Making a lathe mobile ?

[JimmyC]

Hey All,

Before I start putting my HF lathe together I have a question or two. I plan on raising it a little because I've used one before and it was raised and comfortable, so how would you figure a comfortable height ? I plan on adding some ballast to keep it from rocking, so I may make a cabinet for it. But the main thing is making it mobile, my shop has a large overhang so I would like to be able to move it outside whenever I can, does putting it on wheels help with or cause more vibration ?

Any Ideas will help.

Thank you,
Jimmy

[DaveO]

When adjusting the lathe height you want to have the centers at about the same height as your elbows. Ballast is good for a lathe, the more weight the more stability. If you're gonna go the mobile route keep that in mind. I would get some high quality casters as they could really be the weak link.

Dave

Personally if it were mine - I would take a stick of dynamite to it

[woodArtz]

I put my old Jet 1236 (similar to the HF) on a Jet mobile base and absolutely hated it. The swivel wheel swiveled at the most inopportune times, the vibration even with sandbags was worse with the mobile base. Maybe if you use bigger casters with double locks you'll fair better.

Like I said dynamite would make it mobile

[erasmussen]

My HF lathe is on wheels, everything I have has to be on wheels.
I havent had any problems yet, but I havent turned any green wood yet eather.

[CaptnA]

the mini is on a tool storage cart we got at Sam's and modified a bit because it was too tall. Kinda nice for a while but in the long run had to lose about 6". It is small enough and anything we'd turn on it is small enough that vibration is minimal.
The big lathes aren't mobile. I've chased the Delta around the shop a time or two. And once it chased me! (I won - whew but it was too close)
Jet has places molded into the legs for ballast. So far haven't needed it, but its not a bad idea. Trying to come up with a storage system that will fit the space provided... Got to put the 'extras' somewhere and might as well be close and where they perform double duty-
I"ve seen mobile lathes. Just spend the few extra $ and get all 4 casters as locking. Can't remember one that wasn't the turner was happy with
(doesn't mean it couldn't happen...)

[dino drosas]

Go to www.greatlakescaster.com and get a set of the Zambus look alike leveling casters to mount on the lathe. When the pads are lowered, the lathe will become very stationary and totally stable. I would to put some on mine but my lathe centers is too high for me as it stands right now.

[WoodWrangler]

Originally Posted by dino drosas

Go to www.greatlakescaster.com and get a set of the Zambus look alike leveling casters to mount on the lathe. When the pads are lowered, the lathe will become very stationary and totally stable. I would to put some on mine but my lathe centers is too high for me as it stands right now.

These are the casters I'm using on the Laguna 24 .. they are very nice and the price is right! ($11-$12 ea, I think). They work just like a Zambus at a 1/4 the price.

[skeeter]

I have a Rikon 12-16. I made a cabinet for it using almost 3 full sheets of MDF. It has plenty of storage with drawers for tools and shelves for wood storage. It weighs a ton (well, not really). Due to limited room it had to be portable so it is mounted on heavy-duty 4” casters. No pictures of mine, so here is a picture of one built by Splinter. This is the one I went by.
I placed heavy-duty lifting levelers on each corner. Each leveler has a load capacity of 600 lb. and are $17.99 per set of 4.
http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=2053&filter=81239

[JimmyC]

I'd like to thank everybody so far for their comments.

-Charles, I love the cabinet, but I think it's more than I want to get into.

-Dino, I love the casters but I have to figure wheter the 1.75" casters will be able to go over the sm.all step I have going from the shop to the outside pad.

-Dave, I saw yours raised and was wondering how you figured the height out, but the centers at the same plane as the elbows makes perfect sense.

- Bob, I thought that I would have a problem if I went that way, that is why I asked.

Thanks all for your constructive comments ( even you Jeff, for your attemt at humor)

Jimmy

[Bas]

Originally Posted by JimmyC

Thanks all for your constructive comments ( even you Jeff, for your attempt at humor)

You sure he was joking?

[Douglas Robinson]

Skeeter:

That is one serious looking mini lathe bench! I may have to organize a Wilmington Shop Crawl !!!

Doug

[JimmyC]

Originally Posted by Douglas Robinson

Skeeter:

That is one serious looking mini lathe bench! I may have to organize a Wilmington Shop Crawl !!!

Doug

How about a Hawaii shop crawl, we have a member there .

Jimmy