Unimat Lathe Cabinet for Storing Tooling and Supporting the Lathe and Milling Machine

A couple years ago I built a small cabinet for my old Unimat SL lathe and added a separate vertical column for the milling/drilling head. The cabinet has only one drawer with four separate compartments, and one of the compartments has two layers. The cabinet sides, drawer, and drawer front are made from ¾” red oak and finished with clear satin polyurethane. The top and bottom are made from ¾” Melamine particleboard laminated with a thermally fused resin coating to provide a durable and oil-proof hard surface. I made the knurled knobs from ½” aluminum rod.

The cabinet sits on four rubber feet whereby the combined weight of the lathe and tooling stored in the drawer provides enough weight to keep the lathe from moving on the workbench. The cabinet top has threaded brass inserts for holding the milling column base to a 1”x3”x12” aluminum bar using cap head screws. The lathe sits on two 1”x1”x6” aluminum riser blocks that are held in place with flathead machine screws inserted from underside of the top sheet of melamine and secured with washers and brass nuts. The two sides and back of the cabinet contain 10-32 threaded inserts I made for cap screws to hold optional Lexan splash shields when fly cutting with the milling head.

More information about the Unimat lathe modifications can be seen at http://www.homemadetools.net/forum/m...00-lathe-10111 .

That's a neat storage solution Paul.

Al

Really Nice !
I definitely love when projects merge wooden things and metal
I like the knurled buttons.

Is the nice chest on you bench done by you also ?
Thanks
Christophe

Like the guys here, I have varied interests, so any storage solution that keeps the varied stuff from mingling is of interest to me. Nice job on this one.

Very cool. :clapping:

Thanks Patrick! I've added your Lathe Cabinet to our Metalworking and Woodworking, and Storage and Organization categories, as well as to your builder page: Patrick's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

<div id="blocks"> <div class="block b1 pngfix"> <div class="bimg"> <div> <a href="/lathe-cabinet"><img src="/uploads/102112/lathe-cabinet.jpeg" alt="Lathe Cabinet" /></a> </div> </div> <div class="head pngfix"></div> <div class="left pngfix"></div> <div class="right pngfix"></div> <div class="blockover b1 pngfix"> <div class="title"> <a href="/lathe-cabinet">Lathe Cabinet</a> <span> by <a href="/builder/Paul+Jones">Paul Jones</a></span> </div> <div class="tags"> tags: <a href="/tag/cabinet">cabinet</a>, <a href="/tag/lathe">lathe</a>, <a href="/tag/knurling">knurling</a> </div> </div> </div> </div>

Christophe,
Yes, the cabinet in the background was also made by me when I was a teenager and almost fifty years ago. This one was made from scrap plywood. Back then I cut the wood parts with one of those circular saw adapters that fitted onto a corded 1/4" power drill. Seems pretty crude compared to what I now have in my shop but it worked and I learned a lot from the experience. By the way, I wanted to line the cabinet drawers in green felt but it was just after Christmas when I built the cabinet and the red felt was on sale, so I bought it instead. Here is a photo of one of the drawers to the old cabinet. I also included another photo of my first tool cabinet I built when I was fourteen and again made it from scrap plywood that the lumberyard owner gave to me for free. I still use both of the old cabinets along with a couple of the Kennedy machinist tool chests.
Thanks for asking, Paul

What a brilliant idea, wish I had thought of it.
I'm going to have to make one

Saw this on a Homemade Tools e-mail today and it is really neat.

I also have a Unimat DB-200, the original CI model which I am presently restoring with a new paint job. I have a full steel bench dedicated to it. But I may copy some of your other ideas that I see in the photos. I long planned to add a caliper and DI for DRO capability so I am studying your photos carefully. I also would like to add a permanent vertical column but I think I would use a metal base plate, probably aluminum, to tie it to the Unimat. I don't see why you have to use an actual Unimat column as any 25mm diameter rod would work.

For the benefit of future readers...

The only improvement I might suggest is a piece of 1/8" steel plate under the Unimat. That would allow one to use all sorts of magnetic bases to hold measuring tools, lubrication feeds, lights, microscopes etc.. DAMHIKT. I have a Unimat too and had to add the steel plate as an afterthought.

Marv and Paul,

Thanks for the feedback.

If I made this cabinet again, I would recommend using a 1/2" thick steel plate attached to the top of the cabinet and include several pre-drilled and threaded holes (10-32 or M5x0.5) for attaching future (yet to be designed) tooling. The steel is important for using dial test indicators with magnetic bases for job set-ups. I had to make a work around with an extension arm but the steel base would have been much better (see Homemade Dial Indicator Adjustable Arm Extension ).

Also, the current lathe, milling head and cabinet full of tooling weighs in at 60.5 pounds so it doesn't move on the bench (see Homemade Lathe Modifications for more ideas and details). Any 25mm dia. column will work well for the vertical milling head and if you can add a 0.250" (or 6mm) mild steel square along the side, it might be possible to keep the milling head more accurately aligned.

Thank you,
Paul