Bed Extension for HF Lathe

[Christopher Pendleton]

I've had this Central Machinery 12x36 lathe (SKU T34706) for a while, and recently I've been wanting to turn some longer items like canes and table legs. Bed is too short. As far as I can tell it's the same lathe as a grizzly G0462, but I can not for the life of me find a compatible bed extension for either listing.

Bed extensions are large, heavy, and a pain to ship, so I'd rather not play the "Looks about right" game with the extension. Would also rather not do something like trying to mount the whole lathe on a 4x4 piece of lumber.

So I'm hoping someone out there can point me at a compatible bed extension. I would greatly appreciate it.

[John Keeton]

Christopher, the 34706 was my first lathe and it is a copy of the Jet JWL1236. I think all the parts are interchangeable. You might try this page, or call them - https://jettools.com/jwl1236-52.

[Richard Coers]

It's very easy to make a bed extension. Use plywood for the box that mimics your cast bed and aluminum rails on top. It doesn't sound like you want to go into production, so it should last quite a while. Make yourself a spindle steady while you are at it. Turning a cane will be an exercise in curing spindle whip. A long 1" diameter rod will hop around like crazy, especially if you use carbide tools. Long skinny spindles are best turned with a skew.

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

The centers do not have to be perfectly aligned when that far apart, they just have to be stable. You can make a wooden beam extension. I have a very old lathe that was shipped to the consumer, who would use two stoudt wooden beams as a bed. You are only limited by the length of the beams and diameter. Keep in mind that the longer the piece, the more likely it is to "whip" I turned some 20 inch long knitting needles for a lady and put the dowels through the hollow head stock into the pen jaws of my chuck and extending enough to turn the tips. there was only 10 inches hanging out the back end but the whipping was bad, so I mounted of length of plastic tubing on the out board tool rest to keep the dowel from bending.

For something that does not extend to far, a steady rest may be enough to hold the piece without a tail stock. .