Leveling benchtop lathes

Hi,

I have a 210x400mm benchtop lathe. It sits on a wooden bench with 6 wheels I made.

I tried to level the bench as good as I can but I bet it is not perfect. The top of the bench may have just a little bend or twist. Will it affect the lathes bed in a bad way? Do I need to level the top of the bench?

I'm asking because when I cut a piece with the lathe the dimension of each side of the piece is not equal. So I don't know if I have to level the bench or do something with the lathe itself.

Thanks in advance.

Your bench looks plenty sturdy, especially if you enclose the 2 ends and back with plywood. however, sitting on those casters will always give you trouble. You should add some leveling feet so you can get the machine sitting solidly on the ground. If that is a wood floor, cut some 1/4" 6 X 6 plates to put under the levelers to spread the load.

glad to see I'm not the only one with machine tools in my house! :)

If oyu have a good way of measuring the twist in the bed you can try adding shims under the lathe before mounting it down. Takes a bit of trial and error, but the better you get your lathe set-up, the better potential you can have for making more accurate parts.

That's how it look now.


http://puu.sh/nFqjI/99f8eff3e8.jpg

Very nice. Two things I'd have done differently. One is that I would have used only four wheels. Six wheels means that a slight deformation anywhere, due to humidity or the drying out of the wooden parts, will cause some instability and flexing. The other is that that I'd add some cross bars also, running from the top center to the bottom corners. Now, since you have drawers you can only do that at the back, but that is OK. Additionally, on the sides I'd add one cross bar running from the top front corner to the bottom rear corner. The cross bars would lead all bending forces to the corners and would increase rigidity.

Thanks for that.

You don't see it on the pics but there are cross bars on the sides and the back side. I'll take a closed up photo today.

I added the two casters on the middle just to share the weight but you may be right. I was thinking that 6 foot is better than 4. I've been using the lathe with that bench (skeleton without drawers) more than a year now. It is very sturdy actually. I'm loving it.

Attachment 312402

Attachment 312404

Attachment 312406

Attachment 312408

Attachment 312406

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

These magnets are to keep the door closed.

Its not like a commercial product but I love it.[emoji1]

By the way I didn't screw down the plywoods for back and left side yet but I'll get it done tomorrow. After that I will need to organize the room (part of the garage).


Attachment 312410

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

That looks sturdy nice job

Thanks Kevin.