Reducing length of lathe bed

[Escudo]

Hello fellas.

Is it possible to reduce the length of lathe bed without compromising stability. Say from 5ft to 3ft?

Wonder if anyone else has done this?

Might be a crackpot idea
Cheers Tony.

 

[CHJ]

If it is a bar or tube bed then no problem in most cases.

If it's cast then there is going to be a certain amount of engineering involved in stabilizing the cut end to keep the casting spacing and alignment true. Not impossible but may need the assistance of someone with metal cutting bandsaw at minimum if not a milling machine to produce clean square cut faces.

Philly cut his solid bars down with a hand hacksaw in 2006 to make room for more Plane Paraphernalia .

 

[Mike Wingate]

No don't do it! If you need the space, make a small extension for the workshop, As soon as you cut it off you will need to turn objects longer than you can.

 

[nev]

hi, i have a record cl2 and the previous owner had cut about 12inches of the bars to fit it in his shed (which i didnt realise til i followed all the instructions and measured and drilled my bench, then found the bars a bit short :evil: )
i have no problems and it shows no signs of instability
HTH
.

 

[Escudo]

Thanks for the thoughts fellas.

Haven't quite decided what to do, still mulling over options.

Cheers, Tony.