Bench for a SB 9"

My father mounted my Clausing MKlll on a home-made wooden bench very similar to Charles Spencer's photo.
He added 2 drawers under the 2 x 8 frame around the top. I have increased the table leg dimensions to 4 x 4 and added a 0.5" sheet of plywood on top which is sealed with polyurethane. I have leveled it on the frame shop floor and it IMHO is quite stable.
Have a good day
Ray
 
Thanks all, for great replies and photos. Photos are worth a 1000 words, as the old saying goes. Glad so many people have had positive responses about wood tables.

And particularily Thanks to Mike P. for sending a very nice set of Fusion 360 table frame drawings. I think I will use Mikes drawing to make a tooling cart and a build table for some 1/4 scale railway cars I want/need to construct later this winter.

So thinking inside the box, this afternoon went out into the shop to measure the SB. Low and behold it fits perfectly on a wood carpenters table that I have had covered in junk, chucks, and tool boxes for years. It's near perfect in size @ 24" x60". Hadn't even thought of it till I went over to pick up a measuring tape out of the tool box! Lo and behold there it was! This will be a big time saver as I should be receiving a used countershaft this week off eBay, and want to get busy putting the lathe back into service ASAP.

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Even has provision for a couple of drawers - although I don't have the drawers. I think I will add cross beams and a lateral support near the bottom of the legs, and maybe a shelf or two on each end. Maybe some angle iron brackets at the feet with provision for bolting to the floor, so the whole thing doesn't tip over - it is fairly narrow. And the lathe and countershaft will be bolted near the outside edges.

Only other thing is I now need to make a cart or two to hold the stuff that must come off and under the table, to fit the lathe. So the standard progression of one step forward and two back. Which is where Mikes great drawings will come in really handy.

Thanks again!

Glenn
 
That looks as solid as they come. The large open area is a plus IMHO.
Have a good day
Ray
 
Glenn Brooks said:
Maybe some angle iron brackets at the feet with provision for bolting to the floor, so the whole thing doesn't tip over - it is fairly narrow.
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I would not bolt the 9" SB to the floor. Instead, I would mount some wooden board braces to the far left and right outside (or inside) sides of the legs at floor level, long enough to project beyond the legs to the front and rear enough to help prevent tipping. Then you can move your lathe around easily...
 
Thanks Bob, I need to add some stiffeners to the legs of the table, anyway. Might as well extend them a bit to add stability. Iam thinking about adding rollers to be able to move the lathe if needed. Don't know how that will work out as the concrete floor is slanted towards the center, as befitting drainage in a garage. Don't want to continually chase the lathe down hill.

Glenn
 
Glenn Brooks said:
Ken,

Thanks for the tip on snugging down the tailstock bolts. One question - if the headstock feet are not bolted down to,the bench, how does one level the lathe?

Thanks
Glenn
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He said snug. Not no bolts. The snug will allow movement, but won't cause an issue to the wood. Anyway you shim from below, so your not pulling it down and locking it into the wood., you just don't want it moving around.

BTW if you do use a wood top, I picked up a pan for underneath the car (oil drip pan) 48" model and it's a great oil drip pan. then I use a removeable baking pan for the chips which I can pull out. My SB 9a is a wet mess from plenty of oil. The gear box really leaks like crazy even with new wicks. So the pan keeps chips that don't make the baking pan, and keeps the oil...
 
Glenn Brooks said:
I am thinking about adding rollers to be able to move the lathe if needed. Don't know how that will work out as the concrete floor is slanted towards the center, as befitting drainage in a garage. Don't want to continually chase the lathe down hill.
Click to expand...
Glenn -
A couple years ago I came up with a knee/toggle action mechanism to raise/lower a set of casters. I've since used it for a number of tools, including one that weighs about 350 lbs. The basic idea is to put a pair of swivel casters on a plate at each end of the tool. The plates pivot on a pair of heavy door hinges, both plates mounted to a crossbar under the center of the tool. The knee/toggle action lets you raise the tool onto the casters (be sure the caster plates are set up to be level when you do this), so the tool can be moved around. The flat ends of the toggle bars keep things very stable. Raising the casters sets the tool down on its feet, so it won't move around. I'm working on an article for one of the machinist magazines. Meanwhile, here are some preview/sneak peek photos of the lift on my homemade my 9x20 lathe table. PS - the table top is two thicknesses of ¾" MDF glued together. There's now a set of fluorescent lights over the lathe bed, attached atop the uprights.

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Hman - very clever knee linkage! Been thinking along similar lines for my future lathe bench.
 
HMAN, Really clever with the casters. Can you show a few more pics?
 
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