Turners Chair/stool?

[Doug Whitson]

Hi All, I recently sold my old lathe to a friend of mine and to make the story really short, he has a bad hip he got defending our country in Viet Nam. I work with his son who has decided that dad needs some sort of "stool" for the lathe. I ran a search on the site but can not come up with any thing. Is there such a thing? If not, what type of deal would it be? I envision something like those "lean to" type seats, something that would allow him to pivot or more accurately, traverse in some way. He doesn't do much more than pens right now and says that's all he wants to do, but we all know how long that will last. He is very much like a kid with a new toy but is hampered by not being able to stand for long periods. If any of you have an idea I would really appreciate some imput.
Thanks,
Doug in AZ.

[Andy Hoyt]

Rather than a stool which essentially confines him to one spot, you might want to consider a bench. Or more accurately - a human tool rest / a butt rest. He could slide or shimmy left and right.

[Ernie Nyvall]

I don't know of anything out there, but I have given some thought to this before. It involved some channel iron the length of the lathe with a seat mounted on some rollers with a brake, however it would seem that your knees would put you too far from the lathe, and if it were made so your knees are under the ways, then you would be too low. There maybe something out there though.

Ernie

[Stephen Hibbs]

to solve the knee problem there are those old desk chairs that were quasi-popular a few years back. The idea was that your knees went folded back under it. http://www.kneelsit.com/pain.html There's a link to the chair I'm referring to, the picture's at the bottom of the page. I don't know how well it would work, but it seems it would basically be like he's standing, just not hurting his hips.

[Ernie Nyvall]

to solve the knee problem there are those old desk chairs that were quasi-popular a few years back. The idea was that your knees went folded back under it. http://www.kneelsit.com/pain.html There's a link to the chair I'm referring to, the picture's at the bottom of the page. I don't know how well it would work, but it seems it would basically be like he's standing, just not hurting his hips.

There you go... if you could build some sort of slide for that thing it might just work.

Ernie

[George Troy Hurlburt]

I have a stool with a back. I cut the legs down to fit the needed height of being able to turn on the back of a lathe. In my opinion stools will work best on a swivel head lathe and/or a sliding head stock. I have arthritis in my right hip and someday I may have to use a stool. The Nova DVR would be a great bench lathe and you can use at any height. Mine is for sale in classfied's. GT

[Doug Whitson]

Thanks for the input guys, my gut tells me that something like a sliding seat for a saw horse might work. The knealing chair my be the ticket too, the mans son really wanted to surprise his dad with something "he" made. Something along the lines of a "tractor" type seat on a piece of unistrut? Gotta be a way to do this I just can't seem to get my brain around it.
Thanks again for the input.
Later,
Doug in AZ>

[Paul Douglass]

How about one of those seats like is used in a bass fishing boat? They adjust for height, swivel and are comfortable.

[Dennis Peacock]

How about one of those seats like is used in a bass fishing boat? They adjust for height, swivel and are comfortable.

Well there ya go......Then we can all go "Lathe Fishin" :D Seriously though, I think that's a good idear. :)