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Dr. Deb

wrote:

Well,
I picked up my lathe from a friend and it is a 4 ft old delta (sorry I
didn't write down any serial numbers. It is basically the lathe and a
motor with a belt that goes between four pulleys on each to control the
speed.

Now.... My friend had it set up so that the lathe and the motor sat
next to each other on a giant piece of plywood. I could just build some
legs and a brace for that piece of ply wood.

Pros: -The distance between the motor and the lathe is already there
so I don't have to worry about the spacing (belt tension is a concern).

- It would probably be easier.

Cons: Vibration.
-Overall quality
- An enormous footprint in a very small garage
- The danger of having a motor on the side.

Obviously I would rather build mine own stand. I realize it needs to
be heavy and stable. ( I am thinking 6 legs with rubber screw
adjustments for leveling. However, I am worried about a few things.

1. How do I know how far below I need to mount the motor. How can a
measure the correct tension for the belt?

2. How can a set up a guard so parts of my body aren't ripped off in
the belt? (I was thinking about building a hollow wooden column with a
door that opens for belt changes. Also a protective guard on the top
side)

3. What is a good overall design. Compared to the lathe, how much
wider/ longer should the stand be?

A free lathe is sweet but I don't want to make it worthless with a
crappy stand.

Thanks in advance

Robert Ward

Robert, the stand you build depends on your resources. When I built the one
for my Jet 1442, I had a couple 5' lengths of 4" drill stem (you did not
want to pick up both at the same time). That and some 1/4" x 6" steel
plate and off to a parishioner's shop to get it all welded up, along with
some 2 1/2" angle iron he had and I had a nice, heavy and steady stand.

If you don't have a place to get steel welded, without paying an arm and a
leg. Bolt one together out of 4 x 4's and 2 x 6's, using liberal amounts
of glue in the process. Then weight the sucker with about 3 bags of 80lb
Quickcrete (depending on where you live you will have solid blocks in about
6 months from the humidity) The real advantage to building your own is you
can make it to fill YOUR needs

As for plans. The base needs to extend beyond the lathe and the legs by at
least 4". The height is what is the correct height for you - standdard is
that the centerline should be at your elbow when you have your arm bent.
Other than that, it needs to be long enough for the lathe to bolt to,
solidly.

As for the motor, do what they do on contractor table saws, let the motor
pivot. The weight of the motor will keep tension on the belt. If that
doesn't seem to be practical, build a tensioner from a pulley, fairly
strong spring and a pivot, like the used to on on older garden tillers.

Good Luck - you will do great.

Deb