New bench for an old mini lathe

[threesixesinarow]

Little Machine Shop sells metal stands for mini lathes. They look alright but I think they’re really short.

I upgraded to a 7x16 lathe and made this bench for my now secondary and partially stripped 7x10 so I can keep things kind of clean and stable, and still be able to move it out of the way when I don’t need it.

The new bench is about 40x18”—two thirds the size of the old one that the new lathe is on now, but bigger and 4 1/2” higher than the LMS stand, at 39”. It weighs the same as that does not counting the motor and drive.



Finished



Select hardwood



Mortise...



...and tenon



Upside down base...



...and upside down top



Routing the oak top layer...



...for a drain



Wheels on the headstock end...



...and brake, clutch and accelerator pedals in front.

[ranald]

VERY NICE: good thing you wont need "Alexa" to helpyou drive it.LOL.

ENJOY TURNING!THANKS for posting.

[PJs]

Built like a brick and like your drain idea, Well Done! Look like Keyboard pedals? Very curious about how you made a brake and why a clutch and can you still reverse directions?

Thanks for sharing!

PJ

[threesixesinarow]

Thanks, Ranald,

Running it can be more like musical performance than driving, for more than one reason! Maybe Alexa could be the conductor.

- Clark

[threesixesinarow]

Thanks, PJ,

Haha, a brick something with plumbing...

I finished the drain part with slow curing epoxy before applying that sink stuff and the combination is pretty durable. I heated the top to help the epoxy soak in and the hard wood base adds some impact resistance for when I drop tools on it.



For the brake I bought a cheap Bowden cable go-kart caliper and made a disc to go in place of the outboard spindle gear since I transferred the rest of the threading parts to the longer lathe.



Both pedals release the car air conditioner clutch that I jammed onto on one of the countershafts, with a spring on the brake plunger so it can press the switch right at the beginning. It’s such light lathe the clutch is okay for stopping the spindle by itself, but the mechanical brake is much faster, and just as important for my purposes, it holds it still until I release it.



The pedals themselves are just piano pedals I had but housing them loose like for electronic keyboards makes it easier to stick bigger stuff under the bench

The dc motor and controller are from an old treadmill so I still have to stop the motor and flip a switch to reverse. I found instructions to give it pushbutton start and stop that were easy to follow, so I may do something similar for reverse, too.

[PJs]

Thanks threesixesinarow for the information! Brilliant on the AC clutch and piano pedal switches..classic HMT! Seen the cable brake somewhere before and thought about drilling the disc to make an indexer¿ Also really like type belt you used, excellent!

Great build overall! Thanks again for sharing it here.

PJ

[Frank S]

very nice I particularly like the weight and sturdiness of the base, Almost any lathe can benefit from having more mass in the base. I have often thought about filling the storage compartment below my 17" Le Blond with concrete but the compartment is too handy for storing little used tooling

[bruce.desertrat]

Oh duh, I like the way you attached the wheels. I just finished making a stand for my (new-to-me) 'old iron' Monkey Wards wood lathe. It's nice and sturdy but a b-e-a-s-t to move. I've been looking at the 1001 various designs out there for attaching wheels to a stand, but none as simple as yours...

[ranald]

a couple of sand bags might help : these can be easily removed later & wont destroy your tools placed on top of them.... that is if you dont do the Alfred Hitchcock "psycho" on the bags with your blades. Happy turning.

[threesixesinarow]

thought about drilling the disc to make an indexer¿

Thanks again, PJ,

Good call on the brake disc as an indexer! Some of the parts I will make with it have more than one cross drilled hole, too.

⁃ Clark