Designs for free standing tool rest? And a small gloat.

[Dave Schell]

I turned my first squared edge bowl last night when it suddenly dawned on me that those square edges take up alot more of the diameter capacity of a lathe than does a round bowl. So on my Vicmarc 300VL with a 24" capacity, I could only chuck of a square piece about 16" x 16". Which has me looking at the outboard side of the lathe.

Plenty of outboard capacity there, but I need a freestanding tool rest out there. I know Vicmarc sells one that attaches to their lathe cabinets, but I built my own cabinet and want one that is freestanding, not attached. I also like making stuff instead of buying it if I can. So I'm headed to the scrap metal yard first thing in the morning, but wanted to see if anyone had a good design for a freestanding toolrest, or tips on how one should be designed. Do's and Don'ts most welcome. Thanks

Oh and a small gloat: booked my trip to AAW Symposium in Alburquerque this morning during a very long and boring work meeting. :D Enjoyed turning the square edge bowl so much last night that I thought "I gotta go to the symposium to learn more about how to do this." So it was a bit of a whim but I had some unused Southwest Airlines credits I had to use before July.

[Greg Just]

Good luck with the tool rest. Be sure to share pictures.

[curtis rosche]

for a tool rest, you could take one of those hand "stampers" they use for tamping down pavement and bolt or weld a bigger plate to the bottom, then replase the handle with a pipe.

we have a really nice outboard toolrest at shool made from steep pipe. i will get a picture on monday

[Scott Conners]

I've never used one, but I like the design of the Powermatic freestanding rest. Three legs means it's always sure footed, and it'd be fairly easy to make something similar. You can find pictures are retailers.

[Brian McInturff]

Mark Norman got creative and used a section of scaffolding and a beam. Looked like it worked well and it looked very stable. Just an otion if you're in a pinch and have any scaffolding around.

[Dave Schell]

Yea, I was hoping Mark would start on his tool rest already so I could see how he builds it. Instead he's been spending all his time turning bowls! Imagine that! ;)

[Joshua Dinerstein]

The Mustard Monster website had a whole set of various options on one of their pages.

Here is a link if this is OK:

http://docs.google.com/View?docID=d4b7vjd_20gb55hr&revision=_latest

Joshua

[Joshua Dinerstein]

And so as not to be evil in posting a link off here is one for the Creek. :)

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=79757

Joshua

[Mark Norman]

Yeah, the scaffolding worked so well that my desire to replace it has waned. I have not yet decided if I want it entirely free standing or off an articulating arm attached to the lathe. Something like this :http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showpost.php?p=1144354&postcount=1 only bigger and the post supporting the tool rest would extend all the way to the floor.

[Dave Schell]

Joshua, thanks for the links - interesting information and helped change my mind from building a free-standing tool rest to an attached one like the Vicmarc articulating arm (as Mark is planning to build as well).

So, I scored some really nice scrap steel: two 90 degree angle pieces for mounting the arm to the lathe stand, two pieces of 3x3 square tubing for the arm (each about 16" long), a 2x2 SS sleeve to hold the upright, and a solid SS upright about 48" tall.

Here's the question - I need to have a 1" hole by 6" deep drilled in the top of the solid upright bar to actually mount the tool rest in. This is definately a job for a machine shop to get it dead accurate. I've never dealt with a machine shop before - will most of them do a simple job like that? and how much should I expect to pay for that? Thanks for any insights!

[Mark Norman]

I had a local shop that builds cattle feeding equipment make the spindle for my machine. Cost me twenty-something for the 1-3/4 bar stock and $95 for an hour machine shop rate.
I found the vicmark one on their website and will be modeling mine after it.
Sounds like you have a good plan, what is the diameter of the upright?

I'll be waiting for pics Dave.

[Steve Frederick]

How about an old car wheel with an upright welded to it?
You could fill it with concrete for ballast (after taping over the bolt holes).
If you used black iron pipe, you could drill and tap it for a bolt to clamp the actual tool rest.

[Dave Schell]

Steve, reading the various posts on this, it seems the better design is an outboard tool rest that attaches to the lathe rather than a freestanding rest. Apparently the former "moves" with the lathe. The attached one that mimics the Monster articulating arm is actually a pretty simple design. I hope to post some pictures after the weekend.

[Dick Strauss]

Dave,
I'd suggest that you can get away with a 3" deep hole (2"+ of holding power and 1" of movement worst case. The deeper you drill, the more it will probably cost.

I don't know what your plans are but I'd make the shaft that holds the tool rest go all the way to the floor for support. You might consider incorporating a leveling/raising screw in the bottom to adjust the height for good floor contact.

Let us know how it turns out for you.

[Mark Norman]

I plan on basing mine off of this vicmarc outboard tool rest. except using steel stock instead of cast iron.


http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t116/triangle5/lathe%20build/outboard-alone.jpg

[David Christopher]

this one is easy and works pretty good

[Jarrod McGehee]

David C., does a freestanding toolrest like that move at all when you're turning? wouldn't it rock and vibrate??

[Chip Sutherland]

but I haven't executed it yet but here's what I'm thinking....:rolleyes:. I have no metal working skills so much of my idea will find/use materials I don't have to weld. (that's a future skill to learn).

I plan to build a tall narrow 4-side pyramid box out of plywood and pour concrete into it. This will be the ballast. It's got to be narrow enough that I can my feet/stance are comfort in front of it and work a tool on a tool rest. I will form a hole into the top and insert metal pipe/sleeve that is 1" inside diameter for a tool rest and post. I plan to reuse my existing tool rests or purchase better ones later. If I need to offset the tool rest some, then I'll find a friend who can weld or go to a collision repair shop and pay a fee. I'm willing to drill and tap for a set screw to fix the tool rest.

To move it around, I'll mount wheels on the side so all I need to do is tip it over to engage the wheels on the ground.

I've also thought about mounting free weights to a post embedded in the concrete to increase the ballast. Weights can be bought at any used sporting goods store cheaply. We bought 175lbs for a catapult counterweight a couple of years ago.

I'm sure folks will have comments that will improve the design. CAD drawings would be helpfull, too. :D

[David Christopher]

David C., does a freestanding toolrest like that move at all when you're turning? wouldn't it rock and vibrate??
Jarrod, no it dosent move.. its hard to see in the pic but it has metal bar around the bottom and I put a piece of plywood on it with a bag of quickcrete on that ( not shown in pic ) and it is as steady as the one on the ways

[curtis rosche]

another thing you can do to weigh it down. i saw a toolrest that it was made of heavy pipe, but then instead of having extra weight on it that makes it harder to move when needed, it had a peice of plywood attached to the base and extended towards the operator. the person turning would stand on it to weight it down. then it was a lot lighter to move when done