Your Lathe Stand Features

[Brian Kent]

Lathe is lurking around the corner, waiting for an income tax return (Delta 46-460 with bed extension). I'll wait until it comes to build a stand… I am shooting for useful, not fancy.

What stand features should I include?
Here is what I have seen so far that seems right - but I have no experience:

1) triangular frame or panel frame so that there will be no flex.

2) room for 100+ lbs of sand bags for weight and stability. On a low shelf or built into end panels. Is 200# better?

3) tool holes on the side. How many do you use?

4) wide base for stability - how wide?

5) a shelf 6" below the top.

6) elbow height for the spindle

7) foot clearance at the bottom and overhang only as close as the lathe bed itself where I stand, so I can get as close as needed.

Please feel free to show off your stand and tell me what I am getting right, wrong, or that I didn't think of. Thanks in advance

[Joe Hillmann]

As long as you never have to move it 200 lbs is better then 100 but 300 is better than 200. I personally built mine square so I could use it for storage that wouldn't collect shavings.

[Brian Kent]

As long as you never have to move it 200 lbs is better then 100 but 300 is better than 200. I personally built mine square so I could use it for storage that wouldn't collect shavings.

Joe, is it straight down in the front? Do you ever have to have a foot or a knee under the lathe?

I was thinking about a built in box or two, with removable top, where I could put whole sand bags in and remove them in case I need more than a scoot around the floor. I could build it any size to hold as much sand as I need.

[Joe Hillmann]

Joe, is it straight down in the front? Do you ever have to have a foot or a knee under the lathe?

I was thinking about a built in box or two, with removable top, where I could put whole sand bags in and remove them in case I need more than a scoot around the floor. I could build it any size to hold as much sand as I need.


First I should say that I am very inexperienced with using a wood lathe for wood turning, but mine is built with the head stock of the lathe at the very left hand side of the bench so if I ever decide to do outboard turning I have lots of room. On the right side I have about a foot of extra table beyond the cabinet and the lathe. The cabinet is about 12 inches deep with the top being about 14 inches deep with all the overhang on the front to hopefully keep shavings out of the cabinet. The center of the lathe is in the center of the cabinet (front to back) to keep the weight as centered as possible (I think that I should have moved the lathe just a little closer to the front so I can get closer to it especially when working on the inside of something). I have the cabinet on 3 inch legs so I can get my toes underneath so I can get closer to the lathe. For weight I poured 4 bags of concrete in the bottom of the cabinet. So far though all I have used it for is turning metal so I don't really know how it will work for wood working.

[John Keeton]

Brian, there have been a multitude of similar threads - here are a few for you to look at.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?132449-Ordered-lathe-designing-stand/page2

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?174579-Lathe-Cabinet-Stand-Input

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?128286-Building-a-stand-for-my-Delta-midi

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?130087-A-New-Home-for-the-Delta!

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?130189-WIP-Stand-for-my-Delta-Midi

[Brian Kent]

Thank you. These threads are full of treasure-info.

[Paul Williams]

Brian, I am happy with the stand I built for my 46-460. I incorprates the 7 points from your post. One item I added at the advise of a creeker was a hole under the motor to provide better cooling. It has a second advantage. I keep a flat box on the shelf under the hole and use it as a handy place to push chips that build up on the lathe bed or the bench top.

[Bill Wyko]

I may sugest a tray in the bottom that you can add sand bags to with a lid over that. This way you can store blanks over the top of the sand bags.

[ray hampton]

Joe, is it straight down in the front? Do you ever have to have a foot or a knee under the lathe?

I was thinking about a built in box or two, with removable top, where I could put whole sand bags in and remove them in case I need more than a scoot around the floor. I could build it any size to hold as much sand as I need.

how many lbs of sand per bag, what will you do when the sand bag burst open ? you can buy sand in a tube that hold up better

[Brian Kent]

how many lbs of sand per bag, what will you do when the sand bag burst open ? you can buy sand in a tube that hold up better

Interesting. Where do you get sand in a tube?

[Larry Whitlow]

Brian,

Here is my replacement for the Nova factory stand. My objective was to replace the original with a more solid stand that took up as little space as reasonable because I have a small shop space. The sides are hollow and filled with concrete instead of sand (because I had some concrete I needed to get rid of). I built it to accomodate my height (6-4). It is heavy and stable. Top is 18" deep. Sides are 15". Feet are 22". The feet protrude about 5.5" to the front and 1.5" to the back for stability. I took care to level the stand with the pads under each of the four corners of the feet. The lathe bed sits back about 1" from the front of the table. The two sides are connected with 2x material. I used blocking to raise the lathe bed about 4" from the table so shavings would fall through and for a place to set tools. Space underneath makes it easy to sweep/vacuum. Drawers speak for themselves -- can never have too much storage. Regarding your #7, I had a similar thought. In reality, I personally am never leaning right up against the lathe. The only exception is when doing hollowing from the end of the stand.

[Brian Kent]

That looks practical and very beautiful, Larry.

