Cabinet between legs of Grizzly G0766

[Robert Marshall]

I am considering building a toolbox/cabinet to fill most of the space between the ballast box and the ways of my Grizzly G0766. It will be about 53" wide, 16" tall, and 14" deep, and will be divided into 2 deep 24" wide drawers filling the left half, and 3 shallower 24" wide drawers filling the right half. The front of the cabinet will be flush with the front of the ways, leaving a ledge on the ballast box where I can put a foot down, and the back of the cabinet will be flush with the rear of the ballast box. I plan to use the drawers for lathe-related hardware, like chucks, face plates, adapters, drive spurs, live centers, jaws, 2" and 3" sandpaper disks, etc. I will use inset drawer fronts and inset pulls, so there'll be a flat front, nothing to catch my pants on.

Here's the lathe setup, as it is now. The ballast box sits between the legs, and holds about 200 lbs. of sand. The top front left and right corners of the proposed cabinet would fit into the corners formed by the joinder of the legs with the ways. Most of the space that the cabinet will occupy is currently wasted, and regularly piles up high with shavings, of course.

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Before I build the thing, does anyone think this is a BAD idea, and if so, for what reason? I don't want to find out the hard way.

Thanks.

Robert

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Where do you think the high piles of shavings will go now, and what will happen when you open the box to get something out of it while turning ??

would you have to stop turning first and clean the shaving away before you can get that piece out of the box ?? ;)

[Brice Rogers]

I built a ballast box for my G0766 and the weight is on the ends. Perhaps 300#. In between I put a bunch of drawers. Two rows above the lower support and one below.

Yes, when I have 30 or 40 gallons of chips laying around, if I open a drawer, they'll fall in. But when I clean up I'll use compressed air and blow the chips out of the drawers. Not ideal, but it works.

Tomorrow, I'll post some pictures.

I think that it is a reasonable idea to make use of the space and to add weight to the lathe. The weight makes it settle down on out-of-round turnings.

[Mark Greenbaum]

I made a rolling cabinet that fits snug between the legs, from the shipping crate. It does collect a lot of the shavings, so I use a piece of corrugated plastic sheet (sign material), that is nailed to the wall and slant down and over the cabinet. That way I can reach in with a whisk broom and plow it into a waste bucket. The cabinet can be rolled away once in a while to clean out under and behind, and on the window sills. It cost me very little ($8 for the wheels from a cheap HF moving dolly, and a piece of pieano hinge on each side).

[Robert Marshall]

Leo, thanks.

My thinking is that the front of the ways and the front of the cabinet will be one almost-continuous vertical plane (with the drawers closed), with only a small gap between the bottom of the ways and the top of the cabinet. So I don't think shavings will accumulate there. I expect they might accumulate some on the "ledge" formed by the front part of the ballast box, not covered by the cabinet, but as that will be only about 6" deep, it shouldn't be much of a pile, and opening the bottom drawers ought to knock it to the floor.

I do have some concern about accumulation on top of the cabinet, from shavings falling between the ways. The only way out for those shavings would be pushing them to either end of the channel formed by the ways and the top of the cabinet, where they would fall to the the sides of the cabinet. I just don't how smoothly that could be accomplished, perhaps using a blower to push them off. I could minimize that problem by laying a strip of light plywood or sign board down the exposed part of the ways, to block the shavings from getting in that channel.

Also, it could be troublesome for adjusting the "tightening-down" parts underneath the banjo and the tailstock, as I would need to push the cabinet back a bit to get to them on the underside of the ways. I think that be okay, though. It's not something that needs doing that often.

Appreciate your input. I find it always helps to think out loud, among friends.

[Robert Marshall]

Thanks, Mark. I would enjoy seeing a picture of what you've built. (Assuming you don't it have it patent-protected, of course!;))

I get a lot of inspiration from sharing ideas on this forum.

[Mark Greenbaum]

Thanks, Mark. I would enjoy seeing a picture of what you've built. (Assuming you don't it have it patent-protected, of course!;))

I get a lot of inspiration from sharing ideas on this forum.

I'll post a pic tonight (have to clean up a bit first, though). I don't think additional ballast is needed for what I do, YMMV, the G0766 is a very stable platform, and heavy enough to stay put. But if the lathe starts to hop a bit I either speed up past the resonant frequency, or slow down to alleviate it. It's like bolting the lathe to the floor; I'd rather know if I am subjecting the machine to stresses, than trying to prevent the signaling (hopping feedback). Tim Yoder said similar on one of his videos.

