Mounting atlas to rolling tool chest

You could do it and many have done similar things, but Atlas lathes need all the help they can get in the rigidity department, that chest would not be the best solution in my opinion. Adding a thick top plate under the lathe may help a bit though.

It looks to be a little too high also.

Bernard
 
Taylor,

I agree with Bernard. The Atlas lathes, and especially the 3/8" way versions, work much better when fastened securely to the floor or deck.

Robert D.
 
I have a Craftsman 6" mounted on a Harbor Freight 44" roller cabinet, with 3/4" plywood on the top of the cabinet and then true 2" pine on top of that. The 2" top overhangs the cabinet on both sides with wooden legs running to the floor with adjusters for leveling. It seems to be working fine for my purposes. The lathe is higher than usually seen, but I find it comfortable. By the way, I am pretty impressed with the quality of the HF cabinet. This set up has helped create a lot of useable space in my Model T garage that I have to share with a car.
 
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I am planning to mount my Atlas 12x24 to the Harbor Freight 44 inch cabinet. I think the HF 44 inch is better regarded than the Craftsman cabinets. The HF cabinet weighs something like 250 lbs empty with a loaded rating of 2600 lbs. It is also less expensive.

All that said, I cannot comment on how good or bad an idea it is to mount a lathe to a tool cabinet, other to acknowledge that most experienced guys say it is not the best idea. But I am about to find out first hand.
 
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JP,

Well, if you must, you must. But you might ask Pebbleworm for some photos of his setup, particularly the top and the leveling legs. And understand that a lathe does not actually have to be perfectly level in order to produce acceptable work. But the top of the ways have to be absolutely in the same plane. And stay there for the duration of a job. Without spending megabucks on measuring equipment, the precision level is the cheapest and simplest way to achieve that.

Robert D.
 
Unfortunately my camera has gone missing but here are the key points I learned while making mine. Keep in mind the Atlas 6" is a very light duty lathe.
-The wheels do not provide a lot of support- even with the casters locked the box will wiggle. I thought about replacing them with commercial/kitchen legs or using deck levelers under the box-
http://www.decksdirect.com/level-it...NPlF-okaNbgaAlPD8P8HAQ#812=&742=1013&743=1650
before taking the easy way out and adding legs the added top surface and bolting the whole assembly to the wall.
-The top you bolt the lathe to does need to be solid, but this is a bench top lathe. I used a piece of 3/4" plywood to fill in the top of the box, and screwed the 2X10 pine from the former bench to that. It seems solid enough.
-To provide more support and some degree of levelling I added 3 legs outside the box with nut-and-bolt levelers on them. This seems to help.
-The roller cab is a little tall for a bench in the first place, and adding a solid top raises it even more. I like the machine a little high so it works for me. Replacing the casters with legs from the restaurant supply store could lower the whole assembly a few inches.
-On the whole, I like this set up. The big box gives a home for a lot of stray tools and stuff, the lathe is solidly mounted and level, and can be rolled around if absolutely necessary. I have seen pictures of what I think are worse benches.
 
Thanks Pebbleworm. I'm thinking that I will replace the castors with leveling jack-screw feet with hockey puck pads. I'll also strap the cabinet to the wall for safety and some added stability.

I'm not sure what to do for the top surface. I like what you have done. One other idea I have is to use a piece of granite. I might be able to get a piece of scrap kitchen counter granite and have it cut and drilled to match the tool cabinet and lathe bed by someone in that business. Then maybe seat the granite onto the cabinet top surface with a bed of RTV silicone.

My lathe has only three mounting points, so I don't see that the mounting surface could ever cause the lathe bed to twist. However, I can certainly understand that a solid mounting surface would help with bed rigidity.

I'm afraid I have completely hijacked this thread. My apologies to the original poster.
 
JP

I can think of no advantages and several disadvantages to using granite instead of wood or steel for the bench top.

If you remove the casters and anchor the chest to the wall then comments against mounting a lathe on a roll-around become moot. You have a sturdy bench, which was one of the factory recommendations.

Your comment about a 3-point mount is correct so long as only those three points are actually touching the bench top.

Robert D.
 
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