How to stabilize lathe stand?

Re: How to stabilize lathe stand?

JL work

>Wider is better and gives more stability. How about adding trestle-style legs? If you put a bevel on them, you won't hardly trip over them. A footprint that narrow is asking for trouble. Also, is that a ballast box?

Re: How to stabilize lathe stand?

Mike Sloan

>Hi Stuart,

I built a lathe stand for my Nova DVR that was pretty close to the plans provided by Nova. There are a couple of things that you can do to substantially increase stability.

First, cut a triangular section off of the bottom of each leg. The triangle is cut off of the inside of the 2x6, so that all of the weight of the lathe is focused on about a one inch pad oriented to the outside of each leg.

Second, make sure that each leg is in contact with the floor. Shim the legs if not.

Third, fill the base with weight. I used sacks of sand, about 250 pounds worth.

Just fixing the legs should help alot.

Mike

Re: How to stabilize lathe stand?

Tom Minehan

>I agree with JL's response. I built a similar stand for my DVR and added trestle legs that are 4x4x24 and chamfered the ends. I also put 1/4 in. plywood pads on the bottom ends to account for rough concrete floors. I also enclosed the box on the bottom and added about 250 lbs of sand. The sand is double bagged in plastic and I caulked the seams in the box. The trestle legs have not been a problem and the lathe is rock solid. You may have to shim the legs to make the lathe level.

Re: How to stabilize lathe stand?

Barry Irby

>How to lower the center of gravity? Spread the foot print and put the weight low. I built the stand for my DVR a little deeper, about fifteen inches and put a box or column about 10 inches wide under the head stock and filled it with sand. I also filled a box under the toe kick with sand. Figured the sand would help and I wanted it solid under there rather than a place to collect shavings. There is a shallow tray under the top that is filled with sand. Under the bed I have six drawers on full extention rails. (two stacks of Three) I put the sand in loose, but also have a "drain" plug in the end if I want to remove it. My thinking was that the column of sand under the head stock was sort of lined up with the source of the vibration. Theres about 350 lbs. in the cabinet all together. The top of mine is two inch thick laminated oak. Pretty hard to get all that mass moving.

I have it right against the wall to help keep the crap out from behind the lathe. I wish I had made it two inches deeper to give me a little more room for that long handled bowl gouge.

I like the drawers until I forget to close one all the way and have to use the duct collecter to clean out the shavings. Next time I will buy the runners that auto close.

Barry Irby

Trestle legs!

Dominic Greco at home in Richboro, PA

>Stuart,

It seems that all who have responded are in agreement. Trestle legs, or widening the footprint is the way to increase the stability of your lathe stand.

When I added a ballast box to my Jet JWL-1642 lathe, I also added a set of trestle legs. This increased foot print really made a serious positive difference in the operation of the lathe. I can put a large, out of round blank on their and not have the lathe move out of place at all.

Good luck!

See ya around,

Dominic

Thanks for all the help.

Stuart Johnson

>It sounds like I'll be money ahead to take the lathe off and do a little reconstruction. As always I got some good advise.

Re: Thanks for all the help.

Pete in Holland

>Might want to look at your joints too. Bolting only without any adhesives between the joints will eventually allow the joints to start to work as the wood changes with the seasons, which will aggrevate the lathe movement problem.

Re: How to stabilize lathe stand?

Jorge Castaneda ~ Downeast Maine

>Stuart,

I just did the same for my new Nova, I posted yesterday too some hours after your post, I have a pic of my stand, it is 24" deep by 48" long and I mounted some big chunks to test it and it not moved at all, my floor is not flat either, but it is a big area sitting on it and has a compartment filled with sand at the bottom.

Take a look at my post, " Nova 3000 first impressions"

Jorge