Wheels and pan

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abunai

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On another post, I have a lathe I'm saving.
So far everything looks good.
Nothing bent, cracked or broken.
I need it to be on wheels to move around. Don't have much space.
My Craftsman/Atlas , 101.07403, is on a metal wheeled cabinet.
I saw this one on ebay.
Looks to be the same model as the one I have.
He put wheels on the legs and cabinet.
I don't think it's a good idea. Chance of bed twisting.
I was going to make a metal frame with wheels.
Metal is square tubing. Scrap from window company. Thick.
Good idea ?????

Other thing I noticed is the pan under the bed.
Mines didn't have one.
Is it a home made or factory option pan?????
Hard to make one?????
Seems like a good idea to have one.

lathe.jpg
 
For the pan, no idea whether it's original but it's a good idea, get a guesstimate from an air conditioning place where they make their own ducting, might be surprisingly cheap, they have the tools for forming beaded edges and lips etc. to make it nice to be around?

If you build a frame for it ( if you have to move it) it wants to be pretty substantial, and it's worth building in jacking adjustments at least at the tailstock end - wherever you move it to the floor's not going to be identical to where it was so you risk twisting the bed, it'll be worth "levelling" (actually getting the ends of the bed co-planar, you don't NEED it to be exactly level except for coolant flow out of the pan, above) after you move it and a couple of threaded adjusters will be easier than adding/removing shims under the wheels. So... don't just bolt the casters / wheels through the frame to the lathe.
You may want stabiliser pads you can wind down to get the wheels off the ground and stop the lathe moving around :) these could work for levelling too!

Next question - how much higher do you want it, are the handwheels and controls at convenient heights, or a little low as it is at the moment? Will raising it turn e.g. attaching chucks, loading workpieces into awkward lifts? if it may end up too high, you may need to build your frame around the lathe's base, have e.g. sturdy angle welded inside the frame to bolt the lathe into to keep it low enough.

I'm currently working on super-casters for lathe (4500 pounds) and mill (3500), they'll be lengths of plate or channel with 20 mm pins from side to side mounting two rows of bearings as wheels, rotating (castering) on a 20 mm bolt/sleeve/thrust bearing arrangement, with a threaded hole through the axis of the bolt for (12 mm) levelling bolts once in place, to allow me to park it on (into?) the concrete floor. Thinking outside the tool shop/EvilBay box, with sturdy enough single-wheel casters I wouldn't be able to see over it...

Dave H. (the other one)
 
This is a Sheldon TE 1236 p, it came with a chip pan , I think most all lathes of this size come with chip pans.
If you make yours mobile keep the center of gravity low , as they will tip over easy .
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I was also wondering about the center of gravity.
I was planning to have 8 wheels 4 each corner of the cabinet, 2 at the legs and 2 between the legs and cabinet.
All swivel.
I'm thinking the weight will help it from tipping, but almost all the weight is high, so I'm not sure.
I was planning to put 6 jack shafts on it. Mostly to level and take the weight off the wheels when not moving.
Simple bolt through a long nut .
I'm not sure how much it weighs, but it's not a real big lathe.
I'll check around to see how much it cost to make a pan.
Would be nice to have one.
I was in a rush to take it out, I didn't take any measurements.
I'll have to put the bed on and do it.
There's another lathe in the shack.
It's a big Logan.
Too big for me.
I'll have to ask if I can take parts off of it.
 
I think The lathe your saving should of had a chip pan its about the size of mine, wounder if someone removed it for somthing . If I were putting wheels under mine they would have to be sticking out the front and back about 5-6" but then they would be a trip hazard. Should be ok rolling it long ways , but careful the other way.
 
The chip pan was an option with Sheldon. Likewise with most other lathe manufactures back in times. Derrick, yours looks to be much shallower than it is on mine. On both of my Sheldon lathes the chip pan was about the same size but about twice as deep. Of course, mine are the "R" series size and they may have designed it with a deeper chip pan.

Edit: The idea of mounting wheels on the lathe, I would not do it! If you do, as Derrick said, make sure the wheels are sticking out away from the feet of the lathe at a good 6" in front and back. This will allow the caster to swivel and the wheel will not line up under the feet of the lathe (or the outer most edge of the lathe) when swiveled. If you don't this, the lathe can and will tip over! The internet is full of articles of people that have done this and luckily, nobody has gotten hurt badly or lost a life over it. These top heavy lathes can be tricky and catch you by surprise. So be careful! Ken
 
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I would agree that attempting to make the machine mobile is not the best idea. It's size and configuration will almost certainly cause problems when trying to move it around the shop. It will also make it more difficult to properly level the machine before use.

As for the chip pan being an option, I have several Sheldon catalogs and price sheets from the early 1940's to the late 1980's. All models show a chip pan as a standard feature. There is no listing for a chip pan as optional, or in the "options" list
 
projectnut said:
I........As for the chip pan being an option, I have several Sheldon catalogs and price sheets from the early 1940's to the late 1980's. All models show a chip pan as a standard feature. There is no listing for a chip pan as optional, or in the "options" list
Click to expand...
You are correct. BUT, many ordered the lathes without them, as in this case.

Ken
 
Thinking about it, I'm going to make the frame extend out from the front and back.
Form a cabinet with the stick-out, with a pan under the bed.
Top will be same height as the top of the cabinet on the lathe.
Will take up more room, but at least i don't have to worry about it tipping over.
First thing to do is put the bed on the cabinet and leg to take measurements.
Wheels came in from ebay today.
 
Hope you have a smooth / clean concrete floor when rolling front to back, also carful not to trip on wheels sticking out when operating lathe.
How often are you planning on moving the lathe ?
 
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