OT: Wooden benches for lathes

I see many examples of small to medium lathes mounted on wooden benches.
Some are nice looking, others just utilitarian, but still plenty rugged. Given all the talk about twisting, leveling, etc. in regards to the lathe bed and the fact that most of these seem to be bolted down and wood expands and contracts.... is this always a bad idea? If so, could this be mitigated by only bolting the headstock and not the tailstock or loosely bolting the the tail with valve springs
underneath to allow some give?

Rugged yes, rigid? don't think so, unless you can get a deal on 'Iron Wood'. I have a Kennedy Maintenance Cart 37" x 18" with a 36" x 17 1/2" x 1/2" steel plate, I also relocated the motor to the plate as it was bolted directly to the lath bed without and antivibration considerations.

Wood benches are nice to work on but I personally would never 'mount' a machine tool (mill\Lathe) to a wooden bench, nor would I buy the 'stock' machine mounts as they are way too small, short and no storage.

My 2 pesos,
Chazz

There are effective ways of making wooden benches which minimise overall movement effects. Needs well seasoned timber of a size and quality probably unobtanium and certainly unaffordable (for said purpose) in this day and age. That said the levelling / twist / accuracy thing is taken to silly extremes by many of the Home Shop crowd expecting greater precision than the machine was made to in the first place.

The modern "improved woods" i.e bits glued together under pressure are remarkably stable. Especially if properly sealed. I've used heavy duty kitchen work-tops under SouthBend and similar sized lathes with great success in the past and know for a fact that movement was minimal for at least 15 years on the one I kept longest. Re-levelling and re-alignment being undertaken only as part of the so called annual; actually when I remembered at rather longer intervals; part strip, clean and re-lubrication service never as a necessity due to movement. Better than a thou per foot on diameter sufficed for my purposes. Generally about half that in practice.

Clive

Machine Tool benches.

The Only machine tool I ever Bolted to a Wooden "Desk-bench" was a Emco Unimat SL ( miniature Lathe). All my other machine tools are either "Free standing" ( big enough to incorporate their own stands of cast iron construction ) or on Welded Angle-iron stands ( 1/4 to 3/8 inch thick, 2-4 inch angle).
MY Hercus ( SB Clone) is on a welded 1 inch angle frame, steadied by internal Drawer shelving with all my Offcuts of Brass bar and Steel bar...about 1 ton of metal. Thus Nothing "moves". The Mill-Drill stand is instead, heavy angle, with 4 inch hardwood insert bench work but bolting down is thru to the Angle iron....also not a candidate for "Motion."

I do agree, the pressed steel "cabinet stands" sold by machinery dealers for some of the medium-sized machines are worse than useless. Especially if they hide Electrical switch boxes etc. More likely to go "Live"... All accessory switch gear should be on the wall, except that directly connected to safe machine operation.

Regards,
Doc AV
Turning raw steel into Gun parts since 1967.

Carefull, this may get locked due to the "hobbiest" nature.

I consider a Monarch 10EE a small lathe. Our "medium" machines are 15" slant bed lathes. Neither of which you'd mount on wood. Maybe something like a 9" SB?
JR

Machine Tool benches.

The Only machine tool I ever Bolted to a Wooden "Desk-bench" was a Emco Unimat SL ( miniature Lathe). All my other machine tools are either "Free standing" ( big enough to incorporate their own stands of cast iron construction ) or on Welded Angle-iron stands ( 1/4 to 3/8 inch thick, 2-4 inch angle).
MY Hercus ( SB Clone) is on a welded 1,5 inch angle frame, steadied by internal Drawer shelving with all my Offcuts of Brass bar and Steel bar...about 1 ton of metal. Thus Nothing "moves". The Mill-Drill stand is instead, heavy ( 4 inch) angle, with 4 inch hardwood insert bench work but bolting down is thru to the Angle iron....also not a candidate for "Motion."

I do agree, the pressed steel "cabinet stands" sold by machinery dealers for some of the medium-sized machines are worse than useless. Especially if they hide Electrical switch boxes etc. More likely to go "Live"... All accessory switch gear should be on the wall, except that directly connected to safe machine operation.

Regards,
Doc AV
Turning raw steel into Gun parts since 1967.

Wood is extremely stable in length, very, very unstable in width and in thickness.
That could be dealt with by slotted holes. And retightening bolts. And big heavy washers...
Twist and cupping would be the biggest problem , and the fact it is flat now does not mean it is going to stay flat tomorrow.

for detailed explanation try "Understanding Wood", by Bruce Hoadley,Professor of wood tech, MIT.

My lathe at home sits an old stand used in a caterpillar tractor shop from moving large engines around, it is on good casters.

Its just made from heavy pipe and angle iron with heavy wood planks on top. It will hold 2+ tons easy. You could put a pick up truck on it no problem.

It can go outside on a nice day so it can work in the sunshine.

i have my 9 sb mounted to a cabinet i biult out of 3/4 plywood for the top i use 3/4 mdf this is saw dust glue pressed in heat = very stable and dense . i make them 2 sheets thick 1 1/2. screw on 3" centers. iv fond no glue works best cause inless you have a big press you will cause voids between them. then i finish of with some sheet metal bent with 2" front and a 6" backsplash. this is a very solid top i use in my shop for work benches and it dnt brake the bank. for my 9 sb this works great i have 5 drws and some shelf space in the base to put all my tooling etc. for litle lathes i dont think it maters a hole lot most of us home machinest dont even have the equipment to be adom spliting acurate. i think i could have just opened a can wormes with that coment lol

Wood is a fine mount for small machines...........if you put down a metal top over it...... Something like 40lb plate would be fine............

My Wade 94 Vari Drive is on it's original Wood topped cabinet.

But the Wade is really a pedestal lathe bed and could very likely be mounted on a skate board and still hold it's shape.

YMMV