Lathe Stabilization

[Dave Salzinger]

Well, I just joined this forum, and this is my first post so if I am not following all the rules, my apologies.

So, a while back I started to get into working with a lathe (went out and bought the WEN 3421 3.2AMP 8” x 12” lathe) I have to say that I am very pleased with this lathe for the most part, as anything will have some draw backs. The one thing that I noticed is that if I am trying to work anything that is close to the 8” that I am able to, the speed has to be turned down all the way or the little bugger starts to hop around.

And yes, call me stupid, but I went to Harbor Freight and got their universal tool table. That thing is not sturdy at all. I have since modified it by going through and welding up all the joints, adding some extra steel (also welded) in order to keep this thing from twisting. I have also placed these https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07B4P356L...NsaWNrPXRydWU=(that I had extra of) on the ground for the feet of the table. They haven’t done much at all.

This is what I am using for the stand on my lathe, and if the projects are small it works wonders. But I am wondering if anyone might have some “helpful” things that I could do in order to reduce this thing from hopping around like a kid on speed? I know that getting a new and better built table is the start lol which I am in the process of doing.

But I am looking at getting maybe some rubber shock absorbers, (like these) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08G8SHBS8...NsaWNrPXRydWU= or some type of spring isolator. Any thoughts or tip would be very helpful.

[Richard Coers]

You'd be better off posting this in the turning section. Bolting to the floor will be much more productive than rubber shock absorbers

[Kyle Iwamoto]

As mentioned there is a very helpful (to spend your hard earned dollars) turners forum here. We can help you spend lots of dollars.
To answer your question, this is what I do. I'm assuming you're starting between centers. Spur drive and tail center. When starting on a small lathe yes the speed must be slow. I try to balance the blank as much as possible first. To do this, I lightly mount the blank with the spurs NOT touching, but the center pin is. This will allow the blank to fall to heavy side down. Loosen the tailstock, adjust the blank and repeat. May take several tries to get it somewhat balanced. All my lathes are not rigidly mounted. I am a firm believer that when the blank is out of balance, balance it then turn. I don't like out of balance items spinning rapidly. If the lathe starts to bounce around, caution is advised.
Tip number 2 is find a turning club near you and join.
Good luck and welcome!

[Stan Calow]

Your table should have a lower shelf on which you can place sandbags or weights. It that extra mass down low that will help. I made my table out of 2x4s and plywood. Metal tool stands with nuts and bolts joints, are too lightweight for this purpose.

[Joe Bradshaw]

A lot of people say to add ballast to your lathe stand. I have never found this to be necessary. I adjust the speed to suit my workpiece. I should mention that I turn on 3 Oneway and a Robust. All 4 lathes are very heavy.

[Paul Williams]

Another vote for making a wood stand out of 2x4s. Best if the legs are splayed out a bit. A low shelf with ballast will help, but starting with your slowest speed and doing what you can to round and balance the blank before mounting will have more effect. I turn on a 12 1/2 in swing midi, and have had very little trouble getting blanks to run smooth. I start by slowly turning up the speed until I just start to feel vibration. Then turn it down until it smooths out. As the blank becomes round and more balanced I turn up the speed.

[Reed Gray]

A lot of things can make your lathe want to dance around the shop, and that applies to any lathe that is not bolted down in place. Two main things are unbalanced pieces, and the lathe not sitting flat on the table top or on the floor.

So, with unbalanced pieces. The larger the diameter of the piece is, the more likely it is to be unbalanced. So bowls will want to wobble more than spindles, most of the time. Human error in not getting it perfectly centered, and trees have all sorts of strange growing patterns that can make them not be straight and balanced. When starting to turn a piece, I start with the speed very low, and turn it up till it starts to wobble a bit, then back off the speed. Some times you can get the piece balances after roughing it down to round, and some pieces never balance even if they are round. Welcome to the world of wood....

