Lathe Stand Design

Light-duty 11" lathe 14" over the gap. Probably 36" between centers. Half-horse 1725 would be fine, though 3/4 wouldn't be a lot more costly.

Plan the centerline for your elbow height, and plan to elevate the bed on blocks so you can clean underneath the bed. It's a PITA to have to hook the shavings out.

Make rigid endpieces for your stand, including legs which extend about 25% farther than the swing. That way they'll counter the thrust forward and down. I like a cabinet between ends, because my shop's pretty small to give away space. Weight is supplied by the contents. Aft and low is the most effective place for weight. Won't need a lot, I'm sure, because you'll do your best to balance your pieces prior to mounting.

Shows what I'm using.

Boxed in area at the bottom so you can use sand. Many tire dealerships have sand in tubes pretty cheap. Normally used for adding weight and for emergency traction in winter. A clean solution for the lathe.

You're adding weight so that it will not move. Not sure I'd want wheels on a lathe that would see heavy use. That said, you should find some way to allow the wheels to retract when not needed, or use a mobile base - a heavy duty mobile base.

Someone mentioned a 1/2hp motor. I'd go with a 3/4 or higher.

Bill,

Woodsmith magazine has a lathe stand as the feature item way back around issue #12. You can adapt the dimensions for your lathe. I built one for my first lathe and it meets all your requirements.

I made it out of three layers of 3/4" MDF trimmed in maple or poplar. My modifications to the basic design: Changed the dimensions for my lathe. Cut a hole in the top on the left for the motor under the bench. Hinged the motor like a contractor tablesaw motor to tension the belt and change belt positions. Made a false front door to look like a pair of drawers. Two drawers on the right instead of one. Made the sand box deeper for more sand.

Joe Fleming - San Diego

Take a look at Keith Rowley's book Woodturning-- A Foundation Course. On page 22 he shows how to make a lathe bench. Try a book store, Rocklers or Woodcraft. If they have it you can check it out to see if it fits your needs. It is also a good turning book.

Bruce

Bill Leonhardt wrote: SNIP

The lathe doesn't have a stand so I'll make one for it.

Thanks George, Derek, Lobby, Joe and Bruce for your replys. I would have thanked you sooner, but I lost news group access for a few days...so it goes.

I really appreciate the advice about being sure the "stance" is adequate. I can see where that is important. Also, I had planned on adding weight to the stand via cement blocks (so I could remove them easily for moving), however, after thinking about it for a while, the sand would probably be better at damping vibration.

Lastly, a little thing like leaving clearance under the bed for clean-up wasn't obvious to me and putting it in, I'm sure, will make my life a lot easier.

Thanks again,

Bill Leonhardt

Best way to dampen vibration is to make the stand rigid. Proper bracing will reduce the elasticity to about zero. Weight just holds it to the floor when you're swinging an unbalanced load, which is also why you want the legs to splay out in the front. Of course wood has been turned over wooden beds for thousands of years, so maybe "vibration dampening" only becomes necessary with excessive speed.

If you consider that the off-balance load accelerates toward you, reaching maximum leverage at 9:00, but maximum force somewhere closer to 7:30 (velocity squared, you remember), you can see that you want your weight placed to the rear and low. What it wants to do is lift the rear legs. You can take advantage of the CG shift temporarily by wedging the forward legs upward on piece you can't get close to balance.