My Take on an Outboard Stand

[Nate Davey]

Chris Rolkes post, located here (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?79757-new-LARGE-bowl), gave me an idea for one of my own. $56 later this is what I came up with. The only thing missing form this pic are my Olympic Bumper Weights I will put over the lower upright to add weight to the base. Once the weights are added and the horizontal is secured to the lathe, the bottom pipe is turned to tighten the set up against the floor. As this is only a 1.5HP lathe I can't see doing huge, thick blanks, so designed the rest around this "premiss".
219872
I designed the horizontal stabilizer to be telescoping so I can adjust the distance from the end of the lather. There is a total of 7" of travel between the horizontal and the moving headstock. If I find the piece is wider than the tool rest, I can move the securing point to the left.
219874
The tool rest is also moveable for shear scraping and different sized tools.
219873

Comments and criticism appreciated.

[charlie knighton]

enjoy, not for every day use, but turning outboard gets you out of the rut

[Bill Bolen]

Great design and excellent execution Nate. I see some big 'ole platters coming off of that soon. Good luck with it.

[Jim Burr]

Only 1.5??? Dude...this lathe tears it up!! I have yet to stop it on some really tough crap. I don't see why 18-24" stuff is out of the question! I gotta make bowls like Baxter or Mrs Burr will start to question the need for further tool purchases! I'm gonna copy that since I was wondering this morning how to do that...have a new possible wood source that has BIG stuff! I may start HF's again due to some outside pressure and re-tooling my Monster and the 1.5 should do just fine!

[David E Keller]

Looks pretty good, Nate! I'm interested to hear you thoughts once you've had it out for a test drive. I'd be worried about flex in the pipe with the anchor point being so far down from the rest, but I don't have any experience with outboard turning. I might have added another attachment site at about the height of the ways, but that may be over-engineered. I've considered adding the lower bed extension to my PM for outboard work, but I really haven't come up with a project that would require it. I've got a couple of big maple burl caps that are too large for the PM, but I haven't had the urge to spin them yet. Please keep us posted on how it works!

[Nate Davey]

So far so good. This is a piece of Cherry Burl 18" on the long axis and 9" on the short, which isn't a big deal for you PM guys, but bigger than my Jet can swing. It is very off balance so turning very slow. With traditional tools, taking lighter cuts, it works very well. Probably not the best piece to give it a trial. I'm pretty happy with it right now.

219896

[Bob Bergstrom]

I hope you don't try to turn anything too big, till you are fully aware of shortcomings of such a light weight device. I have done quite a bit of outboard turning on my old Delta 450. The table was 1/2 steel plate and the banjo was 1" x 4" steel base. Even with that much steel, vibration still was a problem. All the pipe joints and length of it will flex on anything where you move away from the area right over the vertical pipe. I would think vibration would also cause the joints to vibrate loose. Welding or pined joints would be a must. This is just my opinion.
219897

[Robert McGowen]

Hi Nate, I second what Bob is saying. It looks like the horizontal is screwed into plywood, probably your weight box, so you won't be moving it to the left too many times before you are using the same screw holes again. Even with that, on a large piece, which is what you would obviously be turning outboard, I can see where you are going to be 5" or 6" off the left side of the tool rest. The best case scenario with a big catch would be a U-shaped outboard stand. The worst case scenario would be Nate retires earlier than he is planning to!

[charlie knighton]

very nice, keep us posted on your progress

[Nate Davey]

Bob and Robert,

Thank you very much for your advice. It is very light weight and, Robert, you are right on with the screws. I was going to add another piece of "sacrificial" plywood to the weight box to take care of that issue, but really need to come up with a more solid system. This will work for lighter stuff for now with the appropriate caution.

[Dick Strauss]

You might want to add a piece of metal sheet where the pipe flange meets the floor to spread the forces out more because the few screws will tend to strip out of the plywood if the rest tips. I'd also add a larger piece of plywood under the metal sheet with lots of screws (under the bottom flange). Then you can stand on it to help it from tipping when you are out at the end of the toolrest.

I'd also fill the pipes with concrete (everything except the last few inches of the top so that the toolrest can be adjusted. The concrete will add mass, dampen vibration, and keep things from coming apart too easily.

[Josh Bowman]

Nate that looks like a nice low tech solution. I was knocking that around before I sold my Jet. Wish I had seen this then, might of held off on the PM..........Naaaaah!