I got one o them 'cheap' chinese benchtop mini-lathes. Its not from harbor freight, but its basically the same as the ones from harbor freight. I need a table for it, and I'll likely be building it myself (most of the 'lathe benches' available to buy cost more than what I spent on the lathe....). For added complexity... I'd like the table to be semi-mobile (as my shop gets rearranged from time to time), so I want something that can be moved without having to re-level the lathe every time. I'm thinking a standard '4-leg' table built out of 4x4s (for rigidity), with two extremely heavy duty wheels on two of the legs, and a concrete surface that i'll pour with bolts sticking out for bolting the lathe to. The concrete 'pad' would then be supported to the bench in only 3 places, so in theory any minute flexing of the table when it gets wheeled around would not translate to any flexing of the surface that the lathe is bolted to or therefore any flexing of the lathe itself that could cause runnout. Its still just a theory though. What are your thoughts?
I owned a machine shop but only used heavier duty lathes that came with built in stands. Are you machining metals? Have you considered using coolants? What will happen to the coolant if used, such as will your system contain said coolants? It seems to me that your idea is stability and that is primary. Several days back I was checking on for sale lathes that were either Clausing or Colchester. I personally would get one of those.
I got one of these 7" x 14" Mini Metal Lathe 550W Precision Variable Speed 2250 RPM 0.75HP 729270364772 | eBay, or at least a nearly identical model. I plan to use it mostly to machine metal and I plan to build a coolant system into the table.
There is a handbook you should own if you plan to do a fair amount of this. I would try e bay or half priced books first.
Step one: the steel that the lathe will bolt to. This frame will be mostly in concrete before its done. (dont look at my welds! the 110v flux wire feed has seen better days)
A tip for better welding is to increase your Amps say 20 Amps and see what happens. Maybe 40 more amps will do it. Experiment.
I tried. My amp settings on this thing are 'A' 'B' 'C' and 'D' and they're not different enough to tell which is higher and which is lower. They all cause the wire to melt and 'pop' faster than the feed rate can push it out at its highest speed. It makes a good tac, and thats about it. But it was $100 welder 15 years ago. Quite frankly I'm just happy it can still make two pieces of steel stick together in any fashion at all The real question is whether to buy a mill next, or a better welder... I'm still on the fence about that.
Have you ever thought of turning your hobby into a reality film project where you try your best to make your neighbours....... and family... who become your customers....... into Reality Film Stars?
No, that hadn't occurred to me... I did consider making some videos for youtube. But theres already so much of those.
Yes.... you are correct... there are....... This is me doing one fourteen years ago......... not long after doing this video I actually attempted to get a campaign going for me to rival Mr. Justin Trudeau for the office of National Leader of Canada's Liberal Party.... Here was an important part of my full platform that I had in mind...... http://www.politicalforum.com/index...lunteerism-hour-could.428203/#post-1065448365 A Liberal Party Dollar or Liberal Party Volunteerism Hour could....... An alternative theory on stabilization of the climate was another important part of my platform..... www.BankingSystemsFlaws.blogspot.ca/ Two effective methods to combat global warming and simultaneously fight rising ocean levels have been proposed by New Mexico biologist Carl Cantrell.
