Newbys First Project

I am waiting for a PM 1236, it's my first lathe and for all intensive purposes my first ever experience with a lathe, I hope I can find the power button!

Kidding, but in all seriousness, I have been looking at leveling feet. I need 8 with 5/8" shafts/legs.

I was considering making the leveing feet my first lathe project. I've used 3m window weld in the past, as engine mounts in my old racecar, and I think it would make a very solid vibration dampener. 2" round stock could be center drilled for 5/8" threads to be either tapped or threaded. (I may already have a 5/8" tap for all thread..)

So without doing much more than a general clean up of the brand new lathe, installinging a cord and the rest of the wiring, without trying to level the lathe at all, just sitting on my concrete garage floor, would making a couple leveling feet be advisable for a new guy?

Maybe some temporary wood shims to get it close to level while you do the project, just thinking out loud.

Yes, leveling feet would be a good first project. They are not a highly precise part so you would have some wiggle room on final sizes. This will let you focus on setup, cutting tool configuration and speeds and feeds. So give it a whirl. You have nothing to lose except some material. But most importantly be safe.

Tom S.

Found a level spot on the floor, checked level on the machine when I set it up, used 26 ga sheetmetal shims for final setup, and loaded up the base cabinet with chucks, steady rests, and other heavy stuff for mass to dampen out vibration. As the machine base is 16 ga sheet metal, I didn't have a lot of confidence that those leveling feet alone would properly support the machine unless the mounting area was beefed up with something thicker. May not be "right" but works for me and I can move the lathe at will with my porta-crane. at some point I may go to those combination roller/rubber pads that you can set up, adjust, and retract when you need to move the machine. Have four with total capacity of 1400" but will get two more to support the tailstock end.

Geesh, you are already on the right track with stuff with your choice of drafting paper!

Haha just trying to keep it classy! Some of my best work has been drawn up at lunchtime, and some really crazy stuff gets jotted down on the charmin.