Riser blocks for a lathe

[Howardbell]

I was wondering if anyone has fitted riser blocks to there lathe to increase the swing?
The reason I ask is that I've made a banjo and would like to make a few more. The rims that I want to make are 12 to 14 inches diameter and I'm griping them with some Cole jaws. I'm looking to buy a new lathe (new to me, not new new) but it means that I need a swing over 7.5 inch.
There looks to be a choice of lathes with a 7in swing and adding 1/2 or 3/4 inch risers to one would give me the space I need.
Has anyone any thoughts on this with regard to safety, material, etc.
Any comments will be greatfully received.

 

[NazNomad]

A lot of the lathes have the function to turn the headstock through 90 degrees and use it with larger lumps of wood (I think the Charnwood lathe states up to 18 inches).

If you put riser blocks in, everything would be that much higher to work on and possibly uncomfortable.


Nice banjo, by the way.

 

[Howardbell]

Thanks for that. Sorry, I should have added that I'm using a cross slide table mounted on the lathe bed for most of the turning. Turning the head 90 degrees would not help in this case.
I was thinking that aluminium plate would be best, but I'm open to suggestions.

 

[Silverbirch]

Maybe your lathe`s design would allow you to slide the headstock to the tail end, remove the tailstock, and rig up a temporary toolrest so you can work off the end of the lathe?

 

[Dalboy]

Personally I would think about buying a lathe with the required swing over the bed rather than the messing about trying to raise the headstock

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

when you said banjo.......

 

[LaymarCrafts]

I have inserted risers under the Headstock of my Lathe for a commission I had which was larger in diameter than the swing over the bed.

I had two lengths of 25mm square Mild Steel which I placed across the Lathe Bed with the Headstock sitting on top.

My Headstock is secured to the bed by a central bolt which I had to increase in length by 25mm, I in fact used a length of M12 Screwed Rod with a Nut top and bottom.

Worked well with no issues and returned the Headstock to normal once the commission was completed.

Richard

 

[Robbo3]

OT. Richard, I do miss your old web site. It was a fund of practical knowledge.

 

[Stiggy]

There are a couple of people who show how to do this on YouTube.

The original one was done by Al Furtado:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYE9owv8jGk

and another one by Keith Barrow:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VfTbnA1iVE