Being a new turner, Im building the metal framed table on which the
lathe will be fixed. Assuming the axis of turning should be at elbow
height (or lower? please correct me), Ive calculated the sum of parts
(wood caps + metal frame + wood top + lathe axis height) to add up to
my own elbow height. Before (permanently) fixing it to the wall, Id
appreciate any input.
Is your axis of turning exactly elbow high? If you could change it,
would you add or subtract a few inches?
Speak now or forever hold your breath...
Thanks.

"Max63" wrote in message
oups.com...
Being a new turner, Im building the metal framed table on which the
lathe will be fixed. Assuming the axis of turning should be at elbow
height (or lower? please correct me), Ive calculated the sum of parts
(wood caps + metal frame + wood top + lathe axis height) to add up to
my own elbow height. Before (permanently) fixing it to the wall, Id
appreciate any input.
Is your axis of turning exactly elbow high? If you could change it,
would you add or subtract a few inches?
Speak now or forever hold your breath...

Without knowing how you turn, it's difficult to say what height would be
most comfortable for you, so I suggest you do something smart which will
also hedge your bet on height. Put the lathe up on some particle board
"feet" on top of the table. Make a 3/4 or 1 1/2 adjustment to leave enough
room under the ways to get your hand in to search for dropped parts or
extract shavings. You can always add another if you want, or remove one and
accept the problems you will get in shaving extraction. Or add "lifts"
below.

Since I cut pretty much everything on centerline , mine's elbow plus one
inch. Allows most all tools to be held in working position without
stooping, which would affect my back, or having to lift my elbow above the
normal position which would foster tendonitis.

Hoping you've slanted the legs out front to extend two/three inches outside
the max swing of the lathe.

Hi Max

Don't make any solid construction till you have done some turning, and
know how and what you'll likely turn most.
I'll give 2 links here to albums where you can see me actually turning,
and my posture will show my elbow height to be much lower than where my
lathe spindle axis is, but if doing spindle turning you would want to
have your spindle from just to a couple of inches above your elbow
hight.

http://homepage.mac.com/l.vanderloo/PhotoAlbum26.html

http://homepage.mac.com/l.vanderloo/PhotoAlbum27.html

Have fun and take care
Leo Van Der Loo


Max63 wrote:
Being a new turner, Im building the metal framed table on which the
lathe will be fixed. Assuming the axis of turning should be at elbow
height (or lower? please correct me), Ive calculated the sum of parts
(wood caps + metal frame + wood top + lathe axis height) to add up to
my own elbow height. Before (permanently) fixing it to the wall, Id
appreciate any input.
Is your axis of turning exactly elbow high? If you could change it,
would you add or subtract a few inches?
Speak now or forever hold your breath...
Thanks.

Just a word of caution before you bolt it to the wall. I bolted my
lathe to the wall to turn some 6" dia. gunbarrel legs for refectory
tables. On the other side of the wall was the glass display cabinet in
the living room. SHE was not happy !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've also heard of tiles falling off the roof and plaster coming off
the walls............so look before you bolt !!

Not sure bolting things to the wall is a good idea - you will probably
re-arrange things over time. My woodworking bench and mini-midi
lathe bench are the only two things in the shop not on wheels -
lockable of course.

Consenus on height to centerline of lathe seems to be at "about
elbow height". If you set it higher you can always raise yourself
up and inch or two - much harder to lower the lathe. And if
you're on a cement floor - don't forget you'll probably be standing
on a rubber mat an inch thick.

Height to centerline needs to be higher than elbow height if you're
going to do a lot of hollowing and at some point you will work
your courage up enough to push a sharp tool into endgrain. When
you do, you'll find that you have to lean over to see what's going
on inside. That means that in addition to keeping control of
the tool, you'll also be supporting most of your upper body
with your back muscles. Very easy to have 30 minutes or
more go by in that Not Good For Your Back Position. Great
for chiropracters. Not so great for the turner.

As others have mentioned, you want plenty of space (maybe
a couple of inches) under the lathe cause you'll be putting
gouges etc. there. Shoving a cutting edge into cast iron
- or the motor housing - is not a good thing.

Here's the bench I built for a JET mini-midi. You may find
some useful ideas here

http://home.comcast.net/~charliebcz/...theBench1.html

charlie b

On 13 Oct 2006 10:00:28 -0700, "Max63" wrote:

Being a new turner, Im building the metal framed table on which the
lathe will be fixed. Assuming the axis of turning should be at elbow
height (or lower? please correct me), Ive calculated the sum of parts
(wood caps + metal frame + wood top + lathe axis height) to add up to
my own elbow height. Before (permanently) fixing it to the wall, Id
appreciate any input.
Is your axis of turning exactly elbow high? If you could change it,
would you add or subtract a few inches?
Speak now or forever hold your breath...
Thanks.

