Mounting a Mustard

[Burt Alcantara]

I've got all the pieces on the shop floor. If I want to get help to mount the bed to the legs I'm going to have to wait for a long while since all my normal helpers are elsewhere.

Some put the legs upright and attach the bed.
Some lay the bed on its side and attach the legs.
The manual says put the bed ways down and mount the legs.

What did you do?

Thanks,
Burt

[tim mathis]

hi,
i used a lift table and mounted the legs standing up in the finished position. you will love this lathe.
tim m.

[alex carey]

I put the bed upside down and then put the legs on top. If it is a flat surface they will be able to balance there and you can align them and put the bolts in.

this site might help.

http://docs.google.com/View?docID=d4b7vjd_19f4xnj9&revision=_latest

Alex

[Mike Peace]

I put the bed across two saw horses and mounted the legs up from the bottom with some blocking underneath to provide some support. An engineer friend of mine (not a turner) assisted me and rejected the method of putting the bed upside down on my concrete floor. He said this is high quality machinery and you don't want to be rolling it around on the floor. Yes, he was a little anal about it but that suited me fine.

When the time came to add a rise block to my Delta BS I called on him again because I knew he would delight in getting it exactly right.

[Don Carter]

Burt:
Congratulations, Burt! I know you are going to enjoy this monster. Many happy, returns!

All the best.

Don

[Pete Jordan]

Hey Burt,

I used an engine hoist and did not invert.

[Ron Hardy]

I got a new Mustard last week. (Haven't taken a picture yet ) Me and a friend turned the bed upside down on 2 x 4s then attached the legs. We were then able to tilt it to the floor and set it up. The only caution is that when we tilt it up, when it got to a certain angle to the concrete floor it wanted to slide, a third man would have been very helpful. The headstock is very heavy also.
Ron

[Burt Alcantara]

I rolled it off the dollies onto some 2x4 cut offs, then, inverted it. Bolted the legs on. With the help of my wife, we managed to get it upright. Cleaned off the gunk, got the wife to help with the headstock and now, all I need is a 220 plug.

Will show pictures in a little while.

Thanks for the replies,
Burt

[Ken Glass]

Burt,
Welcome to the "Mustard Monster Club." You will really like turning on this machine. Looks like where there is a will there's a way. Graduations on getting it together. "Of course, we believe you".........but we still need pictures. LOL

[Jeff Nicol]

When I did mine it was summer and I opened everything up in the truck with the tail gate of the truck in the garage. I slid the ways to the back of the truck and mounted one leg then took a sawhorse and made an extension on the top to be the same height as the leg. I then slid it out of the truck onto one leg and onto the sawhorse. Bolted on the other one and took out the sawhorse. The rest was pretty easy, I had a rolling taple that was just a little shorter than the lathe so I put the headstock on there and rolled it over and slid it on. Back when I got my Mustard I still had good shoulders and could lift things. I am 6' tall and 230lbs so the weight was not a real issue for me. Good luck and work safe, mechanical advantage is the key if you are alone and need some assistance.

Jeff

[Steve Schlumpf]

Burt - sounds like you got everything all figured out! Looking forward to seeing the photos!

[Gary Herrmann]

Engine hoist then attached the legs with the ways at the correct height.

[Richard Madison]

Tractor with front loader extended into garage end of the shop building.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Burt,

I installed the legs on my Mustard by myself. I have a Little Giant Ladder. I opened the box and removed everything but the lathe bed and headstock from the box. I slid the box on the pallet across the shop floor to the lathe's final position. I placed the Little Giant Ladder over one end of the lathe bed. I placed a piece of an old header across the top rungs of the ladder...wrapped a chain around it and then hung a Come-Along on it. I hooked one end of the Come-Along cable to one end of the lathe bed...slid the headstock to the other end and locked it down..and raise the end of the lathe bed. I bolted leg assembly on the raised end. Then I moved the ladder to the other end and repeated the process. It didn't take long and I was able to do it by myself.

[Marc Himes]

I was so excited that I couldn't wait for help and now I can't even remember how I did it! I think I used the saw horse technique described by Mike Peace. Congratulations Burt, it's a great machine.

Marc Himes

[Rich Boehlke]

I used a cherry picker type engine hoist suspending the bed and attaching the legs from below. The hoist also worked well to lift the headstock onto the bed. A nice thing about this type of hoist is that you can wheel the machine into place after assembly. I picked it up used on Craigs list fot $60.00.
Congrats on the new machine, you wont be disappointed.