# Lathe Stand



## kiwi_007 (Jun 20, 2020)

I see many light duty stands for so called benchtop lathes, many are made of sheet metal some bigger lathes have solid cast base plinths, one for the headstock and one for the tailstock end, and others are on a monolithic base.

A machinery seller once told me a lathe he once bought could take some pretty good cuts and didn't seem to be affected by vibrations, it had a 3/16" full length base, like a lot of the L series Harrison lathes had, and the base was filled with concrete.

For a bench lathe, which is usually quite light, the light sheet metal bases aren't going to add anything to rigidity or absorb any vibrations and I haven't seen many bases for a bench lathe that I like the look of, until I saw this one.

The lathe is bolted to a length of PFC and the level/twist of the bed is adjusted out by jackscrews in angle iron welded to the ends of the PFC. The bit I like about this is that the location of the levelling screws makes it easy to adjust the lathe. Although I don't think it wouldn't do anything to reduce or absorb vibrations.

I have thought, what if two lengths of PFC were welded together to make a heavy walled box section and this section was filled with concrete, would it isolate the lathe and absorb some of the vibrations from the hollow steel frame?

What are some good designs for lathe stands for a "bench lathe"


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## hman (Jun 20, 2020)

OK, what's PFC?????  

PS - that's a very nice looking stand.  Maybe it's the sheer length that makes it less than ideally stiff(?)   I see that it already has some corner gussets ... but maybe it could be stiffened by "wider" ones on the back and sides.  The front would be a bit more difficult, because you need access to the tool boxes.


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## silverhawk (Jun 20, 2020)

I think most people (I am not one of them) like to bolt equipment to the floor to keep it from walking on you. I made a portable stand that can slide castors under to move it out of the way when not in use. It is still not operational yet, but getting there. 

joe


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## kiwi_007 (Jun 20, 2020)

PFC is parallel flange channel, there are angled braces welded in at the rear of the stand. I don't think rigidity is the biggest problem with stands for benchtop lathes I think most of the sheet metal and steel stands they are put on amplify the vibrations and harmonics for the lathe, ie the stand acts like a tuning fork


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## projectnut (Jun 20, 2020)

kiwi_007 said:


> PFC is parallel flange channel, there are angled braces welded in at the rear of the stand. I don't think rigidity is the biggest problem with stands for benchtop lathes I think most of the sheet metal and steel stands they are put on amplify the vibrations and harmonics for the lathe, ie the stand acts like a tuning fork
> 
> View attachment 328218



Very ice work.  I can see there's a bit of different terminology used for some of the same products we use here on a regular basis.  On this side of the pond PFC is most commonly referred to as "C channel"


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## Dhal22 (Jun 20, 2020)

Or it's called channel iron.


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## hman (Jun 20, 2020)

kiwi_007 said:


> PFC is parallel flange channel


Thanks!  Yet another interesting case of "two peoples separated by a common language."  I'm always fascinated by the differences in terminology.

And I agree.  Many machine stands, especially the "assemble it yourself" type, do tend to be a lot less rigid than they ought to be.


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## Manual Mac (Jun 20, 2020)

The lathe in the photo looks like it’s never been used?


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## kiwi_007 (Jun 20, 2020)

The lathe in the photo is David Bests Precision Mathews lathe, which is in a thread here on hobby machinist, he even has drawings for the stand.

But knowing how steel acts as a resonator I was thinking that by turning the Channel iron into a heavy walled box section and filling it with concrete it would isolate any harmonics produced by the lathe from the steel stand.


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## projectnut (Jun 20, 2020)

kiwi_007 said:


> The lathe in the photo is David Bests Precision Mathews lathe, which is in a thread here on hobby machinist, he even has drawings for the stand.
> 
> But knowing how steel acts as a resonator I was thinking that by turning the Channel iron into a heavy walled box section and filling it with concrete it would isolate any harmonics produced by the lathe from the steel stand.



I'm not sure what brand and size lathe you're making a stand for, but I doubt it's going to need 4" tube filled with concrete unless it's a monster, or can turn in excess of 2,500 rpm.  I have a 10" x 60" Seneca Falls machine on a stand built out of 3" tube with 2" tube tie bars between the legs, and 3/4 x 6 flanges to bolt the machine to.  I've been running it on this stand for 20 years with no vibration or resonance problems.


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