Wood bench for metal lathe and mill?

BellyUpFish · Jan 8, 2014

OK guys, I'm planning on grabbing a G0602 lathe and a G0704 mill..

I'm considering building a 8'x30" work bench out of 2x4's and 4x4's for the bench.

I'm also thinking about building it out of maybe 2x2 square tube.

Any of you guys running a wood bench without any issues?

Steevo · Jan 8, 2014

This is my lathe bench:

4x4 legs, 2x6 top frame, 1-1/2" mdf/laminate top, covered with 12ga steel.

Very solid and sturdy.

BellyUpFish · Jan 8, 2014

Steevo said:
This is my lathe bench:

4x4 legs, 2x6 top frame, 1-1/2" mdf/laminate top, covered with 12ga steel.

Very solid and sturdy.

I like that. No issues with twist?

Did you make the adjustable feet? Any details?

I've just epoxied nuts into holes in the bottom of 4x4's and spun bolts into them..

Here's a bench I built that I'm thinking about replicating..

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1389187396.568468.jpg

383 240z · Jan 8, 2014

I'm planning on building a bench similar to Steevo's bench. My 13x40 is on the factory stand and it's just to low for me. My back hurts after running it for a few hours. Only changes I'm going to make are instead of steel covered MDF. I was going to pour a 4" thick concrete pad and set my factory chip pan on that. I figure the extra mass can not hurt. The uprights will be 4x4's or 2x4's doubled up. Cross braces will be 2x8's or 2x10's a 3x4" sheet of plywood will be what I pour the concrete on, with 2x4's used as joists under it for support. Keith

Steevo · Jan 8, 2014

I used these steel plates on the bottom of the legs:

I got them from a pool table supply place.

BellyUpFish · Jan 8, 2014

383 240z said:
I'm planning on building a bench similar to Steevo's bench. My 13x40 is on the factory stand and it's just to low for me. My back hurts after running it for a few hours. Only changes I'm going to make are instead of steel covered MDF. I was going to pour a 4" thick concrete pad and set my factory chip pan on that. I figure the extra mass can not hurt. The uprights will be 4x4's or 2x4's doubled up. Cross braces will be 2x8's or 2x10's a 3x4" sheet of plywood will be what I pour the concrete on, with 2x4's used as joists under it for support. Keith

Are you just going to lay up some Sakrete or similar?

Steevo said:
I used these steel plates on the bottom of the legs:

I got them from a pool table supply place.

Those are pretty sweet! I'll have to find some of those.

383 240z · Jan 8, 2014

Are you just going to lay up some Sakrete or similar?

Yep nothing special. Like I said it's just for mass. I'll bury a few j hooks in it to use as mounts. I was also considering drilling straight through it and nut and bolting it down. Keith

machineshop · Jan 8, 2014

Hello Belly Up Fish,
if you want the absolutely best precision you have to bolt the milling machine and lathe to a concrete machine bed. This decreases the vibrations of the machine and the less your machines vibrate, the nicer and more precise is the cut.
I can see this every time on my small chinese lathe and my much bigger weiler condor lathe. The bigger one has much more mass than the smaller one and if i need really tight tollerances and a nice finish i always take the bigger lathe.

I have red somewhere that in ww2 the smaller and medium size lathes from the war effort had to be bolted down on a concrete bed to increase their precision.

On the other hand a lathe or milling machine looks awesome on a wooden workbench and it is a highlight in a garage. So if you do not fabricate precision parts day in and day out, put them on a nice wooden workbench, it will be a pleasure to look at.

BellyUpFish · Jan 8, 2014

I really have no specific use for a lathe and/or a mill. Well, I guess that's not true, I want to lathe a shift knob for my Trans Am and know a few things I'd like to mill, but it will definitely be a hobby piece.

I think pouring the concrete pad sounds like a good idea. I'll just have to sort that out. I wouldn't think pouring it right on the workbench would work, due to the moisture on top. I guess a sealed top would be ok. Ideas?

