I came across a second Craftsman 101.21400 lathe awhile back and am looking for a good base to mount it on. I came across a slab of steel that measures about 2x3 feet and is 1" thick. My question is do you think it would improve the machine enough to make it worthwhile to mount it to this heavy piece of steel, or should I just go with a lighter base? I have some 2" maple butcher block that I could also use. As a plus the plate looks to be ground so it is flat and would certainly be more stable than wood.
-
Welcome back Guest! Did you know you can mentor other members here at H-M? If not, please check out our Relaunch of Hobby Machinist Mentoring Program!
Mounting 101.21400 to Steel Plate
- Thread starter 44-henry
- Start date
- Joined
- Dec 25, 2011
- Messages
- 10,552
The steel plate certainly wouldn't hurt anything. With that thickness, you would need to do all of the hole drilling either on a drill press, or if you don't have one sturdy enough, use one of those gadgets designed to turn a hand held electric drill into a quasi drill press (in fact, I have one of those that I no longer need). But that would be true of the butcher block, too.
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2015
- Messages
- 429
I think the 1" steel plate secured to a steel frame would be ideal, but may be overkill for the Craftsman lathe.
A hard maple butcher block top would be adequate, as long as you build a rigid base for it. Also, you might consider placing 1/4" steel plates between the bed feet and the wood surface to keep the feet from sinking into the wood as you shim the bed for leveling and bolt it down.
FWIW, for my 10" Atlas QC42, I used soft wood (hemfir) laminated 2x4's for the top and 4x4 legs secured to the floor for the base. I also included the steel pads. The bed leveled fairly easily, and has stayed that way. It is also plenty rigid.
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2015
- Messages
- 9,986
My preference is always metal rather than wood. The reason, wood changes dimensionally with changes in humidity. Here in Wisconsin, our indoor humidity can range from 20% in mid winter to 80% in summer, causing swelling and warping of wood. Metal is also much easier to clean than wood.
However, 1" steel plate is overkill for that lathe. I have a Craftsman 6" lathe on the OEM stand with a formed edge to increase rigidity. The sheet metal is .140" and is more than sturdy enough.
However, 1" steel plate is overkill for that lathe. I have a Craftsman 6" lathe on the OEM stand with a formed edge to increase rigidity. The sheet metal is .140" and is more than sturdy enough.
It probably is overkill to use the steel plate but I now have it so I might as well use it, at least until a better use for it comes along. I already have a welding bench so don't have a need for another. The fun part will be getting it on the Bridgeport to drill mounting holes. I recently picked up an Atlas 7b shaper so it might be good to mount that on in the future.