Setting Up a Jet Mini

I have a different mini than the Jet but I just set mine on a shop bench when I use it. Most of the time it is just for small spindles and they do not "walk." A broom and dust pan work well for the mini. For the larger lathes a snow shovel is great. I use a dust collector any time I am sanding.

A cabinet which allows the lathe to be mounted as far forward as possible to allow you to snuggle up to the front is great. Elevate the mounting above the top on a couple of blocks to assure your motor movement and easy shaving collection from between the ways. Taper or slant the front legs out so the footprint extends eight inches from the lathe centerline for countering thrust, and weight shouldn't be necessary. Especially if you use a cabinet made of melamine chipboard or such, which is pretty heavy in its own right. If you use weird-shaped blocks, you might want to remember to load the bottom shelf of the cabinet with some heavy tools to keep it from lifting off the rear legs.

I like my leaf bag snugged up in front of the piece to catch shavings generated on convex shapes, and the wall behind or a barrier extending up from the rear of the cabinet which limits the travel of shavings thrown from the interior of bowls. You grab a handful now and then as they heap up and pitch 'em into the sack. Additional benefit is it is a constant reminder to _not_ step into the disintegration zone beside the turning. You want to expose the least of yourself to possible accidents, so that exposes your left hand only, and that normally behind and below the rest.

Hi Mike, Welcome to rcw and thanks for joining in. I don't think your Jet mini will walk when just sitting on its feet while turning pens, etc. Mine doesn't.

I don't think 'strong and heavy' stands are really necessary for the mini, tho always a good thing. Space allowing, shop built stands are very convenient for laying out tools in use, storing tools and accessories. and for providing a place for 110 V outlets.

If space is limited, consider suspending the little lathe above your workbench, to be lowered when you want to use it. Trouble is, if it's like mine, your bench is always cluttered. :)

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter

I kept my Midi on a dedicated stand made from one sheet of 3/4" oak veneered MDF. Worked very well for the three years or so that I had it. Now that it's in it's new home, it stays on a shelf, and is moved onto a bench when the guy wants to use it. It's just going to depend on whether or not you want to move around a 70# hunk of cast iron whenever you want to play with it or not. I still have the old stand in my turnery with my big lathe, and it makes a handy extra table- and it's still just as sturdy as the day I made it. Once I finish making my Gingery metal lathe, that's the stand it will be mounted to.

The stand I made was a basic tv-style stand with an open front, a bottom, one shelf, and the top set into dadoes in the sides and back, a back set into dadoes on the sides There is also a 3" lip under the top in the front to give the top a little extra rigidity. To keep it from walking, I set the 125# of sand-filled weights from a cheap set of free weights on the bottom inside the cabinet, though sandbags or milk jugs filled with sand would serve the same purpose. It could have been bolted to the wall, but I did a fair amount of hollowing on it, and I found it was nice to be able to slide the cabinet out for better access to the inside of convex forms. Standard bolts and washers held the lathe to the cabinet.

The top shelf was for sandpaper and various lathe accessories. The main downside to the cabinet was that it would collect a lot of chips and sawdust, but a pair of doors would have taken care of that, if I had ever bothered to add them.

Another idea is one that I use for a rolling cabinet- I salvaged a pair of old kitchen cabinets from a remodeling job a while back, along with a section of the countertop that was originally on it. I glued and screwed the two together, remounted the top, made a 2x4 base to hold them together on the bottom, and set the whole works on a set of locking casters. When it's full of tools and the wheels are locked, it would be plenty strong and heavy enough to set a mini lathe on- and the wheels allow you to roll it out of your way when you're not using it.

They're not necessary for pen turning, true- but I didn't think I'd be making any bowls or hollowing when I got mine either, and before I upgraded, I was putting things on the little lathe that would have make it really hop if it wasn't bolted to a good heavy stand. Even with about 385# of total weight (lathe, MDF, and weights,) a mini can still make a stand walk around the turnery with an unbalanced blank loaded on it.