As for sitting flat on the table or slab, all bigger lathes have leveling feet. many of the smaller ones like the bench top models don't. First lathe I had was a 4 speed Atlas. I made a custom bench for it out of some 4 inch thick glue lam beams. Shelf below held the motor and some sand bags. Minimum speed was about 500 rpm, and with chainsawn cut blanks, it wanted to dance. I did not have leveling feet. If you have leveling feet, then make sure the lathe bed is level from end to end and across. then back off of one foot a bit so that it is floating. Mount an off balance piece on it and turn up the speed till you get some wobble. Adjust the floating foot down until the wobble stops. Turn the speed up a bit and see if it still wobbles. You may have to adjust it a couple of times to get it 'perfect', if that is even humanly possible. This is when you can add weight, and/or bolt to the floor. If you are not bolting it to the floor, and I never have, use a marking pen on the floor to show where the feet are supposed to be. It will still want to walk around some, especially if you are in a garage and the floor has slope to it. No concrete floor is dead flat unless they used one of those laser skreeds to pour the slab, which most residential places will not have. When the lathe moves around a bit, then you can check where the feet were when you had every thing set up perfect.

With a bench top model, first thing is to make sure your bench sits flat on the floor, and I prefer one that is at least screwed into the wall studs. Then you put a level on the table top to see how flat it is. Next, put the lathe in a position where you want it to stay, and check for level. You at least want it close. The lathe should sit flat on all 4 feet. You can then bolt it in place. Not difficult to make a 3/4 inch thick plywood bench top with some 2 by 4 under it, though you may have to make sure the 2 by material is strait, which can be done with a table saw. Plywood to support the table is not good because it wants to flex...

robo hippy

[John K Jordan]

Well, I just joined this forum...

... I am wondering if anyone might have some “helpful” things that I could do in order to reduce this thing from hopping around like a kid on speed? I know that getting a new and better built table is the start lol which I am in the process of doing.

Welcome to the club!

Flexible supports like rubber or springs may make things worse. More mass definitely helps - my primary lathe weighs well over 700 lbs and will handle most unbalanced things (at the appropriate speed.) A second, smaller and lighter lathe needs lower speeds. I never add additional weight.

Bolting to the floor will help a lot but sure would limit occasionally moving the lathe. A friend of mine with a fairly light weight lathe did something different. He used long pipe clamps to fasten the lathe to the wall of his small shop. With this he turned bowls otherwise too large for his lathe outboard. Some people add boxes with weight. One guy I know hung heavy sandbags from his small midi lathe.

Another thing that helps is to make the blank as balanced as possible before turning, such as as cutting off the corners with a chain saw or cutting it round with a bandsaw.

bandsaw_blank_IMG_20180312_161447_777.jpg

JKJ

[roger wiegand]

Great advice here already. Weight is your friend. Bags of playground sand work great.

In adding weight it is important to follow the advice above about making sure your base is securely grounded--ie all four contact points firmly on the ground. Otherwise the addition of weight will torque your lathe, adding a twist to it that will make your problems worse not better. Make sure that your headstock and tailstock align after you've worked on it-- the points of a spur drive in the headstock and your live center in the tailstock should meet up pretty exactly.

Most everything I turn starts off out of balance, a lot of it stays out of balance throughout the turning process -- for example almost any live edge bowl, or pieces with voids in the wood. Start slow, turn it up to where things start to shake and then back off a bit. Some vibration during the initial rounding up phase is inevitable, you have to go fast enough to be able to cut the wood and that's hard on an asymmetric piece that's turning too slowly-- your knife falls into the hole and you get a jerk (or worse) when the next edge comes around.

[David Bolson]

If you have leveling feet, then make sure the lathe bed is level from end to end and across. then back off of one foot a bit so that it is floating. Mount an off balance piece on it and turn up the speed till you get some wobble. Adjust the floating foot down until the wobble stops. Turn the speed up a bit and see if it still wobbles. You may have to adjust it a couple of times to get it 'perfect', if that is ven humanly possible. This is when you can add weight, and/or bolt to the floor.

robo hippy

Reed, this is the first time I’ve seen this recommendation. I set up my lathe, used a digital level to get the lathe perfectly level side to side and front to back, and then added ballast and a cabinet. I don’t think I have the energy to dismantle it right now. I do still get some wobble (and assume I always will in certain circumstances no matter what). What does the “floating foot” method add?

David

[Patrick Morris IV]

By doing this, you pretty much equalize the pressure on each foot to floor.

[Reed Gray]

David,
As near as I can tell, no one has a meter of some sort that can make sure that your lathe weight is evenly distributed between all 4 feet. Having that weight evenly distributed just makes a more stable base, which means better load distribution, which leads to less vibration issue. To me, it is a critical first step before adding weight.

robo hippy