Placement of your lathe

[Donny Lawson]

I've been looking at picture after picture and wondering what would be a general spot to put your lathe. Looks like most of them are against a wall. Looks like that would be a bad spot since thats where most shavings wind up,plus if a bowl flys off the lathe it will hit the wall and bounce somewhere(hopefully not back at you). I think a lathe should be put toward the middle of the floor. Whats your opinion?

[Dennis Ford]

My lathe is about 8 ft from the nearest wall (not that far from the nearest tool though). I like being able to stand on the back side for some hollowing work. If you do mostly spindle work or are very limited on space, against the wall makes sense. Another option would be to put the headstock near a wall and angle the tailstock end away from the wall.

[John Hart]

Mine is sorta against a wall, and I have to agree. The shavings really accumulate there. And they bury my tools, that I have strewn about back there. If my lathe was in the middle of the floor, it would force me to better organize my turning tool organization. When I eventually build a lathe....it'll be in the middle of the floor.

[David DeCristoforo]

For me, against the wall is not possible because I have no walls! Middle of the work area is what I like. Sometimes you need to work from the "back side" of the lathe or even hop on the bed and ride it. Outboard of the headstock is also important to keep clear (my headstock does not rotate). If I was going to put anything close to a wall it would be the tailstock end.

[John Keeton]

As a recovering flatworker, the tablesaw is the heart and soul of the shop - well, it used to be!!:o For that reason, my shop is arranged around the tablesaw, with the various other tools situated along the walls so that I can run long stock through the bandsaw, cut long stock through the miter station, etc. My lathe ended up in the only available space!!

However, if turning was the only woodworking I ever considered doing, the lathe would be in the center of the shop.

[Jack Gaskins]

Somewhere where you can work on bothsides of the lathe with ease. If you want your tools close buy then make a cart on wheels and have it behind and to your right. I plan on putting a shower curtain around my lathe,,,,I'm getting tired of cleaning up the entire garage from wood chips instead of just the lathe area.

[Thomas Canfield]

My Powermatic 3520 is the 800# gorilla and takes up a lot of room. It is almost in the middle of the shop because the shop is otherwise full. The ways height are same as tablesaw and it serves as infeed taable for saw and router inset in tablesaw extension after I more the headstock. Not desirable, but it works. I put up a shower curtain wall on 3 sides to drop most of the shavings close to the lathe, using a 8' high curtain behind me since I kept throwing shavings over the 6' standard curtains.

[Josh Bowman]

I've got my Jet 1642 kind of in the middle of the shop and can work from either side and have.....that I love. I've got my back though to the door and have had the begesies scared out of me when someone comes in! I'm not a jumpy kind of guy, but there is something about being totally lost in turning and sensing someone or something :eek: standing beside you........
It's gong to take some moving around but I for one am going to spin my lathe around to face the door one day.

[Ryan Baker]

IF you have the space in your shop to put the lathe out in the open, that is by far the best place to put it. Many of us don't have that kind of space luxury. Lathes tend to end up next to a wall because that's where they fit. There are plenty of times that you want access to the back side of the lathe though. Mine is at a diagonal to the wall. The headstock end is along the wall. The tailstock end is out a couple feet. That gives clearance for working with hollowing tools and such without taking up much more shop space. Like any other tool, give it as much space as you have available.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Donny,

I have my lathe positioned so that the bed is 2' from the wall. Shavings will get back there but they are easy to get to. I have 2 U shaped florescent lights above the lathe and have some melamine nailed to the wall to reflect light. The melamine makes it real easy to see the profile while turning!

190490

Hope that helps give you an idea of my setup!

[curtis rosche]

my lathe is in the garage, parallel with the big door, about 10ft from it. also its under a ceiling fan/light. i then have good lighting, fresh air from above or at least air momvent, and then a great veiw and fresh air from the front in the summer. also, space on both sides of the lathe gives you the ability to stand on both sides of the lathe

[James Combs]

I have both of my lathes perpendicular to a wall and about 3ft apart. The Jet 1642 is headstock to the wall, the Griz is tail-stock to the wall. The two are enclosed with in ceiling high shower curtains on three sides and the wall on the fourth. The arrangement allows me to work on both lathes by just turning 180* and gives me the ability to remove the Jet tail stock for turning off the end of the lathe.

[Greg Just]

I had mine against the wall, until I took a class where the lathe was perpendicular to the wall. My lathe is now in the middle of my shop about 4 feet in front of a workbench. The workbench is behind me when I am turning. I feel as confined as when the lathe was against the wall.

