Some may relate, others not.... but a valid question none the less

My buddy bought two pieces of 6" square thick walled tubing at the scrap yard and we set his Cincy Toolmaster mill on top of them. Solved his sore back problem.
 
I am 6' I just sit on a stool most of the time. The shorter guys at work rage on me until They have to get a stool to change a tool in the BP. Then it is my turn.
 
I'm so tempted at times to say to a short person in a store " You are short, can you get me that item on the bottom shelf?" Most of the time, I don't mind helping get an item off the top shelf, but do not drag me to another isle. :mad:


Sorry, Rant over.
 
I'm same height. 6'5". My lathe is OK for me (Taiwanese AL960B, pretty much the same as the Grizzly G4003G) but my old RF30 mill drill is a bit low. It's on a frame on castors and nearly all my work gets done in a vice on the table so that all helps, but from time to time I find myself sitting on a chair to do some jobs. I've got plans to get a new mill eventually so Ill put up with it until then.

Recently my wife was away for a week, she said she left some frozen meals in the freezer for me. For the life of me I couldn't see them in the big freezer bin. I turns out there is a set of drawers in the freezer immediately under the fridge section that I never knew were there, just right for short people.

pete
 
I use a padded bar stool on some machines when I'm tired of leaning over or just tired of standing. I also use a nice HD office chair when I run my punch presses that sit lower. My little shop has those rubber work mats and horse mats too, helps my feet survive the long days. I'm only 6'-4".
 
I'm in the 6'4" use to be handsome devil club . Now I build risers for everything even now in a wheelchair there to low. I'm in the slow process of getting surgery on my spine . Before that I had been building machine stands , with casters and levelers if needed. I'm committed to make moving them easier. And getting my shop open for room to move around in. I added 12" to a leather sewing machines height , a stand with wheels .
 
For 60 or 70 years smaller South Bends were mounted on wooden benches, with no ill effects. I would seriously consider building up a bench frame with 4x4 vertical posts, as tall as suited your height, and brace it well with 1x4 or even 2x6 and carriage bolts - using the tried and true SB design. It's easy enuf to bolt two pieces of 1/4" steel flat bar to each end of the top of the bench and use the steel plate as a base to level the lathe bed. This way you get the height you want, and a nice work area to boot.

My 1919 7x 36" Dalton is mounted on a similar wood bench, with 2x6 underlayment and a single,piece of 1/2 finish grade varnished plywood for the table top. It is rock solid and levels up nicely with steel plate under each of the feet.

Glenn

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As storage space gets more and more scarce, I will add blocks to decipher at what height I want to attain where it is comfortable, then build a bench...will have to call on friends to transfer the lathe to the table though.....

Thanks for all the input

Richard
 
You would like height of my lathe. When built the bench it sits on, I added a couple bottom roll around toolchests, just the shorter ones.
 
Build a stage all around the shop... All tools get put up on the stage...
 
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