Lathe Bed

[EVOLVO]

I've got the chance to pick up a 42" lathe bed for a good price. It's one of those things I know would come in handy for doing metal fab work but I'm having trouble figuring out exactly what I would do with it. Anybody using one now or anyone else with ideas? Please show me what you've done or what you would do if you had one.

 

[dr_clyde]

A lathe bed or a mill table? A lathe bed would be pretty useless but a mill or planer bed would be handy for setting up fixtures.

 

[EVOLVO]

Dr. Clyde,
Just read through the first page of you weld table link. I've decided to take your expert advice and will pass on the lathe bed. Case closed

 

[matt_i]

I'd pass on that. Unless it was a flat-way bed (thinking Atlas 12") and you had 2 tailstocks to make a bench-center, I can't think of many uses. Even then you'd have to scrape one tailstock (the part between the upper and lower halves) to align to the other in height.

 

[BWS]

We had a flat way lathe bed,can't remember the length,36"+? as "part" of our Tig welding station.It was just "OK".It was handy only by having tooling fixtures that slid on.Think specialized, repeatable fixturing on certain jobs that kept showing up.It had a 18", 3/4" thick round plate on it that slid.It was nice. Finally gave it away,keeping all the tooling.The guy is a blacksmith and fabricater,he uses it as a square stock spinner.

A mill table does the same thing,and more because of multiple tee slots.I got the lathe bed for free and if that's the case for OP,heck.... go for it.

Now,a smaller flat way lathe bed is a different story.The 6-18 craftsman's are nice because we can fixture on it,then move it to a mill or one of the big DP's not taking up real estate when not in use.A little small for welding on though.These are small enough to use in different planes.Good luck with your project.

 

[rsanter]

What brand?
What size?
What condition?

Some of those can be worth money if they are for a desirable model and in good shape

 

[EVOLVO]

Thanks everyone, I've decided to let it go. Too many other projects already way behind on!