[Donny Lawson]

I've got my Jet 1642 kind of in the middle of the shop and can work from either side and have.....that I love. I've got my back though to the door and have had the begesies scared out of me when someone comes in! I'm not a jumpy kind of guy, but there is something about being totally lost in turning and sensing someone or something :eek: standing beside you........
It's gong to take some moving around but I for one am going to spin my lathe around to face the door one day.

I understand exactly what you mean but my Delta is facing the door and I was so involved in the bowl I was turning that I never saw my wife come in. Once I looked up she was just staring at me. It scarred the crap out of me. I asked her how long she was there? Her reply was about 5 min. I think I will put a cow bell or something over my door where I can keep up with people when they enter. It's not a good feeling.

[John Keeton]

Did everyone take note of the clean area surrounding Steve Schlump's lathe?!?!?!? I ain't the only OCD guy in this group!!:rolleyes:;):D

[mickey cassiba]

Donnie, Not relevant to your question, I'm sure, but my lathe is oriented, HS down hanging on the wall of my tool shed kind of like a big grey bat. My friend down the road keeps his wrapped in bubble plastic in the slide out of his motor home.

[David DeCristoforo]

"Did everyone take note of the clean area surrounding Steve Schlump's lathe?!"

Yeah... no kidding. Not only is there a conspicuous lack of sawdust, it's even carpeted!

[Gary Max]

John you and Steve together couldn't keep my shop that clean. I really know how to make a mess.

[Malcolm Tibbetts]

I have a large VB36 lathe only about 30" from a wall and I've never had a desire to relocate it (I am restricted to about a 60" diameter). A huge advantage of being near a wall (if you got the right outdoor setting) is the ability to install a large box fan in the wall which can immediately extract most dust as it's created.

[robert baccus]

Istarted out with mine in the middle of the shop and almost died from dust and laq. for the last 20 years it is against a wall next to a door. in the wall is mounted a large exhaust fan(2 speed) with a few baffles to help direct the vacum. i cannot imagine turnung and finishing without this fan right behind the lathe. several of us in our club are using this method now.------------old forester

[Reed Gray]

Mine has always been up against the wall, with the headstock end in a corner. Now it is in a 12 by 8 foot room in my 24 by 36 shop. I enclosed it to keep some of the mess in the turning room. The thought of how far the shavings would migrate is frightening. With a sliding headstock, I never have to work outboard, or get on the other side of the lathe to turn things out. I don't do a lot of hollowing, so no weird angles to work around. I did remove my tilt away tail stock thing as it pushed the lathe out a bit too far from the wall. I may end up bumping it out again.

robo hippy

[Kathy Marshall]

My lathe started out right up against the wall with about 2 1/2' of space in front of it. I've since had to move it out from the wall about 1' to allow for the tail rest for my Jamieson, leaving me an aisle of about 1 1/2' between the lathe and the table saw :eek:.
This is when it was clean with just my 1st little pile of curlies :eek:
190567 190568

[Gary Max]

Kathy ------ I bet your shop gets toastey in the summer

[Richard Jones]

Donny,

I have my lathe positioned so that the bed is 2' from the wall. Shavings will get back there but they are easy to get to. I have 2 U shaped florescent lights above the lathe and have some melamine nailed to the wall to reflect light. The melamine makes it real easy to see the profile while turning!

190490

Hope that helps give you an idea of my setup!

Steve,

What is that switch for at the end of your lathe?

Rich

[Richard Jones]

Mine is against the wall. I would like to have access to the rear at times for clean up, but I can live with it for now. My back is also to the door. My wife and I sort of have an unwritten arrangement that she will yell BEFORE she gets into the shop so that I don't soil any clothing or even worse, ruin a bowl. After all, you can WASH clothes....... I also have a shower curtain arrangement. Not exactly something that you might glimpse in Southern Living, but it's effective at corralling the tide of shavings.

I'm pretty much out of room in my basement shop, unless I relocate outside and enclose the 30'x30' carport. The idea of a huge TTW fan right behind the lathe brings about a heightened sense of euphoria, but I'm fighting off the urge for right now.

Rich

[Ken Hill]

Mine is on a big table in the center of the shop. I intend to build a moveable base but havent....more focused on buying a larger lathe LOL

[Donny Lawson]

Thanks for all the replies. I'm just trying to decide where my new lathe will go. The way it looks I may have to put it in the middle somewhere. I will have to move some tools around. I still have a few days yet. I pick it up on Saturday 9th.

