Machining - sitting or standing?

Being well into retirement I suffer with the aches and pains that come with age, in particular a back op near thirty years ago is now letting me know all about it with the result that standing for more than 30-45 minutes results in pain and discomfort at which point I need to sit down. As you might imagine this is restricting the amount of machining work I can do during a day in the "shop".

Now though, I have a golden opportunity to do something about it as we are having our garden re-arranged. This means I can move out of my cramped summerhouse and into a much larger insulated and double glazed garden studio which has had little use in the last five years. My idea is to build the new benches for lathe and mill at table height so I can sit whilst machining. I would leave the vice on a higher bench as I find sawing and filing while standing easier.

Have any of you configured your benches this way and how are you getting on with it?

Rik

Reference to Graham Meek edited out at his request.

Edited By Neil Wyatt on 15/09/2014 11:30:52

Hi Rik
Yes I raised my Myford S7 about 4" and it saved me bending over the machine & it saved my back from hurting
Nobby

Edited By Nobby on 08/09/2014 12:42:28

Rik - keep a look out for a "bar" type chair. That way you'll be about the same overall height whether sitting or standing. Set the machines etc at a comforatable height when your standing and adjust the chair legs if necessary to suit. I've done much the same as Nobby with setting my lathe high as I don't like stooping either. Not sure about the office type draughtsmans chairs, I think the extended base necessary for stability could get in the way.

Bear in mind the need to look down on dials and the work itself.

If I was forced to work in a sitting position, I think I would put the lathe on an angled bench (and then have to work out how to keep swarf etc. out of my lap...)

Neil

Rik

I agree with the others. Raise the lathe to a comfortable working height as if you were standing, and then use a high stool/ chair while you are working. It is important to get your legs and knees well under the machine to help keep the old spine near to the vertical. Try not to install the lathe at a height so you do not need to lean or stoop over it.

Chips away

Mike

I keep a couple of high bar stools in the workshop and they are amongst the most used tools. I was advised by my physio to keep them at such a height that my weight is more or less evenly distributed between the seat and my legs.

Russell (another back sufferer).

I also have a Bar type stool for the lathe, the fact that it doesn't move about annoys me, I tried a high desk chair but that was the other way and rolled about unevenly on the rough concrete floor when I wanted it still!

I think I'll eventually settle half way and I'll fit sprung castors to a bar type stool - a bit like a mobile step stool arrangement. I might even modify a step stool if I can find one with a wide enough base, this way I can move it about without lifting it

I'm a few years from 30 but an accident almost a decade ago means I can't lean forwards and hold myself comfortably, if at all - unless I'm willing to grit my teeth!

Edited By Russ B on 08/09/2014 14:05:40

Same problems here, also bad feet, no doubt from standing all those years at machines and draffy board. I don't like one position for long. Lathe etc. at a good hight and a high bar stool, then I have the choice.

Same issue here, lower spine has the ongoing effects of Arthritis (according to one scan I had about 4-5 yrs ago) now I have a bar stool in the garage/workshop... being a sort a***e I had to cut off about 2" of the legs...(stool legs   to get my weight spread between my a**e & my feet, much better support when at the bench & at the lathe I am more or less vertical. I have also had a spare set of varifocals altered to keep me from stooping too much, only when I want to see final readings etc. so in agreement re. bar stool... hmmmmm bar.... stool.... nah! too risky ...

George

I endorse the "standing" comments. I stand at the lathe, drill and mill, but have a bar stool handy to relieve the pressure on the knees and feet occasionally, if required. I also have relatively high benches and use the same arrangement, with a modified telegraphist's chair (high central pole, and a ring near the bottom for feet to rest upon). The chair has been extensively modified so that it has a comfy cushioned seat and back, so that sitting is a pleasure. In fact I now have two of those chairs (second one came from a local building site) so I can entertain a friend in the workshop in relative comfort. That takes the pressure off the feet too.

The only problem with having stools or seats in the workshop is that they rapidly become handy places to put things down "just for a minute"...

Marcus

I have a stool in my workshop and seem to spend more time moving it out of the way than actually using it. I have back problems and find that I get terrible back ache working on a lathe for any length of time. To alleviate this I mounted my lathe onto concrete blocks which raised it over six inches. I found that helps a lot, I have never found it convenient to work sitting on a stool.

Thanks for all your comments which I have taken on board. It seems that the consensus is to leave the bench height as is, (comfortable to work at whilst standing), and use a high / bar / chair / stool so that you are half standing and half sitting. It sounds good to me and I'm fairly sure that it would work. It just means keeping the underneath of the bench clear for knees and feet - no cupboard here then (I'll have to find somewhere else for all my valuables/junk).

Russ B's suggestion of sprung castors sounds good - didn't know they were available.

I'm on a mission then - a suitable a**e park which will fill the bill, good job I like auctions.

Rik

PS Remember the Mekon in the EAGLE and his levitating chair? Oh I wish!

I have a five-castor typing chair for the computer (best thing I ever did at work was junk the executive chair for a typists chair!) and three stools. I can now add my driving truck, which I have found myself using as a handy low bench seat - it was just the right height for when i adjusted the end float on my leadscrew yesterday!

Neil

Ric

I was able to tip my smaller Emco lathe forward by about 20 degrees which was a tremendous help to seeing what is happening without needing to stoop forward. I tell everyone it is my new slope bed lathe

MIke

Oh no, now you've really set the cat amongst the pidgeons!

Think of all the blood sweat and tears and of all the hours wasted by hordes of model engineers who have set their lathe up with an engineers level, all for nought.

Ian P

Hello all

I use this chair from ikea **LINK** which has the advantage of being foldable. Mine is in silver/black to match my hair and occasional mood, but there is also a cheaper version in natural wood colour.

Jim

Forgot to mention mine folds away too; got it from a local BM store £14.99 IIRC.

George

Might I suggest that the seat should be on castors, and the bench just above knee height, so that you can wheel the chair in under the bench to work the machines, Also all the raw material and miscellaneous tools stored above bench level for easy access, to avoid bending.

Dennis

I have an empty 25L steel container that I cut the top off years ago to use as a Workshop bin. Once in a while I stick a short plank on top and it becomes an office chair. I might splash out and pinch a cushion for it though this winter

graham.

I use one of those shower stools with the adjustable legs,used by invalides . Light and strong and easy to set at "your" height. It was my dear departed mother in law's. Only thing she left me

I am recently making a habit of sitting any time I can and it has made a great difference to my level of backpain.

There are some things you just can't sit for but the secret (for me anyway) seems to be to alternate from standing to sitting frequently. I keep the chair set fairly high and have no problem working at the bench. I use bed-stops, set the lathe on power-drive and sit and watch it work!

John