# Stiffening up an Atlas 618 with 3/4" plate?



## pebbleworm (Mar 17, 2013)

Just out of curiosity, I've found a chunk of 3/4" steel plate that is just a little bigger than the footprint of my Craftsman 618.  Would bolting the lathe  feet to this plate substantially stiffen this little machine?  And if I did this, should I bolt the machine to the plate before leveling it, or treat the plate as part of the bench and bolt the plate to the bench before leveling the machine?  Any advice is welcome!


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## road (Mar 17, 2013)

I have a Craftex 7x8.  I plan on bolting my plate to the bench then mounting the bed to 2  2x2 square blocks under the feet of the bed on top of the plate to help to raise my lathe to a more comfortable working height.  This is the idea for leveling I found on another site. This way I can adjust it easily if I need to. Some minute flex adjustments can help to correct and slight imperfections in my set up adjustment. (if this make sense )  jmho


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## wa5cab (Mar 18, 2013)

Pebbleworm,

The 3/4" steel plate certainly won't hurt anything.  You should bolt the plate to your stand and rough level (to the accuracy of a carpenter's level) the plate and stand together.  Then precision level the lathe.  

Robert D.


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