Lathe Cabinet/Stand Input?

[alex grams]

I wanted to solicit input on a lathe stand/cabinet. I am new to turning, and have been reading about desired spindle height, etc.

I am 6'4", and the spindle height is 14.5" from the base of the lathe, with the cabinet top at 34", giving the spindle about 2" above elbow height.

I have two models of cabinets I am considering, one all drawers, the other with a few doors w/ shelves and drawers.

What type of storage of equipment is preferable for turning tools/jigs/etc?

I am still working on the mobile base idea. I need to be able to move the cabinet, but i don't want to have locking casters as the supports when I need the cabinet to be stable. I want the cabinet to sit on the floor and be stable to minimize vibration from the lathe.

I was thinking along the lines of a skid on the bottom that holds the wheels to the side, and use the lifters to push the base to the floor and engage the casters (similar to how the sawstop mobile base works).

My ideas:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=211060&d=1319474606

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=211059&d=1319474606

Thoughts/Suggestions?

[Noah Barfield]

Those are both really nice looking stands. Personally I would go for the first one. The shelves on the right and left would be great for storing bowl blanks.

[Bob Wolfe]

Really Either one would be fine, it just depends if you are more of a drawer or door fan. Build a stand like that as sturdy as you can possibly build it. An out of balance blank (or log) spinning on a lathe will shake a cabinet like that to pieces in no time. I would also suggest that you make an opening at the base so your feet can get under the front for the close up work. Then I would advise to not make that opening much deeper than your feet because everything that will possibly fit will eventually find it's way under there and it can be a real pain to retrieve items, not to mention cleaning out shavings constantly. Good luck with it and make sure you post pictures when it is complete.

[Bill Bolen]

+1 on adding the toe kick. Also my lathe is mounted much the same as you have pictured. Might I suggest you recess the drawers or put some type of snug fitting molding over the top of each drawer. Shavings and sawdust will fill the drawer in no time without that little bit of added protection.

[Richard Allen]

Nice looking cabinets. Either should work great. You might want to mount the lathe at the front of the cabinet to give you better access. You should be able to lean into the cabinet from all sides without the cabinet twisting or racking. It is a good idea to bolt or clamp the lathe to the top of the cabinet.

[Mike Peace]

I think you would benefit from some shallower drawers. Think mechanics tool chest. There are a lot of small turning accessories that are more easily stored and retrieved in shallower drawers.

[Josh Bowman]

I'd move the lathe as close to the edge as possible. I tend to almost lean against my Jet 1642. I'd in addition make the tops lip overhang well over the doors and drawers. Chips and dust get everywhere and that might help.

[Nate Davey]

I made my lathe cabinet with drawers that fit flush with the face of the cabinet. Keeps the shavings out......when I close them. I also prefer shelves over drawers as, at least for me, drawers are black holes stuff gets thrown into and disappears. Must be related to the dryer in some way.

[Josh Bowman]

Alex, after I answered your post, I opened my new ShopNotes Vol. 20 Issue 120 and starting on pages 18-23 are several lathe stand ideas.

[alex grams]

The cabinet is deceptive in regards to the shallow drawers. The top drawers are 5" deep inside, though I may consider two sets of shallow drawers at about 3" drawer depth. Thanks for the suggestion Mike.

[Thomas Canfield]

You might consider making the drawer fronts at an angle so that the upper would extend over the lower to help keep dust out. Also, deeper drawers requires less numbers and you can easily add some trays inside for the smaller items and store the more frequent used ones in the tray for easy access. If the stand is moved, you might also consider some adjustable screws, and locking wheels do not provide the needed anchorage and still need height adjustment. Having toe clearance is also recommended to let you get up close and personal with your work.

[Baxter Smith]

Not sure how deep you are planning on making your cabinet(behind your lathe) but a wider footprint(front to back) will help on things moving around with unbalanced pieces.

[Greg Just]

My suggestion would be to raise the cabinet off the floor so that your feet could go under the front. Also, as someone suggested, get it close to the front edge so that you are not leaning over or your back will hurt in no time. Just my 2 cents.

[Brian Brown]

Alex,

I replied to your PM, but I thought i'd post the same information here for the whole group. *Alex asked about vibration issues with the casters on my cabinet i made about 18 months ago. *Here are a couple of threads about the cabinet.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?132045-My-lathe-is-back...Cabinets-finished-sort-of&highlight= *
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?130189-WIP-Stand-for-my-Delta-Midi&highlight=

When I built my cabinet, I was really concerned about the casters being a problem with vibration. I thought the problem would be magnified by the fact that the cabinet is so shallow. It was built to allow me to park my vehicle in the garage when the cabinet is against the wall.*

