what's the best material to put under a benchtop lathe?

I have a pn1228 and got a Milwaukee rolling work bench. It weighs almost 400# alone. A 1.5 " wood top. I wanted mobility as I have limited space. It has worked fine except it is not as stable on wheels so there going to be jacks add soon


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Nelson, you made a solid table , you do need something like that for that top heavy mill/lathe, it looks like you also bolted the steel plate to the plywood, That's what I'll have to do.thanks for the pic.
 
gregc said:
I have a pn1228 and got a Milwaukee rolling work bench. It weighs almost 400# alone. A 1.5 " wood top. I wanted mobility as I have limited space. It has worked fine except it is not as stable on wheels so there going to be jacks add soon


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I'd love to see what levelers or jacks you'll put under that bench.
 
I agree with the other guys that the tool chest idea is a good one - tool storage, mobility, good height. I would use MDF and seal it. MDF is more stable than plywood re moisture and I think I would laminate two pieces of 3/4" MDF together, seal it and then put a 1/4" plate of mild steel on top of that.

I would also make two levelers for the headstock and tailstock, like this:

Screen Shot 07-01-17 at 12.14 PM.PNG

This is the arrangement Emco uses and it makes for very quick leveling.

Congrats on the new lathe, Ken. Pics are obligatory, right?
 
ken this is drill chuck bill. good thing your getting a lathe. the toolbox I used is from sears. do you have them in the frozen north? the box was from their gladiator collection 5 drawers much heavier duty then their normal boxes. the local sears is going out of business and I got a 25% discount. still have another sears nearby bill converse with me if you need help with your lathe bill
 
bfd said:
ken this is drill chuck bill. good thing your getting a lathe. the toolbox I used is from sears. do you have them in the frozen north? the box was from their gladiator collection 5 drawers much heavier duty then their normal boxes. the local sears is going out of business and I got a 25% discount. still have another sears nearby bill converse with me if you need help with your lathe bill
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Hey drill chuck Bill,good to hear from you.
I do have a solidly built cabinet with heavy duty casters ,stainless steel handle ,,it is for sure capable of carrying a lathe and easily be moved around, all it needs right now is a solid MDF top and a steel plate to be officially called a lathe rolling cabinet.here's a picture of it I found on Google, I don't have the top tool box, only the bottom cabinet :
photo (2).jpg
 
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I would never claim this was necessary, but I built a steel bench topped with 3/16" steel plate for my PM1022V. The mass really helps damp vibration (the bench weighs about #400 by itself) and a steel work surface is really nice for mag bases and such. I didn't find it amplified noise at all, but I also have a wooden shelf under it filled with plastic bins full of stuff. That may help dampen noise. Another good trick is to glue MDF under the steel to dampen sound. Again though, I don't find it noisy at all.

http://quinndunki.com/blondihacks/?p=2973
 
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