Lathe on machine feet

I am installing a Warco BH900 on it's Warco pedestal using machine feet. So far I have not put the lathe on the pedestal as I am not sure if it is stable enough. If I lean on the front or back of the pedestal it topples over.

The holes in the pedestal are only about 175mm apart and the pedestal is 425mm.

Has anyone installed a BH900 or Chester Craftsman on machine feet?

Adrian

At that spacing I would say the holes are OK for bolting it down to the floor but if you want it on feet bolt something to the bottom to get the feet further apart or tie it into a wall

I would bolt a strip of 10mm x 50mm wide strip long enough to be stable to each end of the base with some alternate holes for bolting it down as well.

David

Thanks guys, I think I will put the lathe on the pedestal without the machine feet to see how out of true it is. Then decide to either give up with the machine feet and shim, or use Davids method.

Adrian

Hi Adrian R,

I have a Craftsman lathe,somewhat similar to your machine. My lathe sits on two pedestals ,which I bolted to the floor after fixing them to the machine.Found no need to bother with shims. At one high speed,which I seldom use,I detected a slight vibration,so I fixed a strut from the back of the headstock to the back wall,problem solved !

Since my lathe is belt driven,I had no need to worry about oil leaks.

Even without bolting down,I doubt if it would topple over

Well I tried the lathe on the pedestal with the machine feet in the exiting holes. Two finger push at the right frequency had it rocking, good job it was still tied to the engine hoist. Remove the machine feet it takes a both arms shove to even get it wobbling.

I can't tie it to a wall is as it is in the middle of the room, it makes the best use of space. I had hoped to not need to bolt it down as It gives me the option to move it if I get its position wrong.

If I bolt it down, do I need to use M12 (the size of the holes) or would M8/M10 be OK. Trying to get 8 holes that accurate in concrete will be not fun.

Adrian

It's not a difficult high risk requirement. The bolts only have to resist the toppling force. Although top-heavy the lathe is reasonably stable without bolts. It might only have to worry about being knocked accidentally by you. More effort needed if it might be bumped by a fork-lift or a car.

However, even cheapo M8 bolts should be good for about 500kg each, so 8 of them would be plenty to keep a lathe upright. Thing to watch is the possibility a bolt might pull out of a thin concrete floor, or the washer could fold over - the M8 washer that comes with the bolt has to span from the 8mm bolt across a 12mm diameter hole, not best practice.

I suggest:

• Concrete depends on who laid the floor, but worth drilling a for an M8 x 40mm Rawl Bolt or other expanding type if there's enough thickness, otherwise use shorter bolts to match the depth of concrete. If the floor is terrifyingly thin, ask again!
• Use the lathe to make a few extra thick washers, 3 or 4mm to add strength.

Dave

Hi Adrian if you are fastening it down I would use resin fix instead of rawl bolts etc it is so much easier. You could drill through the holes 12 mm the stand blow out any dust etc ( I use a piece of small nylon tube ) squeeze resin into holes . Slide precut lengths of threaded 10mm studding with nuts on into holes twist as you insert and wait till set may be half an hour. Tighten nut and done.

David

Regarding the difficulty of marking the holes for bolting down,Chester gave the spacing for the holes,so I simply cut a piece if plywood the full size of the lathe footprint,marked out the holes then screwed the ply to the floor while drilling the bolt holes. Worked very well,no bother finding the holes through the pedestal base.

I used to instal XRay machines, we used M16 chemifix. The ones in the glass ampules with a stud were the best. We used a template, so the positioning was good, but still only within a couple of mm rebar permitting. This did not matter too much as the holes in the machine were 20mm dia.

The thought of trying to get 8 M12 bolts accurate enough for the M12 holes was bothering me. Now I know how stable the lathe is, I think I can just use M8

I was looking at the type with the fixing tool, I have used them before, I always preferred the type with the spring loaded expanding shell. You can always get them back out, and expand a lot which is good for over size/bad holes.

Adrian

A single m8 bolt 8.8 grade will hold 2 tonnes, a 12.9 will hold half as much again. Using M12 is not necessary if it makes lining the holes up tricky.