YALB (Yet Another Lathe Bench)...

[Dranreb]

Nice work Ray, seems like all that work was well worth the effort, thanks for sharing your methods and findings. :thumbzup:

Bernard

 

[Ray C]

Danreb, Ulma...

Thanks for the kind words. And BTW, this isn't work, it's pleasure. If we didn't enjoy this kind of stuff, we wouldn't do it.

If you decide to do this, it's a little tricky to set the adjustment bolts for dead-on precision. I worked-up a procedure of slighlty loosening the hold-down bolts and then cranking-in on the adjustment screws. So basically, you make adjustments by working the hold-down bolts and adjustment screws against each other.

In this particular case, making changes by adjusting the 3-point system was much more effective than changing the leveling jacks on the bench legs. When doing the adjustments by changing the leg levelers, it threw-off the stability of the overall bench. Also complicating matters is that my garage floor is sharply sloped by the sides. In all liklihood, which method is better probably depends on your lathe and the style of bench.

The other night, Richard King and I corresponded and he was genuinely happy that things worked out. He's been doing various forms of 3-point leveling and two-collar testing for a good while. I really wished I listened to him and read his posts more carefully in the first place. It would have saved me some troubles along the way but this was one of those things I just had to see with my own eyes.

If I had to do this all over, I would have skipped all the screwing around with trying to make it horizontally level (and yes, I did waste time and try) and go right to some form of 3-point. I think my setup can be simplified. Probably only need elevation/delclination at the TS and Front-To-Back leveling under the head end. Water under the bridge now...


Ray

 

[Dranreb]

And BTW, this isn't work, it's pleasure. If we didn't enjoy this kind of stuff, we wouldn't do it...Ray

Yep, me too, since I stopped work, boredom sets in very quick if I haven't got a real brain teaser of a project on the go..

Bernard

 

[MadTrapper]

Just a thought. I framed my bench into the side of my small 2 car garage. The top was made from a cutoff of 20" cord beam, the sort that is nailed together to make beams in houses. It is 1 3/4" thick orange painted plywood. This makes a very good work surface for a bench and an adequate stand for my Chinese 12x27 lathe + drip tray. Also used a piece on an old workmate to make a portable bench. Perhaps a layer of this would dampen vibration?

 

[darkzero]

Ray, just curious, did you have the blue paint color matched or did you find a good match in rattle cans?

 

[Ray C]

I think that wood is excellent for absorbing higher frequency vibrations which tends to cut down on noise. My instinct tells me a reasonable approach is to first eliminate the sources of lower and middle frequency vibration as those carry the most energy and can be seen or felt. This means first balancing all larger gears, sheaves, chucks etc that spin rapidly. It's almost impossible to address that 100% so, a strong, heavy bench addresses the remainder. Almost certainly, wood could certainly be part of the equation if constructed properly... I guess folks tend to go with metal though since wood tends to absorb oil and coolant etc...


Ray

Just a thought. I framed my bench into the side of my small 2 car garage. The top was made from a cutoff of 20" cord beam, the sort that is nailed together to make beams in houses. It is 1 3/4" thick orange painted plywood. This makes a very good work surface for a bench and an adequate stand for my Chinese 12x27 lathe + drip tray. Also used a piece on an old workmate to make a portable bench. Perhaps a layer of this would dampen vibration?

 

[Ray C]

Will,

Rustoleum enamel from Lowes in quarts. It's pretty tough stuff but messy. It will go on bare metal if not rusty but I almost always prime it with the rustoleum brown/red primer because it goes on evenly. Takes a good 6 hours to get tacky 12 hours to set and a full 24 hours to dry well enough to handle. Once it fully cures (about 2-3 days) it's extremely durable.


Ray

Ray, just curious, did you have the blue paint color matched or did you find a good match in rattle cans?

 

[darkzero]

Thanks Ray

 

[HankM1942]

I know this is an old thread, but it is the inspiration for my new bench that will have the same lathe on it. Ray, what did you mean by elevation/declination at the tail stock and at the headstock when you referred only doing these if you did it again. Could you explain that a bit more?

 

[Cadillac STS]

Nice build thread to read through. Along with the bench project why not build in a backsplash that goes up the back to protect the wall and direct all chips, lube, coolest down into the pan? And use same high durability paint for easy clean up.