Powering a 1HP BLDC Lathe in a Van

[higgite]

I haven’t read this whole novel because, honestly, it sounds like an accident waiting to happen, but I can’t in good conscience not ask a question about the location and mounting of the lathe in particular. As has already been pointed out, having a lathe land in your lap can ruin your day. How will the stand be secured to the floorboard? Is the floorboard up to the task? A lathe on, say, a 30” stand can put put a lot of stress on the stand, mounting bolts, nuts, washers, floorboard, etc., in a tight turn or sudden stop or unscheduled change of direction when T-boned by a local NASCAR wannabe. Just asking. Be safe.

Tom

Edit: I see David beat me to it while I was typing.

 

[erikmannie]

One thing you will want to engineer well is how the lathe is secured to the floor. Assuming it's on the passenger side, in a emergency manoeuvre such as a sudden lane change is really going to stress its mountings.
Best case it leans against the passenger side wall, worst case it comes loose and tips over to the drivers side.

This is the stand. It is currently bolted to my concrete garage floor.

I have had 4X4s with mild steel tubing roll cages (in the cab). I welded a steel plate to the floor and then welded the cage to that.

If I were to do that in this vehicle, I would do so with smaller chromoly tubing welded in to protect the driver.

I definitely do not trust the van’s sheet metal floor. I would weld a steel plate to the floor, and then use the same Grade 8 fasters that are currently mounting the stand to my concrete floor, as well as the lathe to the stand. The weak link there is the three Grade 8 bolts mounting the lathe to the top of the stand.

 

[erikmannie]

I can weld in a few columns that would keep the lathe away from the driver in a worst case scenario.

 

[AlanB]

1500 watt sinewave inverter and a 12V 100AH lithium battery should handle it for awhile. Add a charger and done. Get a second battery if you need more capacity. Then you can charge one while using the other if you need to. For a motor you want quite a bit of headroom on the inverter. They usually have double peak capacity.

 

[AlanB]

Probably don't want to weld to the van's sheet metal floor. Also skip the factory sheet metal cabinet/stand. Design a square tube steel stand that gets bolted through the floor to the van's frame in four places. Put the lathe against the wall behind the driver and provide for some access for those limited times it is needed, by unbolting something and swinging it out. Get creative.

 

[Aaron_W]

Looking at the specs for a Promaster it looks like you could fit the lathe crossways, which would then allow you to keep the passenger seat and put a significant barrier between the front seats and the cargo area. If you are going with a door on each side that would provide you with access to the ends of the lathe if needed.

Specs say 56" between wheel wells and 75" overall cargo width. I assume that is at the floor, but it should still leave a few inches on either side at the mounting height.

That seems like it would also provide you with more working space having the whole back of the van vs the width. Of course you would not be able to access the back from the front, but I wouldn't think that was a serious issue. It could also make the van more usable for hauling something with the lathe removed.

 

[erikmannie]

Probably don't want to weld to the van's sheet metal floor. Also skip the factory sheet metal cabinet/stand. Design a square tube steel stand that gets bolted through the floor to the van's frame in four places. Put the lathe against the wall behind the driver and provide for some access for those limited times it is needed, by unbolting something and swinging it out. Get creative.

Let me consider some of the advantages and disadvantages of putting the lathe directly behind the driver.

(1) I would definitely have 2 or 3 vertical chromoly columns to protect the driver from the lathe surging forward in the event of an accident. These columns would be directly behind the seat when it is moved all the way back. That is easier than adding protective columns for a lathe on the passenger’s side. The 2 collision scenarios are a high speed head on collision & me back ending someone at a high rate of speed, so the protective columns will have to be pretty large because those scenarios would be projecting the bed into my spine.

(2) I need to leave just enough room to get the tailstock in and out. Like I said, the chip tray can hang over the wheel well a little bit.

(3) Accessing the rear of the headstock for the occasional electrical repair would require unbolting the lathe (at the chip tray) & swinging it out for the service job.

(4) I need to leave the area above the driver’s wheel well clear for access to the change gears and long work pieces placed through the spindle. I will probably just leave a clear space all the way to the back; this van is not long, so that is only another 8 inches.

(5) With no passenger seat and no cargo partition, the rest of the floor plan is open country where the following items are needed:
(a) inverter and battery (or two),
(b) work table and chair.
(c) tool cabinet (like I said, I want this to swallow up the passenger’s side wheel well and rise to the ceiling).

(6) Since the lathe operator is facing the lathe with the passenger’s side sliding door behind him, the passenger’s side sliding door is the emergency exit. This is good because I need to block the rear doors with the work table and chair.

The battery (or two) can go behind the lathe (in my garage, I have a garbage can in that space now). I don’t know where I would mount the inverter.

 

[erikmannie]

Looking at the specs for a Promaster it looks like you could fit the lathe crossways, which would then allow you to keep the passenger seat and put a significant barrier between the front seats and the cargo area. If you are going with a door on each side that would provide you with access to the ends of the lathe if needed.

Specs say 56" between wheel wells and 75" overall cargo width. I assume that is at the floor, but it should still leave a few inches on either side at the mounting height.

That seems like it would also provide you with more working space having the whole back of the van vs the width. Of course you would not be able to access the back from the front, but I wouldn't think that was a serious issue. It could also make the van more usable for hauling something with the lathe removed.

Oh, this is a revelation. It had not occurred to me to exploit the two side doors and position the lathe horizontally. Like you said, this would involve having to go outside the vehicle to get from the cab to the work area.

I will think about that as I go off here to commit to spending a large amount of money.

 

[erikmannie]

OK, so this is going to happen.

Here is the uncropped floor plan. Like I said, I ordered a 136” wheelbase.

 

[matthewsx]

Chromoly is overkill for this kind of application as are grade 8 bolts IMHO.