The beast and its ballast box

Re: The beast and its ballast box

JamieDonaldson

>I always cringe when I hear talk of using sand for ballast around all those motors, bearings,sliding machined surfaces,etc. Washed river gravel is so much "safer" and easier to work with, especially when the box springs a leak! Always remember Murphy's Law!

Re: The beast and its ballast box

John Lucas

>Mike

Good job. I piled 6 bags of Pea gravel on a board under my 3520. I like your idea. I may do the same but would like to add a couple of small drawers for things like thickness gauges, calipers and other things I use a lot. John

Re: The beast and its ballast box

Tom Colligan, Peoria

>Thanks for the pictures, Mike.

Re: The beast and its ballast box

Mike Schwing from Md.

>Thanks John. The pea gravel/river rock that was mentioned would probably have been a better idea, and it will be simple to make the change, the sand is still in its heavy plastic bags, 50 pounds each of them. It never occured to me about the sand/bearings issue. I'd seen several other guys here using sand and figured others know more than me....plus it was cheap.

I'd bet it absorbs vibration better than gravel or rock though. Anyway...

I thought about drawers, but the bags of sand are packed in there tightly, to add drawers would have taken up more vertical space, and I figured I would have difficulty getting a vacuum in there to clean up shavings and dust if I built it any taller. I suppose I could have resorted to cleaning up via inserting a vacuum extension between the lathe bed ways, but I'm pickier than that would allow for.

The next thing I'm contemplating is making a little shelf for the top of the headstock. There's just barely enough room for stuff now, but why not make a little more? I saw one of you guys with such a thing on their 3520, great idea.

Sand and shelf

John Cahall

>I put sand in square plastic containers from liquid yard fertilizer an put the lid back on them. 8 of them fit very well and leave room for a shelf above them. The 3520 has indents for one about 6 or 7 inches below the bed. I drilled holes in a 3/4" board to hold my drive centers and I keep my power sander on it. Also slip my key handles for my Oneway chucks in the holes at the tailstock end of the stand. I also glued magnets to a plastic tray and put it on top of the headstock. I love tips so hope mine help.

Re: The beast and its ballast box

Richard Allen

>The sand isn't an issue. The dust from woodturning is more of an issue. Especialy from wood with a high silica content.

No problems with sand

Dominic Greco in Richboro PA

>Jamie,

I hear you about the sand and bearing issue. The engineer in me cringes every time I think about it. But realistically, it's not an issue.

In my lathe's ballast box, each 50lb factory sealed bag of play sand is placed in a trash bag (2 to a 1 bag) that is duct taped shut. Theses bag assemblies are then placed in the sealed ballast box. I made the entire thing out of 3/4" plywood using dados as the joints. Makes for a nice secure fit. After all the bags are placed in the box (300 lbs worth), I cover the top with some plastic, then add the fitted lid (also made from 3/4" plywood) which is sealed with 3/8" foam weather stripping. The weather stripping also acts as a gasket and stops the lid from vibrating against the top. After all that, the lid is screwed down tight. I'd like to see sand get out of that!

See ya around,

Dominic

Looks great Mike!

Dominic Greco in Richboro PA

>Mike,

Glad to finally get a chance to see the new set up. What did you do? Fix the old digital camera? :>)

Adding that sand makes it run even quieter, doesn't it? It cuts out any of those little annoying vibrations issues and really makes chucking up a big ole' blank (like you've done) a joy.

Just don't make the same mistake that I did. Trying to nudge the lathe just a hair over by "bumping" it with your hip a couple time. I found out the hard way that,

• A. A 700 lb lathe assembly reacts the same way that a gorilla does when an ant punches it in the big toe. "Did I feel something?"



• B. This is an easy way to get exceptionally painful baseball size black and blue marks.

See ya around,

Dominic

Mike...ter shop...

BubbaBob

>...stays that clean? Can we spell anal retentive?

BubbaBob

And the opposite of...

John Stegall

>anal retentive means everything is knee deep in...

Re: The beast and its ballast box

John Lucas

>Mike

I've always heard that sand absorbs vibration better. I was initially going to put sand in small bags made of cloth so the sand would dry out. The bags would be small enough to let me easily unload the sand if I needed to move the lathe.

As far as moving the lathe (which I unfortunately have to do on occasion) I bought a cheap hydraulic car jack. I'm going to make removeable feet so I can jack up one end of the lathe and put the feet on and then do the same for the other.

Re: The beast and its ballast box

Mike Rubes

>Hi Mike,

Great pics of the beast. I stood next to a 3520A in the store the other day and that thing is huge. It really felt solid and powerful, even just sitting there! I like the sandbox. As long as you were careful putting it all together, I don't see where you would have to worry about the sand getting in the motor/works/etc. Nice to see the shower curtain rod thing in action.

That's really one clean looking shop :)

Mike

Beautiful turning weather in Apex, NC!

Re: The beast and its ballast box

Jack

>Hi,

My PM is weighed down with 3 lead ingots. Each is 75#, but does not take up a lot of room. They are about 16" by 4" by 6". These were for the asking at a flea market. They were intended as a source of supply for poured lead seals around iron drain pipes.

Another source is lead shot. If you have access to a range you can get permission to mine it. Another source is a tire shop. I've used cans of tire weights for a lot of places where I needed counterweights for something or other.

If I remember correctly lead is about twice as heavy per volume than sand. It ignores water too.

Hope this helps.

Re: The beast and its ballast box

David Eaves

>Hi Mike,

Looks great glad you've got a camera now to show us what your up to. Looking forward to seeing some pieces turned off that lathe. Keep us posted

David

PS The Mrs Schwing shower curtains look good, a super idea.

Re: The beast and its ballast box

Scott Greaves, Blackfoot Idaho

>Mike,

That is just one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen! But you need to get some matching paint for the Ballast box!

Scott.