Lathe Bench ?

[llangatwgnedd]

Got to move the lathe onto another wall.

Does a bench attached to a wall give more vibration than a freestanding bench ?

Iwant to keep the footprint as small as posible so one attached to the wall will give the footprint I require.

cheers

 

[Anonymous]

My lathe bench, when attached to the wall suffered less from any vibration... could be that the mass of the wall added to that of the bench absorbs better... just helped a friend to add 6 x 25k bags of sand to his lathe.... loadsa mass!!

 

[trevtheturner]

The bench supplied for my lathe was no good for my height (6'5") so I built mine with two pillars (18" x 18") of concrete blocks, topped across the full width with 1" MDF, then the lathe bed bolted through the MDF into the concrete pillars. All built so that the axis between centres is at exactly the correct height for me. The pillars are some 6" from a wall, but the MDF extends back to the wall, so giving me a useful 'bench top' some 24" front to back x about 5 and 1/2 feet long.

No vibration whatsoever with this arrangement.

The space between the pillars provides a useful cupboard for lathe and other turning accessories. My tool rack is easily accessible on the wall behind the lathe, as are my sealers, oils, polishes, etc.

The bench in total cost about 30 quid (compared with £100 for two pressed steel ends from the lathe manufacturer, for me to supply the timber to complete a free-standing bench).

Cheers,

Trev.

 

[Neville Lawler]

I had the same problem with footprint, so I have mounted the lathe on a bench mounted to the wall without any vibration problems. My bench is simply brackets made from 2x4 offcuts and a piece of reject kitchen worktop. The lathe is attached to a piece of 18mm plywood and laid on top of a piece of router mat to prevent movement.
Not the best looking bench, but practical and cheap and no vibration.
Neville

 

[PowerTool]

My lathe is bench-mounted - the bench is built-in to the space I had,so also provides worktop space,and cupboard space underneath.
The bench is fastened to the wall,and there is hardly any vibration.

 

[docusk]

I just bought a new Record CL 36. Had to discard the old bench (from an old fabricated Sanders lathe which was working fine up till I ditched it.)
Built a new one, fastened to breeze block wall of garage with 2" X 2" battens at left end and along back. Bench bed is a 38mm kitchen worktop cut to 1.5 m X 0.5 m. Three legs left, centre and right, that on lhe left is made from an old 4" X 4" newel post from a very old (100 years or more) building secured with a 3 " coach screw down through the bench and bolted to concrete floor with angle bracket. The other two are 2 X 2 screwed with (centre) 2 1/2" coach screw and (right) with a 3" X 8 wood screw and both these also fixed to the concrete floor.
I found the workpiece vibrated excessively using the woodscrew in the Record Scroll chuck, managed to cut a dovetail hole for the main work which will be a clock. The workpiece is a circle of Beech about 8" dia and 1" thick.
When I put it on to the scroll chuck the vibration was almost as bad, even using all four speeds.
Have I done anything wrong by the look of what I've told you all?

docusk

 

[docusk]

Neville Lawler. Is the 18 mm ply in addition to |(i.e. on top of) the kitchen top, also where get the router mat?

old soke. How are you using the sandbags please|?

docusk

 

[RATWOOD]

docusk
I filled money bags with sand and old engine oil and put them into a box on the bottom of the lathe

 

[docusk]

Ratwood, thanks for reply.
Does that mean between the bed bars and the bench? Or, across the bed bars?
I have thought about putting some braces across between the legs and then fitting a strong shelf. I did have a look at a proper base but it looked as much use as a chocolate teapot to me. Also someone else suggested bolting some angle iron underneath the bench directly in line with the bed bars.
I'm very disappointed with the new Record really. My old Sanders lathe, cheapo machine, did me OK for years until I think the head bearings are going a bit.

docusk

 

[RATWOOD]

Hi docusk
putting some braces between the legs and then fit a box

 

[docusk]

Ratwood.
Yeah, sounds good. I'll get on it on Thursday - first spare time I have this week. thanks a bunch.

docusk

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Docusk
Sorry for the late reply... haven't been on the forum for several days

The lathe was an Axminster 950... the lower part of the leg supports were boxed in from the bottom shelf to about 150mmm from the bottom of the lathe bed (inside the frame to maximise support)... the bags of sand (straight from Wickes) were put in whole!

The rationale being that when it came to moving, sand in bags is far easier than loose sand!!!!

That said the last bag was used loose to gap fill.

To make life easier a series of 30mm holes were drilled along the centre line of a piece of 100mm wide ply... sawn down through the hole centres. Each piece was screwed to the top edge of the 'sandbox'... stops tools rattling around and less likely to be obscured by shavings...

 

[docusk]

Things have moved on a bit. The vibration has been reduced substantially as I took a close look at the scribed mark on the headstock - it swivels to make it possible to do bigger bowls - and found it was just a tad off. I then found on the Record Tools site a 4 page article on reducing vibration and took the advice to put the pointed centres in the headstock and the tailstock, bring them into close proximity and adjust gently tapping the h/stock with a mallet till they were in complete line. It worked.
There is still marginal vibration this afternoon but I am chucking a solid cylinder of Bubinga - approx 5" long and 4" in diameter and after roughing it down for a few minutes there is just a bit of chatter of the bed bars.
So, maybe I'm getting there. I shall follow the advice re the sandbags 'cos I think that will damp the vibes at higher speeds.
Thanks all for help.

docusk

 

[PowerTool]

Glad it's going well - all we need now is some pictures :wink:

Andrew