Lathe stand?

[Art Moore]

SWMBO surprised me last night with a HF 65345 10 x 18 lathe. Now I have to get it set up and running, and I'm a brand-newbie when it comes to this turning thing :confused:

I have a stand from a Ridgid TS3650 table saw with a Hercu-Lift that I thought about mounting this thing on, but it's 5 inches too short on top at 24 inches. Does anybody see a problem with topping the stand with 4 layers of 3/4 MDF that are 30 - 32 inches long, and bolting the lathe to that?

[Chris Wdowiak]

I recently purchased a 10x16 Laguana Lathe and build this stand for it and love it. I did not add the grinder riser though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMJS-oRKCtY

[Kyle Iwamoto]

My first thought on topping a stand with a lot of wood is that it will become very top heavy. May or not be a good thing. I bought a Craftsman rolling tool chest and use that for a stand for my minis. Also has drawers for tools and stuff to boot.

Congrats on your new hobby! This place can help you spend lots of money. Got tools yet?

[Peter Fabricius]

If you build the top add on as a box with reinforcements inside, that will be lighter. The dividers inside the box can be used to hold tools during a turning project. Also what is the measurement from the floor to your elbow with your lower arm at 90 degrees? This should be the height of the Lathe Spindle from the floor. Just to help you get a comfortable Lathe height. Put a bag of sand on the lower shelf of the stand to keep it stable.
Peter

[Art Moore]

My first thought on topping a stand with a lot of wood is that it will become very top heavy. May or not be a good thing. I bought a Craftsman rolling tool chest and use that for a stand for my minis. Also has drawers for tools and stuff to boot.

Congrats on your new hobby! This place can help you spend lots of money. Got tools yet?

Bought a cheap (and I mean Reeeallllly Cheap) set of Harbor Freight, just to see if I could actually make sawdust with'em. After sharpening, they actually don't work too bad. Of course, I was turning 3/4 x 3/4 x 6 inch oak on this <snicker> :


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:D

I've got some equipment in mind to order along with a better set of tools; in the meantime not having anything else to do I went ahead and threw this stand together - the base, being from a table saw, is 19 x 24 at the top and a bit larger at the bottom. It's only 27-1/4 inches from floor to the bottom of the lathe, since I'm 'Vertically-challenged'. The saw it supported weighs 287 pounds, so I'm not too concerned about a 75 pound lathe and a few pounds of MDF (I hope). There are 1-1/2 inches of 11 x 32 MDF on top of the 19 x 24 top, and 1-1/2 thick 11 x 4 inch riser blocks on top of that. The lathe itself is bolted down through all the thicknesses except the top since it overhangs the old saw base. Seems to be pretty solid... we'll find out! If that doesn't work, then "Acme Labs" will try again.

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[Brice Rogers]

Peter has a great idea with the re-inforced box with an area to hold the tools. They will be right where they are needed.
If you build the top add on as a box with reinforcements inside, that will be lighter. The dividers inside the box can be used to hold tools during a turning project. Also what is the measurement from the floor to your elbow with your lower arm at 90 degrees? This should be the height of the Lathe Spindle from the floor. Just to help you get a comfortable Lathe height. Put a bag of sand on the lower shelf of the stand to keep it stable.
Peter

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Awesome! I bought that really cheap set of tools too. I think they have to be the best bang for the least bucks for sure. I still use almost all of them. I've re-purposed a few to make some single purpose tools.
Nice job getting started.

[Art Moore]

Thanks. I couldn't be satisfied with Acme version 1.0, so here's Revision 2.0 - I added a tool rack, plexiglass-enclosed small parts tray (hex keys, knockout tool, pen mandrels, etc), and a lower shelf for chuck storage or adding weight if I need it. I hope to upgrade to a better set of tools once I gain some experience and figure out what I actually should have.


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[John RStegall]

You did a good job and waiting to decide which tools to buy may prove to be a very wise decision. I bought a used lathe that came with 28 different turning chisels. Quite a few of the most expensive ones had never been used or sharpened. I still haven't used all of them either as I had duplicates of what he sold. His comment was take all or nothing. Worked for me.