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Thread: How to make lathe mobile.....looking for ideas

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Location
    Englewood, Florida
    Posts
    189

    How to make lathe mobile.....looking for ideas

    I will buy my first and last lathe next month in Sarasota FL. I will be transporting that lathe annually to summer cottage on large lake near Bar Harbor Maine.
    Great place to quarantine. Someone suggested that I build a lathe bench inside a HF wagon with large tires. This could be a great solution for me in Maine. I envision
    a bench cabinet w doors and a 2X top. When i want to use it, i lift one end and slide a 4x4 under wagon getting wheels off the round...repeat on other end and I now have a stable bench. Open doors and add three five gallon buckets of sand for weight........any better ideas for adding weight in 25 to 50 lb increments?????

    I am leaning towards buying Rikon 70-220VS partially because it only weighs 100 lbs. I can cope with this easier than Jet 130 lbs. I want to be able to make a bowl almost 12 inches wide in Maine next summer. Will be buying HSS tools, grinder, wolverine, chuck etc next spring

    Initially I will join a woodturners club in Sarasota, FL. I will buy some carbide tools and start turning pens. What tools should I buy and where should I buy them.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2020
    Location
    Hoschton, Georgia
    Posts
    116
    I would highly recommend you join a woodturners club and go to a few meetings before you buy a lathe. You may find out that the Rikon 70-220VS is not going to do what you want it to. A lathe big enough to comfortably turn a 12" bowl is not going to be very portable.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2013
    Location
    Wayland, MA
    Posts
    3,656
    I'd look seriously at the used lathe market and consider having a lathe at each location. Tools are easy to transport, a lathe heavy enough for turning bowls from unbalanced blanks isn't. Definitely join a club and try out as many lathes as you can, it will help define your needs. It may be that a heavy lathe at one location and a mini at the other will do what you want.

    Sand is good for dampening vibrations. My lathe weighs north of 700 pounds, but I didn't achieve real stability until I bolted it down into concrete. Having lived for a long time with a prior lathe that danced across the floor despite being weighted with ~300 lbs of lead bricks it is wonderful to be turning on such a solid platform.

  4. #4
    I echo the two lathe solution for your needs. Avoid that annual transportation nightmare.

    There are two woodworking clubs in Sarasota that I am aware of. Both meet at Advantage Lumber when there is no pandemic. The Westcoast Florida Woodworkers club has a lot of turners, with a lot of them favoring the Nova line of lathes. One of their current club projects is to turn bowls for a local food bank to auction off in their bowls for hunger campaign. I gave them ten bowls myself.

    The woodworking club just for turners also makes bowls for a local food bank. They meet on a Friday night as guests of Advantage Lumber too. As far as I know, membership in either club is open. There is a lot of crossover between the two clubs. I think the first meeting is free!

    There is another club associated with a local travel park on Fruitville Road, but it is not open to the public. We had a meeting there, and they had quite a setup, with a full shop with about ten Powermatic lathes, two table saws, multiple benches and other goodies.

    If you are set on transporting things back and forth to Maine, bring down some hardwood instead of a lathe.

    Andy

  5. #5
    I have three lathes set up. Two in my work shop and a smaller one on a wheeled cart to transport.

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