Yet Another G4003g Delivery

Excellent input everybody. Thanks.

Coolidge, thanks especially for the pics. It's quite obvious from the end view that the lathe is a little "top-endy" without some "bolstering" to the stands.

My lathe isn't on the stands yet so I was unaware.
 
Look at the G0709 stand, that would have been a better design for the G4003G imo. Dream stand...a solid one piece cast iron stand.
 
After rethinking the issue, I've decided not to bolt the lathe pedestals to the floor, and to bolster them to widen the stance front-to-back, similar to Abrace's solution.

Thanks to Coolidge for posting the pics that illustrate the issue, so I can deal with it before getting everything assembled.

Abrace's solution is similar to what I plan to do, although I won't be doing any welding. I'll be turning the angle iron inward under the pedestals, and gaining access to the nuts through slots that I will be milling in the side of the angle iron. I'll keep the slots smallish, and access will be tight but I'll likely only have to do it once in my lifetime.

I'm not concerned about "end-wise" lathe instability, just fore and aft. And I think 24in long angle iron bolted to each side of both the pedestals, with more "stickout" at the back than the front, as Abrace has done, is the ticket.

Inserting leveling shims at the ends of the angle iron will be easily accessible and adjusted. Inserting shims at the middle will help reduce or eliminate "drum-heading".

This solution only increases the height of the lathe by the thickness of the angle iron and whatever shims are required for leveling. I'm nearly 6ft and can tolerate the extra height. I'll likely drill holes in the ends so I can add feet later if so desired.

The remaining task now is to decide how thick the angle iron should be. Do you think 1/4in wall is adequate or should it be 3/8in?

I'm planning on 24in long angle iron which is 10in longer than the side of the pedestal. Whaddya think, offsetting the angle iron with 6in out the back and 4in out the front? Or 7in out the back and 3in out the front?
 
jmarkwolf said:
After rethinking the issue, I've decided not to bolt the lathe pedestals to the floor, and to bolster them to widen the stance front-to-back, similar to Abrace's solution.

The remaining task now is to decide how thick the angle iron should be. Do you think 1/4in wall is adequate or should it be 3/8in?

I'm planning on 24in long angle iron which is 10in longer than the side of the pedestal. Whaddya think, offsetting the angle iron with 6in out the back and 4in out the front? Or 7in out the back and 3in out the front?
Click to expand...

I went with 3/8 angle iron. Seems like overkill, but the grizzly stand has pretty thick steel on the bottom so I wanted to try to match it. 5/16" would have been just fine to.

My gut tells me 1/4" would be marginal for my application, but since you are reversing the angle iron so it will cradle your stand you may be able to get away with thinner steel than myself. They way I did it reduces the attachment points down to just a couple of welds, versus your cradle approach, so thicker steel makes more sense for me than it does you.

I had considered doing what you are going to do, I just decided against it since I can weld, and felt that I would also be increasing the effective 'width' of the stands with my method and felt it was worth it. I was also concerned about too much extra height. I am 6'4", so it probably would have been fine, but I saw too many people compaining about how high the lathe was and by the time I added leveling feet, and cradled the bottom, I would have added several inches of height.

Best of luck with your project!
 
Don't forget to round off the corners of the angle iron, I know about the first thing I'd do is stub my toe on that followed by cussing and throwing something.
 
Let me add that I have still yet to actually set my lathe on the stands due to issues with my shop being completed, so my entire plan may turn out to be terrible once I get that far ;)
 
coolidge said:
Don't forget to round off the corners of the angle iron, I know about the first thing I'd do is stub my toe on that followed by cussing and throwing something.
Click to expand...

LOL.

Yes, indeedy. Already considered that. Might even paint them Caution Orange!
 
Made some progress on the pedestal legs today.

I had purchased some 5/8-11 flat head bolts to attach angle iron to the bottom of the pedestals but head of the bolts has a 1-1/16 in diameter which is a sizable amount of material to remove from the 2in wide angle iron, plus I didn't have a large enough countersink and would have to buy one.

I decided to fabricate some welding studs and counter bored the angle iron such that the bolts would be flush on the underside of the pedestals.

I've chamfered the ends of the angle iron to reduce the trip hazard.

Next thing is to mill access slots in the sides of the angle iron to fit a wrench for tightening the nuts, then welding the studs into place, and painting them.

Rustoleum makes some spray paint that looks like it will be a pretty good match to the Grizzly green.

Below I milled off much of the head of 5/8-11 grade 5 bolts.

Welding_studs1_s.jpg

Comparing the original bolt head to the new thinner "welding stud" head.

Welding_studs2_s.jpg

Dropping the welding stud into the counter bored angle. It's flush with the surface of the angle.

Welding_studs3_s.jpg

Trial fitting below. Note: pedestal is upside down.

Lathe_pedestal_legs1_s.jpg
 
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