Wooden lathe stand ..... pros and cons.

[Eugene]

The time is approaching when I'll need to build a stand for the long bed Myford M type I'm re-furbing. The question I'm asking myself is do I make it in steel or timber? I guess the lathe weighs about 200 -250 lbs and it stands on just one cast iron plinth, so there isn't any danger of flexing the bed as there might be with a two point fixing.

I have no welding skills to mention, but I can manage carpentry and joinery well enough. Overall i'd sooner do it in timber, but what are the pros and cons?

Not my lathe but an M type long bed on a cast iron stand....

Eug

[edward]

My Drummond B.S is on a substantial timber bench and is fine - the single 'foot' design of the lathe helps a lot with this. Mine has 4"x 4" legs, heavily cross-braced and a top of 3 layers of 18mm ply. I arranged for the threaded rod that holds the machine down to pass through a couple of 4"x 2" cross-members under the bench.

[jcs0001]

I've used medium density fiberboard - heavy, dense and machines very well - for tops of benches.  It does not stand up well to moisture so may need something on top or at least a good paint job.  The beauty of it is that is is heavy enough to damp vibration quite well and the price is reasonable.  It comes in various thicknesses up to at least an inch (maybe more).  A couple of layers of 3/4 in. would certainly be heavy and stable.

I had a sheet metal shop fabricate a tin pan for the underneath of my lathe so it fits well and contains swarf etc.  Quite reasonable to get it done.

John.

[chipenter]

My South Bend long bed is on a kitchen wortop two years without a problem , the clubs Little Johon sits on a timber cabinet , both lathes are heavier than yours go ahead with the wood .

[trapper]

Have never had a lathe on a wooden stand but cant see a problem if thats what you wanted to do.If it was me l would make the outside out of old scaffholding planks and maybe the top out of something thicker something like railway sleepers.You can get this sort of stuff at building reclaim yards damaged ones would do,and you can cut that off-seal it and you will have plenty of space inside cabinet to store your tooling.

[vtsteam]

All my lathes have been mounted on substantial wooden workbenches. I guess the devil is in the details. With a cantilevered style bed seems like there would be fewer issues to consider than with a split base.

[Fergus OMore]

I have both metal and wood but as has been mentioned a lot depends on what lathe you have. With a cantilever bed, there isn't much to either because the base really is only important to hold the thing at working height.

What IS important is whether the thing moves out of alignment from ground changes.
 
I recall Tom Walshaw prattling about his workshop moving. He checked every month or so. There is a write up in ME under his pen name of Tubal Cain( somewhere)

Apparently, the earth moved. 

[Eugene]

Thanks Gents,

I have some other wooden contrapsications in hand, so the lathe stand / cabinet will follow on in timber.

Eug