How short should I make the bed of my lathe?

[Wilbur Pan]

I recently bought a Conover lathe. For those of you who aren't familiar with this lathe, it has a wooden bed. This particular lathe is made of microlaminated plywood built up to make a pair of beams 10 feet long, effectively giving this lathe a capacity of 7 feet between centers.

I got it home, and found that I have a slight issue. The lathe is too long for my shop. Of course, this is a good problem to have, and honestly, I suspected that I would have to do this, but it looks like I'll have to shorten the bed, which is easy, of course, since it's made of wood.

So my question is, coming from someone whose longest spindle piece so far has been a tool handle, how much capacity should I reserve for myself? I've got a few notions kicking around:

1. 42", because that's what most 16" swing lathes (Jet, Oneway) seem to have as their between centers capacity.

2. 54", because that seems to be the longest capacity between centers for any lathe being made today without the use of bed extensions. (Robust Sweet 16 and Vicmarc VL 300 long bed, in case you were wondering.)

3. Shorten it just enough to put it in the spot that I have for it, which would give me about 5 feet between centers.

4. Keep the bed as is, and rearrange all the other stuff in my shop to make it fit.

I'm leaning towards option 3, but one thing I don't have a good handle on is if the capacity over 40" is going to be wasted. Looking at the things around my house, it seems that most of the turned spindles, like table legs, stair railings, etc., are at most about 3 feet long. Over that length, the only thing I can think of that would require turning would be the corners of a four-poster bed, which jumps straight to 6+ feet. In other words, I'm not sure how often I would need to turn something between 3 feet and 6 feet long, in which case I might as well chop the bed down to give me 42" between centers. If I made the lathe that short, I could make use of the extra space that it gives me.

Of course, what's going to happen is that 10 minutes after I cut down the bed of this lathe, my wife is going to want a four-poster bed, even though she's on record as highly disliking that style of bed.

[David Drickhamer]

It might just be me but I'd leave it as long as possible just to have the option to turn something longer if I needed to.
Ya never know, someday you may need to make a flag pole. :)

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Of course, what's going to happen is that 10 minutes after I cut down the bed of this lathe, my wife is going to want a four-poster bed, even though she's on record as highly disliking that style of bed.

Uh Wilbur. Check paragraph 001.4d line 48 on your marriage license. That is her prerogative!:rolleyes:

I'd keep it as long as you can. Later if you decide, you can shorten it.

[robert hainstock]

:)The longset bed I ever used or needed was 40". Just remember when your cutting that the Tailstock takes up a considerable hunk of space. I would go with #3 option. It is easy to shorten it, but realy tough to stretch it. :eek:
Bobs

[Steve Schlumpf]

Another vote for option #3! You just never know about projects but the main concern at this point is to get it into the shop!

[Ed Kilburn]

I’d go with option #5, keep the 10' bed and make up a shorter bed that best fits in your shop. When your wife decides she wants a four post bed, you can change out the bed and have 7' between centers back.

[Phillip Bogle]

I am not an expert in turning so I might be completely wrong. I would keep it as long as possible. If the option just posted about two beds, one shorter and one in the original size I would second that.

You may want to go full time "Pro" with turning someday. If you have capacity the other guys do not have you might get the job. Another thought is, that when the competition is thin the profit margins are fatter. If turning capacity is usually about half the distance you have, you might have some creative options that the other guys do not have.

Like one of the others said, easy to make shorter, but a board stretcher is not likely.

[Terry Neumann]

I had a friend in Hawaii that was a woodworker/brewmaster for Kona Brewing Company and he bought one of these lathes. It took a fork lift to install it in his shop but you should have seen the beautiful Koa 4 poster bed he made with it. Personally, don't forget SIZE MATTERS!!! Make it fit!

