Building a lathe stand (fill it with sand?)

[Brusus]

Hello,
I have just bought a mini lathe from optimum (d 180x300 vario):

http://www.optimum-machines.com/products/lathes/d-180-x-300-vario/index.html

Since the manufacturer does not offer any lathe stand for it I will build one by myself (thinking of square steel tubing). What diameter of steel tubing would you guys recommend? I will tig-weld the whole thing.

Another thing that is in my mind: I had planned to fill the inside of the steel tubing with a mix of granite/epoxy but unfortunatetly this might get a little expensive. Would dry sand do the trick also? Or isn't this neccessary at all? The stand itself will not get boltet to the ground or wall. I think of something like Gord did here: http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=26462

Any other hints for designing the lathe stand?

Cheers

 

[aametalmaster]

I would build it as heavy as you can find to keep the vibrations down. Mine is made of 2" steel pipe and it should be heavier for my lathe anyway. I like the sand idea...Bob

 

[astro_al]

Why not just sit it on a bench. To be honest, I'm not sure a lathe like that is worth building something for.

You'll get flex in the lathe no matter how you mount it (but mass is good).

If you're going to spend lots of money on it, you're better off spending that on getting a better lathe in the first place.

Al.

 

[nodeward]

astro has a piont, my small lathe is just bolted down to my wooden work bench (made from kitchen worktop so bout inch and a half thick) and has been fine, so i would not over-engineer it . with that in mind something like some 1" box would be fine i reckon, the sand idea would be a good one though keep the vibrations down

 

[Brusus]

Ok, thanks for the feedback. Unfortunatetly this is the best lathe I can afford at the moment and I guess it will be more than sufficient for my purpose.
I'll try to get some metal from our local scrapyard to build a cheap stand and fill it with dry sand to keep the vibrations down. Then I'll bolt it to that stand and see how well this will perform.

 

[Andy from Workshopshed]

My lathe is smaller than this and just sits on the bench. It's got 19mm ply top and several boxes of junk on a shelf below and vibrations are not really an issue.

You need to be careful if you are going to bolt it down as you don't want to twist it...

Here's an discussion on alignment

http://www.model-engineer.co.uk/forums/postings.asp?th=57110

 

[Andy from Workshopshed]

another useful link http://www.neme-s.org/Model_Engineer_Files/Align1.pdf

 

[Andy from Workshopshed]

Another interesting link "An isolating stand for the lathe"

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/j.b.d.willis/lathe installation.htm

 

[Wedg1e]

It can be surprsing how much lathes flex, even when they appear to be quite substantial. At least one of the guys on a Boxford forum I use reports that he can measure deflection of the turned part just by leaning on the headstock, and that's on a lathe that weighs 700lbs+.

 

[MarkMG]

It can be surprsing how much lathes flex, even when they appear to be quite substantial. At least one of the guys on a Boxford forum I use reports that he can measure deflection of the turned part just by leaning on the headstock, and that's on a lathe that weighs 700lbs+.

He must be big!!

 

[brightspark]

It can be surprsing how much lathes flex, even when they appear to be quite substantial. At least one of the guys on a Boxford forum I use reports that he can measure deflection of the turned part just by leaning on the headstock, and that's on a lathe that weighs 700lbs+.

well theres an easy way to prove that .mount a dial gauge on the topslide and take a reading of the chuck giving the headstock a bit of a rive . it seems a bit hard to believe given the forces on the bearings and headstock when taking diffrent depths of cuts might just check that out :laughing[:myth busters ]true or false anyone ??

 

[MarkMG]

I'll give that a try on my tired Portass

 

[shenion]

My Atlas/Craftsman 12" will flex easily and it is more substantial than most of the Chinese lathes.

I used a laser pointer on the bed pointed to the far wall to level it. Could see deflection by just leaning on bed.

A good bench will help dampen twisting in the bed. It can be seen in the finish of the cuts.

My stand is 1.5" x 3/16" angle-iron. The verticals are 2" 1/8" wall square tubing. Works ok. I may make like a trestle bridge to reduce flex.

 

[Shox Dr]

The preferred method is to level and fix the frame/cabinet to the floor. Then fit lathe shimming to level, then bolt to frame/cabinet.

 

[brightspark]

My Atlas/Craftsman 12" will flex easily and it is more substantial than most of the Chinese lathes.

I used a laser pointer on the bed pointed to the far wall to level it. Could see deflection by just leaning on bed.

A good bench will help dampen twisting in the bed. It can be seen in the finish of the cuts.

My stand is 1.5" x 3/16" angle-iron. The verticals are 2" 1/8" wall square tubing. Works ok. I may make like a trestle bridge to reduce flex.

my harrison L5 hardly flexes atall .with a 2foot bar in the chuck and a good pull by hand to one side it flexes 2 thousandths of an inch .give the headstock a good shove as hard as can and it flexes 1 thousanth of an inch . the machine isnt fastened down niether