I don't think the vibration is a problem. The weight of the cabinet, especially when full, is enough for everything I have tried to turn on my midi. The other reason I think it works fine is that the vibration is only an issue when turning an out of round blank. The lathe limits how large of blank can be mounted, and I try to get them as balanced as possible before starting, because the low end speed is so high to begin with. By the time I get to the finishing touches where the vibration would be a real problem, the blanks are balanced, and there is not much problem with vibration. The exception to this might be hollowing. I get a lot of chatter when I am hollowing, and I can't determine if it is because the lathe is vibrating, or just that I have lousy technique . Probably a bit of both, especially the lousy technique. The cabinet is designed so that I can attach a ballast box on the bottom between the casters if necessary. So far I haven't done that. Time will tell with the new lathe if that is necessary. I think the next time I'm doing a heavy hollowing job. I'll lay a couple of 4 X 4's under the cabinet, and lift the wheels slightly off the floor, and see if it chatters less when I'm hollowing. But that will have to wait until the new motor gets here. I toasted mine about 2 months ago. The withdrawls are killing me!

It sounds like you are using the 42-460. It will still probably be fine. I hope so, because I have a 42-460 on order.*

Just one more thought. It takes up a lot of storage space, but I really like the downdraft compartment I built into mine. It doesn't do a lot for the large shavings, but they are easy to clean up, and don't cause a breathing hazard. The real advantage is sanding. It gets a huge amount of the dust, and even a lot of the small chips, that are harder to clean up. My lungs are happier when I use the dust collector. Now if I could just find a way to silence the deafening noise from the dust collector, i would use it all the time.

Good luck, and post pics of the finished cabinet. If you do retractable wheels, I'm really interested!

One more thought I had after I sent this information. *The original plan called for a retractable work table; think of a bread board on drawer slides. *This was to be a handy surface I could pull out to support my work when performing tasks such as changing jaws on a chuck, or mounting a blank to the chuck etc. *Then when I started turning, I could just push it back in out of the way. *It went away in favor of the down draft, but I really wish I had found a way to keep it. *It would have been very handy.

[Thom Sturgill]

Anything you can put in a shelf can be put in a drawer of the same size, and if you use full extension drawer guides you can easily see and get to everything.
Think about what would go in the drawers and size them accordingly. If you store sandpaper, a file cabinet drawer might work. For gouges the drawer should only be deep enough to allow the gouge to lay flat and use a divider to keep them straight. (Personally I hang my gouges in a wall rack) If you go that way, leave yourself plenty of room for new tools!!!

I have one drawer specifically for things like my jacobs chuck, live centers, buffing arbor, etc. and it is divided to keep everything in its place - works well for me.
Other shallow drawers hold things like the bolt sets for my donut chuck, pads and disks for the sander, and misc small tools like allen wrenches. Nearby shelves hold finishing supplies, vacuum checks and other larger items.

Another option is go to the fishing tackle store and buy some of the large plano type bins and design shelves to hold them. I keep pen making stuff in one and extra jaw sets in a couple more. Chucks can go in a drawer or hang off posts mounted at an angle on the end of the cabinet.

Whatever you do, cleaning is a constant, so think about it to make that easier.

[Prashun Patel]

The only reason I prefer the all-drawer design is because it means you don't have to stoop way down to look into the back of a shelf. With my lathe, I'm forever swapping out accessories, so I'd appreciate that convenience.

How wide is each drawer? I would consider making provisions for one drawer that's at least 24" wide. My large gouge takes up a lot of space. Also, the hollowing system I recently purchased takes up a lot of space, and has a lot of parts that it'd be nice to keep in a single drawer.

[Bernie Weishapl]

I like the second one. I think all drawers would be best.

[alex grams]

My latest revision:

I like the idea of doors to keep dust out, and drawers are nicer at a lower level than shelves and easier to get into the back of (especially with full extension drawer guides). I think I will do shelves on one side of the cabinet behind the doors, and drawers on the other side. If i find out later that I like one over the other, I can take the drawers out to have more shelves, or I can make more drawers to put into the shelves.

I put another 2" overhang on the top of the cabinet over the front for three reasons:
-allows me to get closer to the lathe,
-it allows me to mount the lathe further forward on the tabletop (which will be bolted down)
-it also acts as a 'shroud' so that dust/shavings fall down in front of the cabinet face, instead of on top of the drawers.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=211117&d=1319555374

My idea for the mobile base, which allows the unit to be brought up on casters to be moved, and then lowered to sit on the cabinets base when I want to set it down.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=211119&d=1319555376

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=211120&d=1319555377

What I don't show are the bolts which secure to the side of the cabinet through the slots. These are there to prevent the unit (which moves up and down on the levelers) from racking as it is moved around on the casters. I ordered some casters that have oversized feet with holes in them so I can screw through the feet to hold the board on which supports the casters.

[Scott Lux]

I think your third option is the best, it gives you flexibility with what goes where. Be sure to really make this a fine piece. Get the fit and finish perfect. If you're not 100% satisfied with the finish, strip it off and start over. After all this is probably the last flatwork you'll ever do! :D