The first thing I did when I got this lathe home was to throw out the stand it came with, looks nice, but what a piece of rubbish. So, with no decent stand I made my own with an accurate levelling systemI devised along with a coolant system comprised of a cheap brushless DC pump, an old 10 litre fuel container and some garden retic pipe and fittings.
The stand is made from 50mm heavy wall tubing I had lying around, some new RHS, some 50mm x 8mm flat and some 65mm x 8mm angle.
Made in two sections, the bottom section of which is loxined to the floor. It has a small shelf at the top, a pull out drawer under that and two shelves under that with two hinged doors in front. The top shelf holds chuck jaws and other smallish stuff, whilst the pull out drawer houses micrometers, verniers and other metrology gear. The top shelf behind the doors holds chuck, faceplate, change gears, steadies and a few other odds and sods while the bottom shelf holds off cuts of short stock. The coolant pump is mounted to the back wall, and the rest of the coolant system is housed behind the stand.
LEVELING SYSTEM
The top section of the stand is made from 65mm x 8mm angle and has four 12mm x 1.25 bolts welded at each corner, these locate in four holes drilled into the top of lower section, leveling is by way of these four bolts. Using a machinist’s level, accurate to 0.02mm, it took just five minutes to level, probably a bit flukish, but I didn't mess with it after that. The lathe was moved a week or so ago so I’ll have to level again – one day. Sorry about the picture order but this forum's picture uploader seems to have a mind of it's own.
The stand is made from 50mm heavy wall tubing I had lying around, some new RHS, some 50mm x 8mm flat and some 65mm x 8mm angle.
Made in two sections, the bottom section of which is loxined to the floor. It has a small shelf at the top, a pull out drawer under that and two shelves under that with two hinged doors in front. The top shelf holds chuck jaws and other smallish stuff, whilst the pull out drawer houses micrometers, verniers and other metrology gear. The top shelf behind the doors holds chuck, faceplate, change gears, steadies and a few other odds and sods while the bottom shelf holds off cuts of short stock. The coolant pump is mounted to the back wall, and the rest of the coolant system is housed behind the stand.
LEVELING SYSTEM
The top section of the stand is made from 65mm x 8mm angle and has four 12mm x 1.25 bolts welded at each corner, these locate in four holes drilled into the top of lower section, leveling is by way of these four bolts. Using a machinist’s level, accurate to 0.02mm, it took just five minutes to level, probably a bit flukish, but I didn't mess with it after that. The lathe was moved a week or so ago so I’ll have to level again – one day. Sorry about the picture order but this forum's picture uploader seems to have a mind of it's own.