Your lathes & benches

[Shootymacshootface]

Thanks for starting this thread, it's inspiring. Makes me want to finish what I started, backsplash, shelves, and more cabinets.

 

[Titanium Knurler]

Funny, I actually like dachshunds. 2 of my friends have em. I've been wanting one of my own for a very long time now.

View attachment 312192

Well, here she is begging for a treat by the flux capacitor. She’s a weird one; looks to be made of spare parts, with one blue and one brown eye and all, but she’s a wonderful companion. I have had four dogs in the past: an incredibly smart and loyal mutt , followed by three yellow labs. After the last lab died my wife asked if she could pick out the dog this time. Well...she came home with TWO miniature long haired Dachsunds. Wonderful companions but completely untrainable as the t-shirt indicates.

I think dogs are a gift to us.

 

[silence dogood]

DavidR8, here are some things that I have learned on benches not just lathes. This may seem minor, but find your most comfortable height. You could use a temporary bench with blocks to raise and lower. Second, the surface that your lathe sits on must be rigid. Even if your bench is on wheels, make sure that there will be no racking. If your bench twists or bends, then leveling your lathe would be futile. Lighting, I have a LED light that is the same length as the lathe 2 feet above it mounted to the bench. I don't like to store tooling above or behind the lathe. I'm always afraid of dropping something on the ways, but that is just me. What ever tooling that goes with the lathe goes in the lathe bench (it means a lot less searching). I want to make sure that I can walk all the around the machine if I need to. In my case, it's on casters since I have little space. Sorry, no pictures, but I'm in the process of building a new bench which will utilize some new ideas. One. I came across a piece of heavy channel iron that is a little longer and the same width as the lathe, this should make it more rigid. The other is that I plan to add a spring castors on the tail stock end so that the bench can roll on the uneven floor. It's like having the lathe sit on 3 points even though there are 4 castors. Building this bench may take longer than expected, since the fellows here have come up with some interesting and neat ideas.

 

[Mini Cooper S]

One thing that my father taught me many decades ago about setting up a workshop, horizontal surfaces collect junk! I therefore use tool boards, high narrow shelves designed to hold specific items, cabinets, and tool boxes! Works great for me.

 

[DavidR8]

One thing that my father taught me many decades ago about setting up a workshop, horizontal surfaces collect junk! I therefore use tool boards, high narrow shelves designed to hold specific items, cabinets, and tool boxes! Works great for me.

My shop is living proof of this!

 

[projectnut]

Thanks for starting this thread, it's inspiring. Makes me want to finish what I started, backsplash, shelves, and more cabinets.

Rather than make a backsplash the extends the entire length of the lathe I made a shorter one that slides on a rail. It's only about 2' long, but can be positioned to cover almost any spot behind the lathe. It works for me mainly because I don't use flood coolant. Cutting oil or fluids are applied by a brush or squirt bottle.



If you look closely at the bottom there's a square tube with slots. There are 3 bolts with heads in the slots and the shank through the plate. There are small threaded knobs on the rear of the plate that can tighten the bolts in any position desired. For short work pieces the back splash can slide to the left until it reaches the headstock. For longer pieces it's centered behind the tool post.

Here's another pic.

 

[Shootymacshootface]

Rather than make a backsplash the extends the entire length of the lathe I made a shorter one that slides on a rail. It's only about 2' long, but can be positioned to cover almost any spot behind the lathe. It works for me mainly because I don't use flood coolant. Cutting oil or fluids are applied by a brush or squirt bottle.

View attachment 312523

If you look closely at the bottom there's a square tube with slots. There are 3 bolts with heads in the slots and the shank through the plate. There are small threaded knobs on the rear of the plate that can tighten the bolts in any position desired. For short work pieces the back splash can slide to the left until it reaches the headstock. For longer pieces it's centered behind the tool post.

Here's another pic.

View attachment 312524

That is simple and utilitarian, very nice, and would really suit me. I only use brush on lubricants as well. A moving back splash would go well with the baking sheet that I have under the cutting area of my lathe.

 

[silence dogood]

One thing that my father taught me many decades ago about setting up a workshop, horizontal surfaces collect junk! I therefore use tool boards, high narrow shelves designed to hold specific items, cabinets, and tool boxes! Works great for me.

Your thread gave me a hearty laugh. My machinist father-in-law used every square inch of space to put something on. It took me years to convince my dear wife to keep some clear space on the kitchen counter top. The day that I finally cleared the counter, she started making homemade bread, Yum. Afterwards she told me how nice that it was not to spend 20minutes clear a space. Yes, dear.

 

[MrCrankyface]

Here's how I set up my lathe area.
The subframe is bolted to studs in both walls and is set to a 'good for me' working height.
I need to level and bolt the lathe down some day but since I mostly work with small things it hasn't been a problem so far.
Quick change holders hang to the left of where I'd stand.
The lathe uses a couple of allen keys for some features so I put a holder for those up at hip height or so.

The tool storage behind the lathe isn't optimal but I'm trying to use as much wall area as possible.

 

[mickri]

David there are lots of great ideas above and in other threads on the subject of work benches. Wish I could show you something with great ideas. No luck. What I can show is what not to do. My lathe came with a very sturdy bench and a very rickety set of shelves under it. What a PITA to use. To access anything I often have to get down on my hand and knees. Not fun putting a knee down on a wayward chip.



IMHO drawers and roller shelves are the only way to go. Some day those rickety shelves will be replaced with drawers and roller shelves. The lazy susan table for holding chucks in one of the above posts is a great idea. I plan to steal it when I redo the storage under my lathe.

I also don't like reaching over the lathe to get stuff. I don't have a lot of tooling. I keep most of my stuff in a rolling cart with three drawers and a top shelf.



The top shelf holds my ER32 collets, tool holders for the QCTP, tool bits and boring bars and other misc stuff. The top drawer holds all of my measuring tools. Calipers, micrometers, dial indicators, etc. 2nd drawer is drill bits and the 3rd drawer is taps and dies. The bottom of the cart holds the stuff that I never use but can't seem to part with.

On thing that makes a great bench is an old steel desk. These can often be had for free.