Unless you're 100% positive you're never going to want to push the little tool to it's limits, it's probably sensible to built the stand as strong and heavy as you can.

One other note on this as well- whatever you build is likely to be top-heavy with the lathe on it. Make sure the stand is a bit larger than the lathe is, or you risk flipping the whole works over- I can easily imagine that at least one person has made a stand that was exactly the size of the base of a lathe out of angle iron or something, only to find themselves in a bit of pain when it tips over on their legs. (Remembering moving the midi into my new shop a couple of years ago, and spilling it, cabinet and all, off the furniture dolly and onto my kneecap when I hit a bit of ice.... not a fun experience!)

Your JET mini look anything like this?

Though it's shown against the wall, when I move it to the space I'm clearing out (currently full of boards waiting to become furniture) I'll be able to get to not only the front and tail stock end, but to the back as well. The latter is nice WHEN, not if, you get to turning plates, bowls and maybe even larger hollow forms. At that time I'll also add riser blocks to bring the lathe up where hollowing is done - bending over when hollowing is literaly a pain in the neck - and back.

I know you only have turning pens in mind NOW, but at some point you'll probably get a chuck. THEN things get interesting. So when you get there, this might be of help when you get to "turned lidded boxes" - my current obsession..

If you have the variable speed version of the JET mini - walking can be kept to a minimum by dialing back the speed from where vibration becomes a problem. Switching pulleys is inconvenient so folks don't change speeds as often as they probably should. Have fun with that lathe - cause you may spend a small fortune on accessories.

charlie b

Hi Mike

I have one of those small lathes, and I bought it to take along and turn small stuff on it, when I bought it I also got a Black & Decker Workmate table, easy to set up and clamp the lathe onto, and very compact when folded. If you are tall the height might not be to your liking, but it is just fine for me, the lathe has never walked away with the workmate yet, the setup is pretty stable.

Have fun and take care Leo Van Der Loo

snipped-for-privacy@hotmelt.com wrote:

John,

I'm in the drawing stage for making a mini lathe stand and saw your post. I went off to find the tool chest to do the trick. They have one or more of four basic problems:

1 - they are too narrow side to side. Many are at 26-1/2". My lathe needs 29" 2 - They are too wide - 40"+ 3 - They cost too much. $100 plus before motor accommodation. 4 - All would require me to trash the top and the drawers anyway to add the motor ( VL100 without motor).

I'm building a stand.

I did have a Delta mini and used the Workmate for the portable stand. Works great.

Joe Flem> Hmmmmm, this thread got me to thinking (dangerous for sure) and

Joe,

Thanks for the feedback - it looked good > John,

As has been noted in several previous discussion on lathe benches, bolting the lathe bench to the wall isn't a good idea - especially if you have anything else hung on that wall - like shelves of parts, finishes or wood storage. You will, when a chunk of wood is first mounted and spun, get some vibration. The faster you spin it the more you'll get - and the more force will be involved. Shaking shit off the wall is NOT a good idea. Better to add weight to the bench/stand, inertia being your friend, than to transfer vibration to your shop's structure - and anything attached to that structure.

Because floor space is usually at a premium, at first glance, putting a lathe bench agains the wall seems to make sense. AFTER you've played with the lathe for a while it starts to make sense having access front AND back AND off the tail stock end.

Don't forget the other stuff that is associated with a lathe, chucks, jaws, chisels and gouges, chuck keys, drive centers, live centers, dead centers, - and on an on. If you put them in drawers that presents two "challenges" - keeping chips, curlies and debris out of the drawers - and digging through drawers looking for something - often in less than the best lighting conditions.

But if you can get all that stuff ON THE WALL - no hunting, no bending over to get into a drawer or to a shelf under the bench and chips, dust and curlies that do get on the stuff can be blown off easily. Check out the last pic on this page. Amazing how much stuff accumulates around a lathe, even a mini/midi

charlie b