Lathe spindle height question

[Suzuki4evr]

Hi guys

I was wondering, what you recommend the spindle heigt be in relation to your body to avoid backpain? Some say about elbow heigt,but I want to raise my lathe,but how much? I would like to hear your opinions or what you think it should be.

Michael

 

[mikey]

I prefer the center of the saddle feed to be at the height of my elbow. This allows me to bend my elbows to smoothly feed the saddle hand wheel when manually feeding. Works for me.

 

[benmychree]

Yes, elbow height, works for me too!

 

[Nogoingback]

I also have back problems and I raised mine so that my elbow is just below spindle height, but it could be a bit higher. So I
would say mikey and benmychree nailed it.

 

[Tony Wells]

Don't forget to allow for your duck boards or mat you should be standing on. I also agree about the height. I'm 6'2" and believe I earned a lot of my low back problems from both leaning over a lathe and under the hood.