[How do I?] Determine the "right" height for a lathe?

ACHiPo

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I've figured out what I want to do with my 816 bench lathe--build an angle iron base for casters/adjustable feet. These are the casters I'm leaning toward--rated for 1300 lb, which is about 2x what the lathe and bench weighs.
https://www.woodcraft.com/products/woodriver-machine-leveling-caster-plate-mounted-4-pack

Before I dive in, however, I want to get it close to the right height. The previous owner had the bench up on 4x4s, which seemed too high to me (ways were about chest high).

I've read that the ways should be about elbow high such that forearms are about horizontal when loading/unloading, and operating the lathe.

Searching on this site suggests some people like the lathe higher for less bending. What's the best way to figure out what height I'll like before committing to the frame construction?

Thanks in advance!
 
I've figured out what I want to do with my 816 bench lathe--build an angle iron base for casters/adjustable feet. These are the casters I'm leaning toward--rated for 1300 lb, which is about 2x what the lathe and bench weighs.
https://www.woodcraft.com/products/woodriver-machine-leveling-caster-plate-mounted-4-pack

Before I dive in, however, I want to get it close to the right height. The previous owner had the bench up on 4x4s, which seemed too high to me (ways were about chest high).

I've read that the ways should be about elbow high such that forearms are about horizontal when loading/unloading, and operating the lathe.

Searching on this site suggests some people like the lathe higher for less bending. What's the best way to figure out what height I'll like before committing to the frame construction?

Thanks in advance!

The very best way is to make a temporary structure (wood) that you can adjust the height and find out what is comfortable for you. What may be comfortable for you may not be for someone else. I say experiment before final construction.
 
Smaller lathes are often set up higher than large lathes. That is because very heavy parts need to be set on large lathes, and then be able to be worked around. Smaller lathes typically do smaller work, and an easier close up inspection is useful.

Beyond that it matters where the commonly used controls end up. You want the controls to "come readily to hand" as the British might say. What I did with my lathe, which was already set up on the floor, was first to play with the levers and hand wheels for a first impression. They were definitely too low. Then I laid a ruler on the ways and walked away. Later I came back and made sure I did not even look at the lathe as I walked up to it. I turned away from it, closed my eyes, and pretended to turn the carriage hand wheel, cross feed, and feed and half nut levers for a while. Eyes still closed, still moving the imaginary controls, I turned around, stopped my hands carefully in those positions and then opened my eyes. My hands were about 3-1/4 inches above the center of the main controls. Walked away for a while and then tried it again, twice more. The three results were within half an inch of each other. I raised the lathe by that amount, leveled it, and have been quite happy with it ever since. "A simple good test is worth a lot of expert opinions..."

If the lathe is on the floor or otherwise not where you can play with the dials in a position relatively close to optimum, then you will just need to take a good look at them, get a mental memory of them, think about which ones are most used, and then close your eyes and guess where the correct height for them might be.

A basic truth: It is much easier to raise a stand that is too low than it is to do the opposite. Especially if you have planned for that in advance...
 
I am 5 ' 10" tall and my Atlas 618 is on a bench I made. The cross slide handle is 40" from the floor and the 3 jaw chuck key would be about 43 inches high. Similarly the long feed lever is about 38". These feel very comfortable for me.

David
 
Smaller lathes are often set up higher than large lathes. That is because very heavy parts need to be set on large lathes, and then be able to be worked around. Smaller lathes typically do smaller work, and an easier close up inspection is useful.

Beyond that it matters where the commonly used controls end up. You want the controls to "come readily to hand" as the British might say. What I did with my lathe, which was already set up on the floor, was first to play with the levers and hand wheels for a first impression. They were definitely too low. Then I laid a ruler on the ways and walked away. Later I came back and made sure I did not even look at the lathe as I walked up to it. I turned away from it, closed my eyes, and pretended to turn the carriage hand wheel, cross feed, and feed and half nut levers for a while. Eyes still closed, still moving the imaginary controls, I turned around, stopped my hands carefully in those positions and then opened my eyes. My hands were about 3-1/4 inches above the center of the main controls. Walked away for a while and then tried it again, twice more. The three results were within half an inch of each other. I raised the lathe by that amount, leveled it, and have been quite happy with it ever since. "A simple good test is worth a lot of expert opinions..."

If the lathe is on the floor or otherwise not where you can play with the dials in a position relatively close to optimum, then you will just need to take a good look at them, get a mental memory of them, think about which ones are most used, and then close your eyes and guess where the correct height for them might be.

A basic truth: It is much easier to raise a stand that is too low than it is to do the opposite. Especially if you have planned for that in advance...
Bob,
Great input. I'll have some adjustability with the feet (~1"), but not a lot. I know my watchmaker's lathe is mounted quite high, as I have my face right down next to the work as I us it. I don't expect that to be the case with this lathe. The control height that the seller had seemed awkwardly high to me, but remember I'm "imagining" the tasks I'll be doing when I run the lathe--I'm sure there are tasks like measuring, boring, etc. that I don't yet grasp that might drive a need for a higher or lower height. Then again, I doubt I'll be doing all that much stuff.

I'll play around with it this weekend and post my findings.

Regards,
Evan
 
The safe thing to do is to make sure you have a way of changing the height to what you need without a lot of work or hassle. Don't allow yourself to put up with a machine that is uncomfortable to use, at least not beyond the time it takes to change it and make it right.
 
I was told once to measure the height from the floor to my arm, forearm held perpendicular to the floor. Then set the height of the lathe so that the controls fall comfortably at that height---meaning the crossfeed wheel. Worked for me.....
 
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