Home made lathe stand - need help!

I have a Churchill cub (http://www.lathes.co.uk/churchill%20cub/page3.html) its a overblown ML7 and about 300 lbs in weight. Its fixings are in two places, under the headstock( 4 tapped holes at 4" X 3" centres) and under the tailstock end, 2 tapped holes on 3" centres. What I need some inspiration for is the spreading of the weight from the small areas out to the cabinet edges (20"+). How do Myfords do it?. I don''t fancy using a piece of 1" thick plate!!. I have thought about using a piece of 6" X 3" channel upside down, but this then moves the load spreading problem to end of the inverted channel/cabinet frame joint. Any suggestions or plans?

Frank

Frank, mounted my ML7 just that way, the channel has end plates welded in and drilled, this is bolted to the wooden frame at each end. Top is covered with a thick wood planked top and then a drip tray. The mounting points are counterbored through the wood and a 2" dia. spacer inserted. Levelling is done in the usual way with adjustable screwed spacers around the rather long mounting bolts. The channel is stiff enough in its own right to be a suitable base. The wood is only there to hold it up in the air to a suitable height to use!

Frank,

Heavy 6" x 3" Box Section would probably be a better starting point.

Drill normal clearance holes in one face, and big ones [to clear the Washer size] in the other.

Alternatively you might use I-beams [RSJs]

MichaelG.

Michael Gilligan wrote "Heavy 6" x 3" Box Section would probably be a better starting point.

Alternatively you might use I-beams [RSJs]"

That much steel and those types of steel are way overkill to support a 300 lb lathe. It would probably support a good sized truck!

For a 300 lb lathe, Angle iron picture frame on top as recommend above, say 2" x 2"x 1/4", and more of the same angle iron for legs, triangulated with 2"x 3/16" or 1/4" bar gussets both front to back and side to side 2 per corner, if all welded securely, would probably be fine. More angle welded across the top picture frame and drilled at the screw locations can be added. Get it welded by a pro if you are not certain. I would go with the top angles' flanges down, and add a sheetmetal chip tray, flanged up at a low angle, if a tray is required. Getting the lathe on the bench is easier if there isn't a high flange in the way. The welding is a little easier for the legs with 'flange down' method as well. I have built many benches this way for many purposes and they are extremely strong but relatively light. Angle iron is among the cheaper shapes of rolled steel, rectangular tubing is one of the most expensive types.

JD

Michael Gilligan was responding specifically to the Original Poster's question ... and was proposing the use of two 20" lengths of this material a load spreaders.

Total weight of these would be roughly 60 lb, which seems proportionate.

MichaelG.

A seriously heavy bit of kit

Hi Frank,

If you fabricate a stand for your lathe and cannot guarantee that it is perfectly flat, only securely bolt the lathe at the head end and leave the tail end bolts finger tight so no tensional load is imposed on the bed otherwise you may twist it.

Paul.

I use 2 MDF coffee tables which are fine with 200-250lbs of kit

A metal plate is recommended, even a plate of a few mm on an mdf board will help to spread the load across the stand

I have oak skis under the legs to spread the load across the floor

Your biggest problem will be levelling the lathe because you have multiple legs

I have a multi leg pultra and the base is an essential but frigging huge bit of cast steel which acts as a swarf tray

IMO the basic mentality is that once the lathe and base are bolted together they create an extremely stiff box section

...which is great as long as your floor can take 400lbs of kit

Edited By Ady1 on 06/12/2012 01:00:51

The science labs were chucking out there tables, built of 6" square beech and 1" mahogany tops salvaged one for my Warco lathe( WMT500) and rest of tops turned into block flooring over the summer holls that was about 20 years ago. I have a concrete floor with quary stone under that in the workshop.
Bob.

The big problem for your lathe design IMO is that a cast base is an essential part of a proper setup

The twin leg design demands a dedicated metal base to realise it's full potential and resist twisting

Some lathes are designed differently

The myford M series was a cantilever design with a deep bed and you could bolt it to a fairy cake

Probbly the best advice, certainly until you get some confidence and experience

only securely bolt the lathe at the head end and leave the tail end bolts finger tight so no tensional load is imposed on the bed otherwise you may twist it.

Edited By Ady1 on 06/12/2012 01:26:15

Frank

If you have a concrete floor then might I suggest you look at concrete? I have my Myford mounted on two pillars of concrete blocks cemented together, and this absorbs any vibrations. I had, in another location, formed shuttering and poured a concrete base.

I am planning to mount a bench milling machine on a pedestal of hollow concrete blocks and then pour concrete to fill the hollows.

Post WW 2 there was quite a bit of discussion about manufacturing machine tool beds from concrete! Cheaper than steel and better at vibration absorbtion.

Nigel

Nigel. theres quite a long thread on making epoxy concrete machine bases on here some where.

The way I mounted my lathe (275kg). I started with the floor, I extended my workshop, so the area where the lathe was going, I doubled the thickness of the concrete floor, and put in extra reinforcing. Then I built a stand by welding for the lathe from 50 mm x 6 mm angle iron, with 4" x 2" channel pieces under the bolt down places. The stand has 6 legs, the 4 at the head stock end are boxed in with sheat metal, and have a door on the front. The lathe is bolted to the frame ,with the drip tray in between, all metal to metal, the whole thing is bolted to the floor, and has not moved despite earth quakes.

The hardest bit was cutting up the angle iron, and channel, all done by hand, not long after that I built a power hacksaw. Ian S C