Workstations stand for PM-1236T stand (HF tool chest mod)

[skcncx]

$700 should buy you a nice Crown including delivery (and I was surprised by how much the price went up, it was $400 a few years ago before tariffs and supply chaos). I just bought a mini pallet jack from Northern Tool. They are about $300 now and perfectly fine for everything I have to move around the shop (and easier to find a place to store than a full sized pallet jack). Depending on your area, you may be able to find used ones for cheap as well.

Yea, I looked again as well, seems like $400-500 get's you a 27" wide by 48" long pallet jack.... that'll likely be in the future.

I ended up finding a deal on 4 levelling casters for $220. The 3,300 lb each rated casters normally sold for $90-$110 each. The levelling leg/bolt is 3/4 diameter so plenty beefy... so at worst case the casters don't work out, I at least don't have the $350-$400 I thought they would cost and they'll just be fancy levelling feet.

The other lift I want/need is an engine hoist... rentals are $35/day but HF has their 2 ton fold up version for $250 this weekend... so I may just grab that. Rentals are a pain and I'll need to rent it likely 3-4 times... as much as I don't want to store it, it's nice to have on demand.

 

[j-becker]

An engine lift is nice and the HF worked fine for lifting my mill. For the lathe I ended up renting a bigger one from a local tool rental company because I could not get the stand positioned in a way to lift the lathe onto it with the HF lift. It was a very easy one man operation with the rented lift. It was something like $40 for 4 hours but I needed to rent it twice. Once to make sure I had the holes in the right place for bolting down the lathe and then again to mount it after I painted the stand.

 

[Just for fun]

Looks like a really nice hoist, probably money well spent!

 

[skcncx]

Looks like a really nice hoist, probably money well spent!

That one looks identical to what my local rental company has… does seem better option with it having wide feet. I’ll be picking up one similar to the Harbor freight one though I imagine I may run into the same issue with the bottom legs not being wide enoug once my stand is built. I know I’ll need it for a few different lifts with the 72” tool chest and support frame so it will come in handy.

 

[skcncx]

Here's my lathe stand so far. Inspired (aka, copied) from @davidpbest stand and others for inspiration. Some changes tailored to my taste... for better or worse.

All aluminum. Mostly 2" square tube. Angle iron and top channel was custom welded out of 1/2" thick bar stock. Yep, you can get 1/2" x 10" bar stock. My welding (and grinding) is beginner quality for sure.

It is basically wrapping the Harbor Freight 72" US general top tool chest with the top hinged door removed. That space will be a deep chip tray.... I may actually be able to flip the original tool chest's top upside down and use it that way... otherwise, I'll make something with aluminum sheet and tubing.

I still have to weld the top channel to the angle iron... but I'm likely to defer until I have the lathe, not sure how forward or backward I want to.... likely just center it.

Levelling casters are a bit overkill, rated at 3,300 lbs each. Once in position, the levelling feet will be dropped, so no load on caster wheels for a solid footing.

Not sure yet on VFD enclosure. May be part of left side drawers but I plan to create a back panel where it'll be installed above lathe as well... TBD... lathe arrives next June.

 

[7milesup]

Levelling casters are a bit overkill, rated at 3,300 lbs each

Good Lord, my man!

Nice looking stand BTW. Also, Surplus Center occasionally has great deals on casters.

 

[skcncx]

Good Lord, my man!

Nice looking stand BTW. Also, Surplus Center occasionally has great deals on casters.

Thanks,

Yea, weight rating overkill. I'd almost prefer them to be a bit smaller. I purchased them cheap on an ebay listing, made an offer and accepted. $55 each including shipping... still a lot, but these leveling casters typically are $75 each for the smaller ones when you figure shipping and if you were to get the ones I got, CarryMaster AC-1800F their $90 each + shipping.

One thing I liked is that the threaded rod for the levelling pad is a 1 1/8".

 

[davidpbest]

Looking good. I commend you for attempting to build this in aluminum. What wall thickness did you go with on the 2x2square tube? I'll be interested to hear how it turns out and how well it supports the lathe. I added a couple gussets and diagonals to my stand (shown in the drawings) after doing an FEA analysis - primarily to dampen any harmonics that plagued several users back in 2017.

 

[skcncx]

Looking good. I commend you for attempting to build this in aluminum. What wall thickness did you go with on the 2x2square tube? I'll be interested to hear how it turns out and how well it supports the lathe. I added a couple gussets and diagonals to my stand (shown in the drawings) after doing an FEA analysis - primarily to dampen any harmonics that plagued several users back in 2017.

Thanks, all I know is aluminum, like to work with it and the only thing I have ever welded. I'm only 8lbs of mig wire into my welding experience.

The 2" square tubing is 1/8" wall thickness. I have quite a bit of it on hand. Except the top cross member, that's 2" square tubing but filled with 1.75" square solid bar, very tight fit... I had to shave a bit off just to ram it in. Drilled and tapped the mounting bolts. 1/2-20 for the top 4 securing bolts and 3/4-16 from the underside for fine levelling.

Ideally, it would have been 1/4" wall thickness, but all the weight basically just transfers down the end frame, so I think I'll be ok. I added corner gussets just about everywhere... but longer diagonals can be added as well. I'll have to check out your drawings again.

I did end up bolting the box in all the gussets... but the box isn't really providing any support.

I'm still planning to run another full length leg (down the center) under the main c channel bed. Right now, the c-channel is 2.5" leg height. I don't want any flex in that. Most of the weight is toward the outside not directly in the center.

Initially it was for the PM-1236T, 850 lbs, now it's going to hold the PM-1340GT, docs say 1,100 lbs. Next June I'll know how it holds up.

BTW, thanks for posting your very detailed and measure drawings of the lathe! That's provided a ton of reference to make sure my dimensions are appropriate. Now I don't have to scale down to the PM-1236T.