Lathe Height and leg levelers

Re: Lathe Height and leg levelers

Jimbo13

>What type of turning do you do?

The "standard" elbow height (or 2" higher) is great for spindle turning but I find it way to high for bowl turning. I had the chance to turn on a lathe at David Ellworth's whose spindle height is about 3" lower than mine (which is just below elbow height) and found I was able to spend a lot longer in front of the lathe without getting fatigued. Really felt great with the chisel handle planted against my hip. While roughing the blank I was able to keep sufficient downward pressure on the gouge with no arm/shoulder fatigue.

Now for outboard free hand hollowing, I agree with Trent Bosche's recommendation that higher is better - what ever it takes to avoid bending over to avoid the lower back stress.

Would love to get a heavy duty scissor lift so that the height could be adjusted based on the turning operation but keep the stability.

Gidday,

Jim

Re: Lathe Height and leg levelers

Ric Taylor

>I think you will find that most people recommend having your spindle pretty close to elbow height, then make personal adjustments from there.

Ric

Make a set of Trestle legs?

Dominic Greco in Richboro PA

>JL,

If you have a larger lathe, you might want to do like I did and build a set of Trestle Legs to elevate it to the height you'd like.

See ya around,

Dominic

Re: Make a set of Trestle legs?

Jimbo13

>Dominic,

I built a base for the first lathe I had to elevate the spindle to the height recommended by Raffan. While it reduced the need to bend over to see the work, as he states for the reason to raise it to this height, I found my shoulder and arm got tired when roughing out blanks - need to exert a fair bit of pressure down keeping the tool on the rest.

I now question the need to bend over a lot to look at the work. Profile is viewed without bending over and much is done by touch rather than vision until the sanding.

If you get the chance, try dropping the height (or build a platform for yourself) to be a couple inches below your elbow height if you turn bowls. You may find you like it.

My current lathe has the spindle at elbow height and one of the first things I'm going to build when I get the new shop set up is a platform to raise me a couple of inches. I was able to spend about 4 hours in front of Poolwood that was about 2 inches lower than elbow height and no issue at all with shoulder or arm fatigue.

Thinking of that line from "Stand By Me" - if Raffan and Ellsworth were to fight, I wonder what height the lathe would end up at? ;-)

Gidday,

Jim