How do you orient your lathe?

[Jon Prouty]

Sorry for the silly question but I am in the middle of setting up my shop and I need to figure out my layout. In the past I've had my smaller Delta mini lathe positioned along a wall and now with my new PM I need to figure out where it should go. I plan to turn off the end for bowl work so I figured putting it out in the middle more was best. Now I think maybe I could just offset it from along the wall a couple feet (under the tool rack for instance) rather than perpendicular as it is now. I don't have a ton of room so space is at a premium. But it be a turning first shop...

Please excuse the mess - I haven't finished moving into the shop yet so it is a wreck.

Thanks
Jon

[Jon Prouty]

I can't believe I posted my shop in this state.... Most of it will be cleaned up in the next week or so.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Your shop looks more organized than mine. I can see your lathe. What is wrong with where its at? Looks good to me. Right in the center.

[Dave Mueller]

I like mine perpendicular to the wall. That way there is room for others to stand if I am demonstrating something. Also, I often turn from the other side when hollowing bowls - lots easier than reaching over the lathe bed. If you don't have the room to put it perpendicular, at least leave a little room so you can get behind it if necessary. This is especially true if the lathe is mounted on a closed cabinet and you drop tools behind it.

[Gerald Wervey]

I have a counter top behind the lathe and the lathe is 24'', width of my matt away from kickboard. Plenty of room to walk around and plenty of room for tools on the counter. Turning out to the center of the shop makes it easier to keep clean. Oh My Lathe PM 2442 so you don't move it to many times.

Jerry

[Thom Sturgill]

My 1642 is center of the room with a workbench behind me and the table saw (spare table?) between the lathe and the big doors. Walkways on both ends. Some turners in tight quarters like to angle the lathe so that work flying off does not simply bounce back at them, but careens off at an angle (think pool table bumper shot).
Other than that, good access to both sides for cleaning and the end for hollowing. ...

[Dave Cullen]

Ideally you want the "turner's triangle" - lathe, tools and grinder - being accessible without wasted motion. In that regard, what you have is good. Though if you're going to turn off the end you'll probably want to pull the machine out a bit further from the wall. In my shop the grinder is a bit farther away than it should be which makes me not sharpen as often as I should.

[Jeff Gilfor]

Nice space.

i orient my large lathe on an angle, with the side I work from facing an area without any flat top spaces (desks, shelves, etc.).

here are my reasons:

Should a piece dismount the lathe while turning, it will not strike a wall straight on. This minimizes damage.

When roughing out,mor hogging out a piece, ribbons fly back towards, and towards the right of me. If there are no flat ledges behind me, cleanup is much easier, and stuff doesn't get buried in heaps of wood curls.

sometimes though, it is what it is, and you cannot put things where you would like.

[Steve Peterson]

Mine is mounted flat against the wall. The lathe has a plywood shroud around it with a 6" dust collector in the upper left corner. It grabs most of the sanding dust. My most commonly used tools are on the wall above the lathe. They are easy to reach and the sharp end is way out of reach. The grinder is about 4 feet away on the adjoining wall.

Every picture I see appears to have the lathe out in the open. I don't understand the advantage, but there must be a few since so many people do it. For me it would take away the features I like about my setup (dust shroud and tools above the lathe).

Steve

[robert baccus]

I moved mine to an outside wall and installed an exhaust fan just behind it. Goodbye dust and lacquer spray.

[Bill Boehme]

I turn outdoors and let the wind carry away the dust.

[Harry Robinette]

Jon
I used Grizzly.com lay-out planing tool. I'm not sure where on there site it is but it's very easy to use and you can see flo and spacing for all you machines. It's free easy and it helps.

[Lloyd Butler]

I think lathe position tends to go with the turning style and head stock movability.

If you can slide the head stock then space around the head stock end of the lathe may not be available to move in. If the head stock swivels then you need that space around the head stock for you to stand and work.

If you turn green wood, then the longer curls will tend to take up more space as they fly around and you'll want easy access to clean out around the lathe and under the lathe as well as possibly install drapes of some sort to help limit curl travel around the shop.. If you do more smaller dry stuff (spindle style), then the chips are generally smaller and may be easier to keep closer to the lathe and they will tend to be more on your side of the lathe rather than behind it. Hollowing vessels tend to fill up the space under the ways if the chips can not easily be cleared out.

A sanding hood of some sort is a great addition if you can make it so it is easily repositioned, otherwise you may find it awkward to use and it may be too far away to be effective.

I do not think too many people are lucky enough that placing their lathe and accessories is a one time event.

For me, I would not place my grinder there without a curtain of some sort in front of it as I tend to have quite a lot of shaving in that quadrant of the lathe. Just being a hobbyist, my grinder is actually directly behind me about 4-5 steps to be out of the path of chips.

[Jon Prouty]

Thanks guys - I guess I'll leave it in the current orientation. Much cleaning to do still.

Jon

[Jeff Gilfor]

There are some things that can be done with a lathe that has space behind it that you cannot do with one against a wall or other obstruction. Occasionally, I turn from the other side of the lathe (of course, the lathe is turning in reverse). It helps if my back is bothering me, and I'm doing some heavy hollowing. Also, I often turn my headstock away from me while turning the outsides of bowls when turning them after drying. That way I can fit my gouge inside the corner near the chuck, to cut "downhill" without using a pull cut.

[Mike Peace]

I am with Jeff on this. Put at an angle with the Headstock end closet to wall but far enough away to easily use the knock out bar. This will maximize your space while still allowing you to work on the far side of turn from the end when you slide the headstock down.

[Darrell Duvall]

I just bought a used Powermatic lathe and a bunch of tools. I am getting it set up in my shed. I have some large windows that face north. Is it better to work with natural light or artificial? I have several light bulbs in the ceiling but overall this old shed is pretty dark except in front of the windows.

How do you store your tools? The man I bought them from had them sticking up in buckets sitting on the floor. He knew which one was which by what color was on the handle. He had different buckets for different kinds of tools. One bucket was scrapers, one was bowl gouges, one was spindle gouges and so on. I barely know which one is which and looking at the ground ends which are all different makes me wonder why he had so many different shapes on his bowl gouges. Lots of different sizes and lengths also. I have more than 90 tools to figure out. Some are easy, skew chisels, scrapers but all the different gouges make my head spin.

Is there a thread on here somewhere where someone explains all these different tools?

He also had some tools which his son said were carbide tipped. Some are round and some are square. These tools have double grip handles. What is that for? To choke up like a bat? They seem to tear up the wood pretty bad no matter what speed you run the lathe at. The gouges give me better cuts. So do the scrapers. The skew chisel seems to be easy to use just like a knife while whittling but I can't do much more than cut things round and smooth with it. Right now I am turning pine and oak 2x2 and 4X4 pieces left over from construction jobs. My shed is full of leftover wood which is why I bought the lathe to use it up for toys and stuff.

I know I have a lot to learn and I am not afraid to ask stupid questions so be patient. I only know one thing for sure and that is I don't know it all.

I have lots to learn and I am going to meet a man who does turning who is going to give me lessons. I was hoping to learn a little before I met him. How about books? Any books that might help?

[Rex Guinn]

Jon,
My pm is at 30deg to the wall so I can slide the headstock and still have room to work. My shop is only 9ft wide. It works out for my situation.

[Jon Prouty]

I had a couple hours last night to clean up a bit. Still have some rearranging to do to fit my daughters new Jet mini lathe in here somewhere. I feel better showing this picture than the messy one.

Jon
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