frame, and put some channels in it spaced for
a pallet jack, will make moving it easier.
 
Had a Mori MS-850 with the same problem. Used it to make some risers out of 4" round cold rolled, they were about 5" tall. Not sure what's up with making complicated frames or concrete work. Slugs took about half hour to make, put under the machine jackscrews so you still have leveling, machine is up in the air so easy to get a forklift under.
 
I looked up the weight, 3960 pounds.

Two lengths of 6x6 box with levelling pads on each end.

If you use wood then it might take a set. Especially with the fast grown species at the lumber yard (these days).
 
I raised my Kingston HJ-1700 a bit too, maybe 1.5" or something, I'm only 5'9". I just turned Al pucks with a little raised edge for the feet pads to fit into.
Forget wood to try to keep a machine level and untwisted. Solid Metal pads or pour a couple good dense concrete blocks.
One issue is the break pedal will be pretty high with that other 6" so you may want to look at modifying that to have it closer to the floor and still work fine.
 
For a modest weight of 2 or 3 tons, I'd just use stacks of plywood, if it's handy. Better than a solid timber, because that can warp, and has unknown power to twist or lift the machine. You can still use a 4" diameter steel pad on top, under the levelling screws. Yeah, it might settle into the wood a little over a few years, but it will actually marry itself better to the floor and the pad, compared to a steel tube frame that may rock and slide around.
 
Had a Mori MS-850 with the same problem. Used it to make some risers out of 4" round cold rolled, they were about 5" tall. Not sure what's up with making complicated frames or concrete work. Slugs took about half hour to make, put under the machine jackscrews so you still have leveling, machine is up in the air so easy to get a forklift under.

This. I have a 6000 lb lathe on chunks of steel about 6" tall, it's been that way for 30+ years. I've moved it around the shop a few times, have never had an issue. If you want a feeling of security, either turn a recess in the top or just put a large drillpoint in the top for the leveling screws to locate in. I didn't do this on this machine, but I have under CNC machines.
T
 
My approach was similar to a couple above; using a bond break and pouring high strength concrete pads. Difference was locating some anchors into the concrete floor first and using a bit of pvc pipe as part of the concrete form to give a through hole. If you're happy with where your lathe is sitting, except the height, that will show where to place the anchors. That was so the machine (in this case a mill) could also be bolted down. Cheap and pretty easy.
 
This. I have a 6000 lb lathe on chunks of steel about 6" tall, it's been that way for 30+ years. I've moved it around the shop a few times, have never had an issue. If you want a feeling of security, either turn a recess in the top or just put a large drillpoint in the top for the leveling screws to locate in. I didn't do this on this machine, but I have under CNC machines.
T

We do the same thing, flame cut discs out of 4" plate, drill point on-centre. Puts the carriage handwheel at about waist height, cross feed at bent-elbow height. Very comfortable on long days. Some of the Japanese CNC lathes have the spindle centre line at crotch height- bending over into them is painful.
 








 
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