Lathe bench

[lazyLathe]

Hi All,

I have been working on this for some time now and seem to finally be making some headway!

The bench i have my Myford mounted on is a rickety affair to say the least...
It was time for a change and a bench that did not want to walk around the shop!:biggrin:

So i set about building a strong and sturdy wooden bench!

Here it is painted and almost ready to go!
Shelves will be added at a later date to store the chucks on and accessories.

I was also thinking that i needed a nice solid base to mount the lathe onto.
Enter the concrete counter top!!!!

It is not done yet as i need to pour the base with some self levelling concrete still.
When complete it will be around 4 inches thick!
Once the base is poured and cured i will polish the top using a diamond disc in a wet sander that i have.

As a treat to myself and my wife i bought a small shop crane so that she does not have to help me carry or move
any heavy items anymore!!!


So the concrete counter will be mounted onto the wooden bench and the lathe bolted securely to the concrete.
Shimmed and levelled it should prove to be pretty stable!

If all goes according to plan i will be building another similar set up for my South Bend and the Sieg SX2L mill!
Then i will have a nice workshop to spend many hours in!:biggrin:

Oh and i also have to find a spot for the Taig lathe....

Andrew

 

[Old Iron]

That looks like a real good setup for the Lathe that won't walk around.

It was real nice of you to get that crane for SWMBO! Now what are you going to used when she takes it.:lmao:

:biggrin:
Paul

 

[lazyLathe]

:lmao: LMAO Dave!!!!

So far she has helped me carry:
1- a bandsaw which was not too heavy
2- an Atlas lathe also not too heavy
3- an Atlas 1950's cast iron table saw, extremely heavy!
4- Various piles of wood
5- Moving the Myford around the basement
6- a 4 foot by 3 foot 1 inch thick steel plate, extremely heavy!
And the list goes on....

Oh i might have forgot to tell her that she does not need to help in the basement anymore!!
I never did say anything about getting all the kit down there first!!!:biggrin:

Andrew

 

[Rbeckett]

Andrew,

How on earth did you convince your wife she needed a shop crane? :headscratch: :headscratch: :headscratch:


DaveH

Thats easy Dave.

Just get her to help you move a mini mill one time and she will be all about getting a cherry picker or a trolley system in the cieling. I mounted my CNC Table computer and controls in a cieleing (SP?) mounted box on rails so I can move it over the table when it is not in use and it saves me a ton of floor space in my little bitty 20X20 shop. When we moved my HF 5980 from a wooden work bench to the metal table she had to help because I am now disabled and that was the end of that. She asked if there was any way to do it more easilly and the cherry picker came home from TSC in an hour. My motto with her is to strike while the iron is hot, otherwise I have to beg for forgiveness later after she forgets what a PITA it was. She was happy and so was I!!!! And I caught it on sale too, that was even better.
Bob

 

[irishwoodsman]

I told my wife the lathe will make money she replied ain't counter fitting against the law:lmao::lmao::lmao:

 

[OlBadger]

Thank you for this thread, as a newbie to this site I am poring through all manner of threads and the idea of a conctete bench for my new lathe never ocurred to me, what a great idea, mind you getting the wife to help you move that at a later date might prove difficult!!! I am intrigued by the 'help' bit why not let her lift these things on her own, no point putting your back out, it hurts when leaning over to machine a small part!!! (my wife will definitely NOT be readung this post so I think I might be safe)

 

[Kevin45]

Could you give details on the bench? It looks like 4x4's for the legs and do you have each side (inside and outside) of the sides covered? Same with the back? It looks like it is sturdy as can be. The concrete top won't be overkill or is that just something you wanted to do and has no real effect on the lathe?

 

[GK1918]

Mine is 4 inch thick wall steel, but i made it a foot higher so I dont have to bend over and I slid I nice 6 draw under
that , that holds every thing . I welded the top frame on site right on level dead on even checked with a transit. So I didnt
level the lathe but it checked dead level. Since this pic the mess is gone floor painted and the wood 6 draw in under.
just under the quick change you can see the left upright only two uprights built like a big I (side view)

 

[lazyLathe]

Sorry for the delay in answering some questions!
Life has been moving on steadily here and the workshop is getting more organized every week!

The legs are 4X4's braced in the corners, all glued and screwed construction.
The sides are covered with1/2 inch plywood.
The top and base are built the same as the sides, except the top has extra supports due to the concrete slab.
The top is also 1/2" plywood.

The shelves were made from 1/2" MDF

Here is a quick C-O-C drawing...


The concrete was smoothed using a wet sander with a diamond disc and various diamond impregnated discs.


Flat and shiny in a few hours!


Sealed with a concrete sealer and painted to match the bench.

Lathe mounted and levelled using shims.


Checked it about a week ago and it is still spot on!!! So that makes me happy!

Just finished a tool storage solution for behind the lathe.


Once the new mill is in i will mill some holders to hold all my QCTP holders.

Any comments welcomed!

Andrew

 

[Old Iron]

Really great job Andrew should do a good job and I don't think you'll have any vibration with it. Machine should cut chatter free with that setup!

Paul