I just acquired a wood office desk made in the 1930's which looks
like it would make a good bench for my South Bend 10k lathe. The
desk has lots of drawers, very helpful for all the little (and some
not-so little) hunks of metal that come to roost around metalworking
machines.

The top is 50 by 34 inches and about two inches thick. Because of its
age I'm fairly sure it isn't ersatz wood, but rather plywood or possibly
even solid wood. The joinery is well done, the cabinetry straight-grained
and clear of knots. It's a smaller and less-ornate version of this:
https://www.facebook.com/LincolnDesks

The obvious approach is to just bolt the lathe and countershaft to the
top of the desk, that wouldn't be any worse than the table it's on
now. The lathe is far stiffer than either and straighter to boot.

I wonder if it might be better to bolt the lathe and countershaft to
a sheet of half-inch or so plywood, just strong enough to support
belt tension (which isn't all that great, there's a prop rod 'tween
headstock and countershaft assembly) and place it on a cushion atop
the desk. That isolates the lathe from irregularities in the desk,
the cushion will serve to absorb at least some vibration.

Has anybody tried something like this? It's hard to believe a bench
contributes much if anything to the stiffness of a machine tool, but
it could contribute to vibration damping.

Thanks for reading, and any thoughts.

bob prohaska