Lathe Bench project

[Steevo]

I think I may have gotten carried away in building a sturdy bench for my Craftsman/Atlas 12x36 lathe.

I wanted it to be solid and have no give, but the end result weighs in at about 350 lbs. and I could park a car on it. It is all 2x6 construction, with a 1-1/4" thick commercial laminate top capped with 12ga. steel.








I am still waiting for my parts for the adjustable feet. I ordered some of these threaded leg plates from a billiard table company, figuring that is they hold a 1000# slate table with four feet, they should sure work for my lathe bench with six feet.


The adjustable feet I ordered came from http://www.levelingmounts.com/
They are heavy duty non-skid polyurethane equipment feet with ½-13 swivel studs (on the left in this pic):


When the feet and the threaded mounts arrive, I'll finish up the construction.
The wood I got from Home Depot is so green that I won't be able to paint if for at least six months, since it will take that long to dry, and I'll have to tighten up all the (120 +) screws and 18 bolts as it shrinks.

 

[sasquatch]

Steevo you didn,t overdo that bench,, you've built it solid which a number are not built that strong.
Let it dry out, then give it a good two coats of shop gray paint .

 

[pdentrem]

Looks perfect to me. Similar to mine.

 

[Steevo]

I finished the feet on my bench Monday evening.
The threaded 't-nuts' are from a billiard table parts company, and have ½"-13 threaded centers, and have 1-1/2" square plates for support.



The feet are swivel-base, non-skid made for industrial equipment, rated at 2500# each:



With these in place, I should be able to level and stabilize the lathe bench on any surface, whether level, sloped, or uneven.



Hopefully, tonight I can stand it upright, and get out the engine hoist to move the lathe off the current bench, switch this into that spot and set the lathe in place on its new platform.
Then I can begin the leveling game.

 

[Steevo]

With the green lumber, you might get plenty of practice leveling as the wood cures.

When leveling, you want to get one end level relative to the other. So if one end is off a small amount, it's OK as long as the other end is off the same amount in the same direction. With a wood bench, I guess you should get it level first, then level the lathe on the bench with adjustments done at the lathes feet.

Roger that, knudsen. I am looking for some thin shim material I can use to fine tune the lathe on the bench-top.
I was hoping to find some kind of slotted shims like body panels are adjusted with, but in very thin sizes.

 

[Steevo]

I guess I could find some neighbors that drink beer from cans . . .

The bottles that my ale of preference comes in won't work so well.

 

[pdentrem]

Front end alignment shims go down to 1/32" but no lower. Tin cans and tin snips can be your best friend.