I sort of went about this ass-backwards...
The stand that I'd built for the mini gave me shoulder pain after a long night
of turning, so I built a new one with adjustable height...

When I got the Jet 1442, it seemed really comfortable to me, so I matched the
mini's spindle height to the 1442's, about 44"....
I'm a little over 6' and at that height, my forearms are pointed slightly down
from the elbow... just seems comfortable there...

I had to tell you that, I was turning blue... lol

Mac

https://home.comcast.net/~mac.davis
https://home.comcast.net/~mac.davis/wood_stuff.htm

Max63 wrote:
Being a new turner, Im building the metal framed table on which the
lathe will be fixed. Assuming the axis of turning should be at elbow
height (or lower? please correct me), Ive calculated the sum of parts
(wood caps + metal frame + wood top + lathe axis height) to add up to
my own elbow height. Before (permanently) fixing it to the wall, Id
appreciate any input.
Is your axis of turning exactly elbow high? If you could change it,
would you add or subtract a few inches?
Speak now or forever hold your breath...
Thanks.

I'm with everyone else on the height but bolting it to the wall could
present another problem. I put my old Yates American where the center
of the spindle is approximately 12" from the wall. I don't have any
problems doing bowls, pens, boxes or the like but......... a hollow
form? Now I'm in trouble, there are times that when I need to push the
handle of the tool far away from me and it keeps hitting the wall. I
actually have to pull the shaft of the tool out of the handle making it
only about 16" long. But at this point I'm trying to hold a 1/2" steel
rod trying to take light cuts so it doesn't go out of control. I would
so much like to have the extra 24" handle on there, but.... the wall.
I'm thinking about moving the lathe away from the wall completely.

Hi
After reading this post it made me think about the height of my lathe. I have been turning for about a year and didn't think about the height because the stand that came with the lathe was a fixed height. Spindle work seemed fine, just hollowing i had to bend my back a bit.
Today I stood beside the lathe and center to elbow height was a difference of 5 inches. After cutting four blocks and fixing two sets together with plywood, i tried the lathe.
Bowl work is great, no bending down to look into the shape and also i felt i had better tool control.
The spindle work wasn't as good and the skew was almost back to the bad old days. Cutting the end grain towards the center with the skew meant lifting the handle very high and will take some getting use too.

The down side to lifting the height is the shavings. They use to fly upto chest height, but now i can feel them falling on my head and also down my shirt. Also upto now i have just used safety glasses but with shavings now constanly find my face, i will probably have to go for a face sheild.

Mark

I have just changed my lathe and the centre height has gone up by 2", Great
for the back when doing bowl work,

I had the same problem when cutting end grain with a skew, the handle kept
catching under my ear, as I got to the centre,

Had a think about this ( I find that I sweat less thinking than cutting 2"
off the bench legs).

When the centre is at elbow height my forearm is on a radius (a line between
elbow and centre of the spindle) and by convetion the rest is positioned on
or within 1/2" of this line. So I lowered the rest so it was on the radius
line to my now lower elbow position. I now have no need to stand on tip-toe
to use the skew. The geometry of cutting is the same in either position.

I haven't told the wood that I've done this and it hasn't figured it out
yet.

BillR

"Woodborg" wrote in message
...

Hi
After reading this post it made me think about the height of my lathe.
I have been turning for about a year and didn't think about the height
because the stand that came with the lathe was a fixed height. Spindle
work seemed fine, just hollowing i had to bend my back a bit.
Today I stood beside the lathe and center to elbow height was a
difference of 5 inches. After cutting four blocks and fixing two sets
together with plywood, i tried the lathe.
Bowl work is great, no bending down to look into the shape and also i
felt i had better tool control.
The spindle work wasn't as good and the skew was almost back to the bad
old days. Cutting the end grain towards the center with the skew meant
lifting the handle very high and will take some getting use too.

The down side to lifting the height is the shavings. They use to fly
upto chest height, but now i can feel them falling on my head and also
down my shirt. Also upto now i have just used safety glasses but with
shavings now constanly find my face, i will probably have to go for a
face sheild.

Mark




--
Woodborg

Thanks BillR

Just had a play with the skew, with the lowered rest position and found alot better. I did find it hard to get the tool control with my arm pit g

Mark