[Bill Schoppert]

I've only had my lathe for a month, 46-460, and I located mine kind of in the middle with my back to the the wood stove. It's been cold and wet this winter and it is nice to have the heat to my back. As far as neat and clean I don't know what that is.

190569

[Mike Davis NC]

I moved this year and just now getting my lathe set back up. It is against the wall as I have a basement garage that is 14 x 26 and a few other tools in the space. At my old shop I had a piece of rubber roofing material stapled to the wall behind the lathe so the shavings were directed back to the floor in front of the lathe. That made clean up much easier.

[Tim Rinehart]

I've got my Jet 1642 kind of in the middle of the shop and can work from either side and have.....that I love. I've got my back though to the door and have had the begesies scared out of me when someone comes in! I'm not a jumpy kind of guy, but there is something about being totally lost in turning and sensing someone or something :eek: standing beside you........
It's gong to take some moving around but I for one am going to spin my lathe around to face the door one day.
Hey Josh...that's too funny. I suspect my config is just like yours. I keep thinking perhaps a mirror to see back behind me would be a help. I really like the positioning of my lathe otherwise, even though the entry door is right behind me.

[Roger Chandler]

In my tight quarters I call a shop, I have mine up next to a wall with about 18" of clearance behind it. I have a dust collection hose and a big gulp hood behind mine on a stand, and I can move it anywhere along the ways that I might need to in order to collect dust. It also allows for clean up behind the lathe as well.........I use my dust collector to pull up the curlees...........I have a dust right nozzle from Rockler on the end, and can move the hose from machine to machine.

Kathy.........your "shop" is pretty well laid out with all that equipment. It is surprising what enterprising folks can do with a little space!

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

My lathe is currently 18" from a wall. I too have a lathe with a moving headstock and work my hollowing efforts from the end of the machine. The problem with my set up is the table saw is six feet behind me. When I turn wet wood, I have to cover it to avoid splattering the saw with fuel for rust. I am limited because I still do flat work and need access to all my tools. A "Honey Do" list can be difficult to satisfy with only a lathe.
faust

[Baxter Smith]

The woodworking part of my shop is 16x32 with the tablesaw in the middle. When I laid it out, the spot set aside for the lathe was at the far end, out of the way against the wall,(but at the first drop on my dust collector). When I picked up a lathe with a sliding headstock I kept it there but turned it 90 to the wall so I could have acccess to both sides and turn off the end. The only drawback now is that it is the furthest tool from the door. Because I use it almost every day and turn a lot of green wood, I end up walking the length of the shop multiple times during the day. I get chips and curlies over the whole length. Since I try and keep it relatively swept up, I end up needing to clean up a lot more area than I would if it was at the opposite end near the door.

[Roger Chandler]

I am limited because I still do flat work and need access to all my tools. A "Honey Do" list can be difficult to satisfy with only a lathe. faust

Exactly!!! I still do flatwork as well, and the table saw is the heart of the shop [as it should be.........this turning thing is over rated anyway!!! :eek::eek::eek::D:D:D:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes :

[Jim Burr]

Roger just moved to the bottom of the turners evolutionary scale :p
My stuff is in a single car garage right in the middle. I was thinking of putting 12" of open-cell foam on the walls to absorb any poorly placed shots I may attempt. Things will be re-arranged when a 1642 shows up...but for now...it's easy to clean;)

[David DeCristoforo]

Great shop Kathy. A step up from my tent! For a second there I thought I was looking at a picture of my lathe! And don't worry... it's plenty clean enough!

[Mike Cruz]

Mine is diagonally next to a wall. The headstock is kinda close with the tailstock being further away. It is this way a bit out of necessity. I couldn't have the whole lathe that far away from the wall, and didn't want/couldn't have the whole thing up against the wall either. What worked out great for me was that the bed height on the lathe is just under that of my TS. So, with the tailstock pushed toward the headstock end of the lathe, the lathe isn't in the way of the TS.

[Dennis Simmons]

For me, against the wall is not possible because I have no walls! Middle of the work area is what I like. Sometimes you need to work from the "back side" of the lathe or even hop on the bed and ride it. Outboard of the headstock is also important to keep clear (my headstock does not rotate). If I was going to put anything close to a wall it would be the tailstock end.

No walls, is this like don't fence me in? :)