Lathe height question and what to do about it.

[Bi11Hudson]

I would put the cabinet on the floor and then a 12"x2" u channel upside down under the lathe itself. This will do double duty of raising it and fixing the lack of stiffness of the cabinet.

Being rather tall, 6'3" when I can stand up straight, I faced a similar problem when I acquired a Craftsman 12X36. I had a stand built from steel, formed a chip pan, and then raised the machine with a 6X6X1/4 box tube. The 6X6 tubing provides much of the rigidity for the stand. That put the machine at a good working height and left plenty of clearance for the threading gear train. The tool boxes reside on a shelf about 6" off the floor. I had built a base for a Grizzly 9X19 on a stand that raised the stand some 6" above the floor. A square of angles the size of the stand and 3" dia legs with adjusters on the bottom.

In both cases, the frames were first shimmed up with wooden wedges to get rough dimensions. My shop is a residential grade wood structure that is prone to movement over time. So they get checked and adjusted every few months.

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[graham-xrf]

I held my arm comfy slightly lower than horizontal and pointed the finger. That would be the height of the saddle apron wheel.

 

[finsruskw]

Bi11Hudson

That option is out for an under drive unit I'm afraid.
So far this AM all I have come up with so far is 1.5" thick piece of 5.5" wide CRS about 8" long.
I suppose I could make square blocks from that to sit on the floor under the mounting lugs.
I think I will relegate the wooden block brainstorm to the fireplace where it more than likely belongs!!

 

[tjb]

I think I will relegate the wooden block brainstorm to the fireplace where it more than likely belongs!!

I think that's a good idea.

 

[Bi11Hudson]

What I made for the small machine should work. The "factory" base had tabs on each end. All sheet metal, I wasn't real impressed with them. But they provided something to bolt the angle iron to. I made the angles faced up "about" the size of the cabinet. It's not very pretty but does provide a "base". The fairly thick wall tubing was then welded on each corner. Then the bottom of the tubing has a plate threaded for 1/2-20 adjustments. I made the adjusters out of automotive studs welded to a piece of 1/4 steel plate. The whole thing was made from scrap stock I had laying around. I used scraps of wood 4X6(3-1/2x5-1/2) and window wedges to get the original setup. Then screwed the levelers down to take the weight and set level a little more precisely. The angle I used was a little heavier than bed rails. But the machine is fairly light(<800#). For an under drive "old" iron machine, the angles would need to be a little more stout. The stuff I have on hand is 1-3/4^2X3/16. Assume your machine to be at least 2X weight of the Chinese machine.

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