[John Keeton]

Mark, there are several threads on this topic, including one I posted some time ago - https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?253272-Laguna-Revo-1836-Ballast-Box-pics&highlight= You may want to take a look at the pics in that thread.

I like having some space space between the top of the drawer unit and the bottom of the ways. I often set tools there while turning and the space makes it easy to periodically clean off the accumulation of shavings. When I need to get in a drawer I just swipe away the shavings near the front edge before opening the drawer. There will be some small amount of dust and shavings that will accumulate in the drawer, but a little shot of air cleans them out.

[Mark Greenbaum]

John, I store the tools I use frequently under the plastic awning, and likewise, if I need to get into the cabinet for a chuck or chisel, or drill bits, I sweep off the top into my garbage can. The shavings go out in the yard to cover the hackberry roots and hopefully, either kill those darned trees, or at least create a bit of mulch to save my lawnmower blades.

[Patrick Morris IV]

381260381263Here are a couple of shots of the drawers/shelves that I added to the 766 little brother, GO733.

[Mark Greenbaum]

Here's my messy area. The white is the plastic corrugated over a bunch of tools on top of the cabinet. The other pic is of the open door. I found 2 neat tool holsters from a repairman's briefcase in the trash at work and they now live inside the doors.381309381310

[Richard Casey]

Robert, in that photo of your ballast box, I personally think you have made your lathe rather unergonomic by not letting you get your body right into the bedway. My Laguna 24/36 looks very similar to yours and I often put my thigh against the bedway when bowl turning. Just my AUD$0.20 worth.
Rgds,
Richard.

[Ralph Lindberg]

I built a box like the one you show. The DW (it's her lathe) decided the items on it were getting too many chips so she found some industrial draws at Northern Tool that I mounted on the box.
So far it's working out fine

[Robert Marshall]

Richard,

When I want to "get up into" a bowl, I'll often use the ballast box as a step, and sit up on the ways, facing a bit left of the headstock, from the centerline. Makes it easy to the correct angle for working on the left inside of the bowl, especially as you get near the end, when tool control and a light touch is the key to a smooth finishing cut.

In the States, it's "my two cents worth," but I guess it's gotten inflated up to twenty, in Stralia. (Good friend from Perth pronounces it that way.) Wife and I are headed down under (to NZ and AU) in October, including Cairns and Sydney, and I just bought a bowl-saver tool from an outfit in Hawkes Bay, NZ. Small world! Does it feel upside down, down there?

Robert

[Richard Casey]

Richard,

When I want to "get up into" a bowl, I'll often use the ballast box as a step, and sit up on the ways, facing a bit left of the headstock, from the centerline. Makes it easy to the correct angle for working on the left inside of the bowl, especially as you get near the end, when tool control and a light touch is the key to a smooth finishing cut.

In the States, it's "my two cents worth," but I guess it's gotten inflated up to twenty, in Stralia. (Good friend from Perth pronounces it that way.) Wife and I are headed down under (to NZ and AU) in October, including Cairns and Sydney, and I just bought a bowl-saver tool from an outfit in Hawkes Bay, NZ. Small world! Does it feel upside down, down there?

Robert
Haha Robert, quite funny. Seeing you will be in Cairns, you could detour 4hours drive south and visit me, fill your bags with timber, oh that's right, you lot call it lumber. I leave for the US on the 24th October, so if you are here before that it would be great to catch up.
Rgds,
Richard.

[Robert Marshall]

I built the cabinet, and here it is. It is actually two boxes, the one on the left with two deep drawers, the one on the right with 3 shallower drawers. Both are 25" wide, 16" high, and 14.5" deep. The drawers were built with Blum Metabox hardware, which makes drawers easy to build. The top drawer fronts' top edge is chamfered, to shed shavings. The top drawers also have a thin strip of tool-box drawer liner glued to the inside top edge of the drawer front, like weather stripping, intended to keep out dust. All drawers have tool-box drawer liner on the bottom. I've not yet put in the inset drawer pulls on the right 3 drawers; can't remember where I put them!

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Here's one of my sandpaper drawers; the one below it is just like it. One for 3" disks, the other for 2" disks. I used corrugated plastic (like plastic yard signs use), to make the dividers, and hot-melt glue to hold them together.

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And here's one of the heavy-stuff drawers, with chucks, jaws, face plates, etc.

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This may suggest that I am an 'organizer' type, but nothing could be further from the truth! Once in a while, though, I do try.

Robert