Angle iron lathe stand - UPDATE (stand made)

The strength is easy to achieve. Mass and rigidity is why you want big and heavy. The majority of the weight is at the headstock end. So you need additional support/mass at that end of the stand. If I was building a stand for a 1000 lb lathe it would look something like this. I know some/most will scoff at this but you could even make it out of wood. 4x4 posts, 2x6 runners, 3/4 plywood for the sides and back and 2 layers of 3/4 plywood for the top. The plywood glued and screwed with the posts and runners held together with bolts. Wood absorbs vibration better than steel. Make leveling feet for the posts. Something to thing about.

lathe stand.jpg
As an aside. As I look at stuff online invariably people who work in metal always seem to want to make everything out of metal and people who work with wood always want to make things out of wood. I try to think more along the lines as to what is the best material for the project at hand. I tend to favor wood for things like stands and benches because it is easier for me to work with.
 
I have been in this business over 30 years
and many of the small lathes were mounted to a wood top on a metal stand....
I never liked it when I saw it but several old timers in the business explained how smooth the lathes ran.
 
SLK001 said:
Are you able to weld steel so that it will sit flat (or weld the feet planar so there is no twist in the stand)? If it is a twist and you use a heavy gauge steel, you'll probably have difficulty leveling the lathe.
Click to expand...

When I did this, I put four leveling feet on the floor. The little lathe 10x22" I was mounting only had two hold down bolts. I bolted these into a 2x3 x 3/16" tube, and put about 8" of 2x2x1/4" angle iron T'd across that at the ends. (Very wide flattened H shape). I set the angle to just overlap downward on the outside of the box frame. Then two bolts with adjusting nuts through the frame into each angle iron, one at each end. That way I could level the frame to the floor, and use the four bolts with adjusting nuts to level the lathe bed.

A did read a WWII article on another forum that basically talked about casting a concrete base for a lathe to turn a light duty lathe into a rigid setup. While it made a lot of sense to me, I didn't want to challenge myself that much if I needed to move it for some reason or other.
 
sdelivery said:
I have been in this business over 30 years
and many of the small lathes were mounted to a wood top on a metal stand....
I never liked it when I saw it but several old timers in the business explained how smooth the lathes ran.
Click to expand...
My South Bend 10K sits on a 3.5" inch thick wooden top made from a laminated architectural beam. Probably weighs 100 lbs alone.
 
Make sure you either incorporate sides and at least a partial back (sheet metal or plywood), or cross brace it. The typical perimeter frame design with no sides or angle braces ends up being quite flexible, especially if made of angle iron!
Plus, sides make drawers/shelves much easier to put in!
A heavy duty door on the headstock end with dummy spindles or pins to store your chucks on is nice, but only for smaller chucks. As they get bigger you want them waist level and up.

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If you have any welding/fab shops in your area give them a call. A custom weld shop near me will sell steel at their cost with a minimal mark up and no penalty for small orders.
 
The big open area on the right side is the perfect place for drawers to store stuff. I would also try to fit some drawers on the left side too.
 
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