383 240z · Jan 8, 2014

I'm lining my frame with plastic sheeting. That will keep the wood from pulling all the water from the mix. Keith

Ray Kelly · Jan 8, 2014

Wow, Steevo. That's an awesome setup you've got. I sure wish I had a lathe in my shop. They sure come in handy.

BellyUpFish · Jan 8, 2014

383 240z said:
I'm lining my frame with plastic sheeting. That will keep the wood from pulling all the water from the mix. Keith

Post up some pics when you do it. I'll be watching.

383 240z · Jan 8, 2014

Won't be for several months. I'm more interested in getting my mill pad poured first. Really want all my machines in the same place. Keith

BellyUpFish · Jan 8, 2014

Well the maybe I'll give it a go and post some pics.

Won't have a lathe for a fed months, but it's coming..

Falcon67 · Jan 8, 2014

Here's how I mounted my 9x20:

The bench has all the lathe stuff plus the mill tooling for the G0519 I have. At the time I bought the G0519, they were selling the G0494 which came with a stand. After research, I decided to buy a 3 phase motor mill for the better performance and build a stand to my specs. Mostly because I'm tall and the included stands are way short. Note from experience - use some real machine feet on the mill stand and a 3 point is better than a 4 point when it comes time to level the machine. I used some home made feet and put in 4 - the thing is a beeotch to level out. There's no requirement for a lathe to be level. And, only one end should be secured tight. I have the head end firm to the bench and the tail stock end just snug. It's a $500 machine, it's going to move around a little.

rsanter · Jan 8, 2014

I have my small lathe mounted to the top of a HF toolbox
Very handy as I can move it around as needed and it stores the tooling in the box

Bob

larry_g · Jan 8, 2014

I've had two different Logan 10" lathes. One was on a welded tubular frame with a steel top, the other on a heavy wooden bench. The one on the steel had an issue with setting up a resonance in the table that the wood mounted one would damp out. I even switched the lathes and the problem followed the steel table. So I'm a believer in having a bench that will have the mass and low resonance frequency to keep chattering under control. You won't have the mass if you use lightweight 2" tubing.

lg
no neat sig line

A_Pmech · Jan 8, 2014

machineshop said:
I have red somewhere that in ww2 the smaller and medium size lathes from the war effort had to be bolted down on a concrete bed to increase their precision.

Carla over on PM discussed a War Production Board pamphlet detailing how to build a concrete pedestal for a South Bend lathe, to make it suitable for producing aircraft parts. I found a copy of the pamphlet somewhere, but can't find it now.

It's still a stop-gap measure, but it got more lathes into the war effort.

BellyUpFish · Jan 8, 2014

Falcon67 said:
Here's how I mounted my 9x20:

The bench has all the lathe stuff plus the mill tooling for the G0519 I have.

I was thinking about doing this with a HF box, but the G0602 is 46" long so I started looking elsewhere.

May need to run by Sam's and check those out.

Beachside Hank · Jan 8, 2014

Here's mine, 7X16 MicroMark:

rsanter · Jan 8, 2014

BellyUpFish said:
I was thinking about doing this with a HF box, but the G0602 is 46" long so I started looking elsewhere.

May need to run by Sam's and check those out.

The HF box will Likly still work. Look at where the machine mounts verses it's overall lenth

Bob

rsanter · Jan 8, 2014

larry_g said:
I've had two different Logan 10" lathes. One was on a welded tubular frame with a steel top, the other on a heavy wooden bench. The one on the steel had an issue with setting up a resonance in the table that the wood mounted one would damp out. I even switched the lathes and the problem followed the steel table. So I'm a believer in having a bench that will have the mass and low resonance frequency to keep chattering under control. You won't have the mass if you use lightweight 2" tubing.

lg
no neat sig line

Fill the steel tube frame with sand saturated with oil. Old motor oil will be fine. This will dampen lots of the vibrations

Bob

crazybrit · Oct 25, 2019

BellyUpFish said:
Here's a bench I built that I'm thinking about replicating..

Does anyone know where this image came from? I like the bench too and was curious to see a few more pictures. I PM'd BellyUpFish but never got a reply.

Wood bench for metal lathe and mill?

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