[Jim Becker]

Well, the bottom line is what do you anticipate wanting to turn on it. I'm a short bed lathe fan because that best suits my needs for bowls and vessels. Any spindle work I do will easily fit within the max between center's capacity of my Stubby 750 of about 30" with the bed slid all the way out.

But if you want to stay long, your #3 would be the best bet, especially at first. You can always shorten it more, but making it longer is a bit of a hassle!

[Steve Clardy]

Umm. Lots of good answers here, but if it was mine, I'd go with #4.

Keep as is

[Wilbur Pan]

Well, the bottom line is what do you anticipate wanting to turn on it.

I guess that's what I'm really asking -- what sorts of things do people turn that fit into that 3 feet - 7 feet range? I've turned enough bowls that I think I know what I'm doing, but like I said above, my spindle turning experience is limited to making tool handles, and everything that I can think of seems to be either 3 feet or less (more tool handles, furniture legs, stair railings, chair parts, pepper mills) or ginormous (the aforementioned bedposts), but I can't think of anything in between.

[Steve Clardy]

Hmmm. Newel posts and such.

And future 4-post beds :rolleyes:;):D:D

[Curt Fuller]

Either #3 or #4 would be my vote. You know the old saying, "cut it of twice and it's still too short".

[Wilbur Pan]

Thanks for the input. This past weekend I moved the lathe down into my basement. I wound up cutting the bed of the lathe down, and thought I'd share some pictures. I could have rearranged the workshop to put the lathe in as is, but it would have made everything else suboptimal, including the location of the lathe. The bed is now 8 feet long, and gives me about 54" between centers.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3120/2895408325_31d44b98a5.jpg

I think that funniest part about getting the lathe into my shop is that for such a big long lathe, I wound up using hand tools to cut down the lathe bed. I used a Japanese saw to cut the ends of the beams down, and a bit and brace to drill new holes for the bolts to hold the bed onto the legs.

The headstock is surprisingly heavy. From what I understand, the design of this headstock was derived from a metal lathe.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3260/2896248554_3ba376ec4b.jpg

If you look closely, you can see where I made some more cuts to tweak the lathe. Originally, the part of the beam that the headstock is against was about 1/4" longer, which put the four step pulleys out of alignment by the width of a pulley. I cut this back so that the pulleys are in much better alignment, again with a Japanese saw by hand.

Here's the current speed setup. Four step pulley on the headstock, connected to a four step pulley on a short jackshaft, which has two step pulleys connected to the motor, giving me 8 speeds as it stands. I have no idea what those speeds are, though. I plan on switching to a VFD/three phase motor setup to get variable speed and really low RPMs for bowl turning.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3173/2896248642_8dbb1eef99.jpg

As far as restoration goes, there's not much I need to do. I got a lot of the old dust off the lathe. There was a fair amount, as it basically went unused for five years. The bearings in the headstock seem to be in great shape. I waxed the bed and anything that slides on the bed, so the tailstock and tool rest can be moved much more easily.

The wheel on the tailstock seemed to be a lot tighter than I would like. Disassembling the tailstock, cleaning out the gunk and cleaning the taisltock shaft, and greasing the Acme screw threads and where the tailstock shaft rubs against the housing of the tailstock helped a little, but what ultimately happened was that there was a groove in the tailstock spindle that a setscrew sits in to stop the spindle from being advanced too far. I knew that the sides of the groove were scored a little, but I didn't notice that the sides of the groove protruded up the tiniest bit, enough to cause the binding. Putting the spindle in backwards confirmed this. After about 2 minutes with a file to bring those edges down, I was in business. The tailstock moves like a dream now.

I still have to run a 220V circuit to the spot where the lathe is, and finish maneuvering it into place, once I'm sure that my tune up is finished.

[Jim Becker]

That looks great, Wilbur. Very nice! Good idea on going with the VFD, too...that's going to be an awesome lathe with that update.

[Gary Max]

That is a neat looking set up you have there----the only thing that would make it look better is if where in my shop----- :)