[Harry Robinette]

Brian
Remember to put some weight in the bottom but also you want some weight in the top.Bottom weight is great to keep the machine from wobble and moving top weight will help more with vibration. Equal it out and you should have a very stable machine.

[ray hampton]

Interesting. Where do you get sand in a tube?

sand in a tube are use by the driver during the snow months, the extra weight will give your car more traction, if you can not find the tubes in your state maybe you can find innertubes and cut it, tie one end and fill up with sand, I not sure about flood control sand bags, they might be tubes bags

[Curt Fuller]

I probably have a different perspective than most, but I like my lathe stand to have as few bells and whistles as possible. The reason, woodturning is an incredibly messy process. I like the shavings to just fall to the floor where I can sweep them up. I don't want them finding their way into drawers, shelves, tool racks, or anything else. Just the floor. I prefer a bench or cart nearby that holds all the goodies and tools I need but that is out of the line of fire from the shavings. I can still reach the things I need but I don't have to clean the whole shebang up every time I make a mess.

[Brian Kent]

The sand I can get here is in heavy plastic bags. I plan to enclose them so nothing can tear the bags. They are 48 lbs for .5 cubic feet. I could easily build in 2 cubic feet of sand boxes designed around the dimensions of the full bag for 200 lbs of weight.

I think I'll make it simple enough to start, with space to build drawers or extra shelves in the future.

[Michelle Rich]

Brian: i built a cabinet unit (ply) with 6 drawers. the top left drawer catches 90% of the dust & shavings. Keeps the place tidy & stuff corralled. One could put a dust collection hose in there too, if one wished. The drawers hold wood, tools and heavy stuff. I bolted the cabinet to the wall &floor & my 1642 to the cabinet. I can turn very uneven pieces and no lathe dancing occurs.

[Mike Cruz]

Larry has a good point here about filling the sides with concrete instead of sand. Concrete weights 150 lbs per cubic foot, so, heavier than sand. But also, that makes the sides ridged, unlike sand.

[Chris Stolicky]

You could go simple and inexpensive by using 2"x4"s like Keeton did, or you can play with plywood, pocket hole joinery, MDF (drawer fronts), and yellow glue to build something like I did. I used ball bearing slides and Woodcraft locking castors. The pulls are from Ikea. If you didn't want it to be mobile, forget the castors.

While sand is a nice way to add ballast, isn't filling the stand with tooling for ballast much more fun? : )

[John McCaskill]

Well, I went whole hog with mine, drawers, 6 bags of sand, self closing drawer slides and all. Pictures are in my album here at SMC
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/album.php?albumid=564

John

[Brian Kent]

I like the fact that your design can be used before the drawers are made.

[Jamie Donaldson]

I cringe every time I hear someone mention using sand for ballast in a lathe stand! Sand should NEVER be allowed around your bearings or electronics, as it will not only eventually spill, be a mess if you need to remove it to move a machine, but possibly end up in the wrong places at the wrong time, it's O'Tool's Law! I use washed river gravel, available from landscaping suppliers if you don't have a real river supply handy. Ballast is not only to weigh down the stand, but absorb some of the vibrations, just like adding loose shot to a turning tool handle.

[Larry Whitlow]

Well, I went whole hog with mine, drawers, 6 bags of sand, self closing drawer slides and all. Pictures are in my album here at SMC
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/album.php?albumid=564

John


John, I enjoyed seeing the evolution of the router tables in your album -- fantastic.

Cheers

Larry

[Rick Markham]

I'm with Curt on this one, I like the less is more stand. However, my lathe has substantially more mass than the Delta.

[Brian Kent]

If I go with two rectangular columns at the ends and plywood across the back, should the plywood go all of the way to the floor? For cleanup, is it better to have it all of the way to the floor and block the chips from going behind the stand or should I leave 6" from the floor in order to reach a broom behind the stand?

[John Keeton]

Brian, I like having space underneath to clean - and, it makes it easier to find those little things that get dropped and end up under the lathe!

[ray hampton]

If I go with two rectangular columns at the ends and plywood across the back, should the plywood go all of the way to the floor? For cleanup, is it better to have it all of the way to the floor and block the chips from going behind the stand or should I leave 6" from the floor in order to reach a broom behind the stand?

I think that a rubber skirt hanging down to the floor for the 6inches will work better

[Brian Kent]

I have the lumber (and 200 lbs of rock) for the stand and just found out the lathe arrived at work. Some last minute questions:

Ideal table depth - front to back? The 46-460 is under 8" across at the base and will be right at the front of the table. Is 23" deep ok?

Tool holes in the back or sides?

[Primvs Aebvtivs]

Brian - my bench is 18" deep, front to back. That seems plenty to me, 23" would be better, for tool storage (i.e. the ones in use on the current project). My turning partner has a horizontal panel attached to the right hand side of his bed with holes for the tools to 'sleep' in when he's done turning for the night. It's pivoted on the front right corner, and lies in line with the front of the bed, turning 90 degrees so he can reach them whilst turning.