I got my Vevor lathe installed.

[steelcat]

I pored a 2" high yield concrete slab on top of a heavy wooden work bench 2 weeks ago and finally got around to mounting my lathe to it.
I pored the slab because the bench top was almost 1/2" out of level and felt this was a good way to level the top and add some mass at the same time.
I was able to get the lathe dead nut level with only one thin shim on the tail stock end. I installed 1/4" flat plate under the mounting feet of the lathe to increase the foot print of the lathe. This may have been a waste of time? After getting the lathe level I installed the 3d printed accessories. chip guard, lead screw cover, tool holders etc.
My first project was to turn useable cross slide handles and get rid of the worthless stock ones.
The lathe performed better than I expected but there are a few issues I must address. Yesterday was a busy day in the shop.

 

[Eddyde]

Looks real solid, Please keep us abreast of the issues you encounter and how you remedied them.

 

[steelcat]

The lathe performed all functions great (facing,turning,drilling) except for parting off. There is upward movement of the tool post while parting off.
Some of this may be tool hight is a little low? But don't know were the play is coming from. There is very minimal clearance on the slides. I am thinking the gibs may be to narrow and may need to be fitted with better fitting gibs?

 

[SWIGIN]

I never thought of concrete to add mass to a small machine.

I made a metal table for my 1922 South Bend, but only used 1/8'' plate for the top. (pre weight being added)


After wanting to add mass myself, I bolted and huge lamo beam to the underside of the table top. It it attached with LONG bolts through the lathes feet.

Worked very well as I'm sure your table will too.

 

[steelcat]

I never thought of concrete to add mass to a small machine.

I made a metal table for my 1922 South Bend, but only used 1/8'' plate for the top. (pre weight being added)
View attachment 467308

After wanting to add mass myself, I bolted and huge lamo beam to the underside of the table top. It it attached with LONG bolts through the lathes feet.

Worked very well as I'm sure your table will too.

Like the saying goes.
There is more than one way to skin a cat!

 

[ttabbal]

Parting can be irritating on smaller machines. Try adjusting gibs, lock everything else down. If there is still flex, it's likely in the compound. Many of us have made blocks to take the place of the compound for rigidity. It makes a big difference, particularly for parting.

Another option is a rear mounted holder, that holds the parting blade inverted. Particularly if you can hard mount it to the cross slide. You can find lots of threads on the forum with details that might be helpful to make one for your machine.

 

[steelcat]

Parting can be irritating on smaller machines. Try adjusting gibs, lock everything else down. If there is still flex, it's likely in the compound. Many of us have made blocks to take the place of the compound for rigidity. It makes a big difference, particularly for parting.

Another option is a rear mounted holder, that holds the parting blade inverted. Particularly if you can hard mount it to the cross slide. You can find lots of threads on the forum with details that might be helpful to make one for your machine.

View attachment 467319

Thanks for the info!
I have always wondered how often you would need to use the compound? I am new to maching so I am probably wrong about this but isn't it redundant when you can turn the tool holder?

 

[Firstram]

Thanks for the info!
I have always wondered how often you would need to use the compound? I am new to maching so I am probably wrong about this but isn't it redundant when you can turn the tool holder?

That depends on your tooling. A mini lathe can’t really handle very large form tooling. If you’re only using it for edge breaking or chamfering it would be fine, I use the compound quite a bit.

I know I’ll get grief for this but, I flipped the tool in my tool holder and part off in reverse. Even with the tool now cutting with a negative rake, it still works great! I suppose I could grind a positive angle on the end but it hasn’t been a problem in the last 8 years.

 

[steelcat]

I went out to the shop and took a closer look at the compound,cross and carrage slides and it looks like I had a stack up of tolerances. Readjusted all the gibs on the slides and carrage. The cross and
Compound slides are a little tight but I can live with that after all I'm not dealing with a top notch quality machine here.
I parted off a 3/4" aluminum rod slick as a whistle. Steel may be a different story.

 

[Aaron_W]

Thanks for the info!
I have always wondered how often you would need to use the compound? I am new to maching so I am probably wrong about this but isn't it redundant when you can turn the tool holder?

No the compound allows the tool to move in and out at an angle which offers some options just turning the tool post won't. Turning the tool post only changes the presentation of the tool to the work, but won't allow you to cut much of a bevel or to cut a small taper like the compound will.

The compound is useful, but on a small lathe treating it like an accessory, and only using it when actually needed makes sense. It is an occasionally useful feature that impacts useful swing, and rigidity, two things often in short supply on small lathes.

If well designed going to a fixed block also allows you to turn bigger pieces, since the compound takes up a chunk of otherwise usable space under the part. On a 7" lathe the difference between the swing over the saddle and, swing over the compound is around 2".