bench design for midi

[Bret Hinz]

Hi guys,

I'm trying to think of a layout for my 46-460's bench.

anyone have any pics of their bench to give me some ideas? i just picked up a jet dc-1100, and may incorporate some piping in the bench so I don't have to maneuver the pipe behind the table every time i use it, just pull the dc next to the table and plug it into a connection.

plan on building a trough for sand/weight.

also, am trying to decide whether to put my grinder on the same bench, or a rolling bench/table we already have.

thanks

 

[Michael DeWald]

This is what I did. The ends are 4 4X4's glued up. Rails to join the ends are more 4X4's, notched and laid in notches (a bridal joint.) Bottom rails are 2X6's. Besides bracing, they are boxed and serve as a location for ballast. The bottom rails also extend out the headstock end, this will serve as a shelf for my vacuum pump. The top rails have a gap between them, shavings hit the ramp and exit away from me. There is a drawer on ball bearing slides. I used some adjustable appliance pads from Home Depot on the bottom to make sure I can level the piece, this aids stability greatly. They are attached with screw on t-nuts from Rockler. It's worked pretty well so far.

 

[Scott Barton]

This is what I did. The ends are 4 4X4's glued up. Rails to join the ends are more 4X4's, notched and laid in notches (a bridal joint.) Bottom rails are 2X6's. Besides bracing, they are boxed and serve as a location for ballast. The bottom rails also extend out the headstock end, this will serve as a shelf for my vacuum pump. The top rails have a gap between them, shavings hit the ramp and exit away from me. There is a drawer on ball bearing slides. I used some adjustable appliance pads from Home Depot on the bottom to make sure I can level the piece, this aids stability greatly. They are attached with screw on t-nuts from Rockler. It's worked pretty well so far.

very nice. any vibrations?

 

[Michael DeWald]

No problems so far. It is actually for a Nova DVR XP. I haven't turned anything particularly heavy on it yet. There is an awful lot of wood there to absorb vibration.

 

[Bret Hinz]

that is nice! very stout! nice job!

 

[Christopher Martin]

This is what I did. The ends are 4 4X4's glued up. Rails to join the ends are more 4X4's, notched and laid in notches (a bridal joint.) Bottom rails are 2X6's. Besides bracing, they are boxed and serve as a location for ballast. The bottom rails also extend out the headstock end, this will serve as a shelf for my vacuum pump. The top rails have a gap between them, shavings hit the ramp and exit away from me. There is a drawer on ball bearing slides. I used some adjustable appliance pads from Home Depot on the bottom to make sure I can level the piece, this aids stability greatly. They are attached with screw on t-nuts from Rockler. It's worked pretty well so far.

I really like your bench ideas. What was the total height of your bench?

I want to make a dedicated bench for my rikon mini. I know this might be over

kill for a mini but that is ok...😀

 

[Michael DeWald]

The height is 30 inches, plus a little for the leveling feet. The end pieces end up being ripped down to 12 inches in width. (that was convenient to run through my planer, anyway.) The top rails are 46 inches long.There is 36" between the end pieces, with 5 inches at each end for joinery and overhang. You'll need 4 4X4's, probably plus another piece about 20 inches long for one of the feet. Or, if you are very careful with one of the 4X4's, you might not need the extra piece. Or if you can find one 10' one, you're set. I wasn't careful about the cuts, but then I had 2 leftover pieces from another job that worked for the feet. One 8 foot 2X6, a 2' X 4' piece of 1/4 inch plywood for the drawer bottom and deflector, Plus some 3/4 plywood, or boards for the ballast container and drawer. Pretty inexpensive really; I found very straight, nearly knot free 4X4's at Home Depot for about $10. Probably the most expensive single item was the 10" drawer slide from Rockler.

 

[Christopher Martin]

Thanks for the materials lists....

I think I'm going to need (3) 4x4's 10' (1) 2x6x 10'
(1) 4x4 x 5'

I figured each side to will take one 4x4 10'
and the top being 5 feet long I'll need another 10' er
and the feet I will need a short 4 x 4

I really like your design thanks for the inspiration.

 

[Scott Barton]

What is the angled piece for?

I love the idea of using 4x4s for the mass. I was actually in the process of designing my own lathe stand, and this completely changed how I was approaching it.

 

[Christopher Martin]

The angled piece is for chips to deflect on the back side of the lathe so your bottom shelf doesn't get covered with wood chips.

 

[waltben]

I've made two so far for my 46-460. First is a traveling bench, just 2X4s, a 2X8 top, a piece of plywood on the front to deflect chips and hold my small banner. I've used this for about three years. Everything's held together with a couple of plastic saw horse brackets so I can take it all apart & assemble it easily. There's no way to add weight to this one, but it also has a couple brackets to hold a beach umbrella for shade when outdoors.

When I started making the second one, I decided to keep it simple also. It's only for indoors and will stay put. Made it long enough for my newly acquired bed extension and didn't use plywood, just 2X4s though and no plywood. The saw horse brackets worked well enough on the first one that I used them again (three leg sets vs. two though). The legs have 2X4s running full width about 12" off the ground. I carved small grooves in them so I can lay tools across them & chips just fall through. I can put concrete blocks or sandbags on plywood over them if I need extra weight, but I've not needed any yet.

Ten days later - I started work on a 12" diameter, 8" high cherry piece that had a good sized bark inclusion so I knew it would be out of balance no matter what I did. All I had to do to stabilize everything was put a bag of sand on the bed extension.

 

[Michael DeWald]

If you are concerned about adding a lot of mass, one other option I saw on the web would be to make the legs out of 3/4" plywood. Each leg is a separate box about 4-6 inches thick. Put sand in plastic bags and put them in the hollow. Someone (can't remember who) used this technique over at woodturner's resource. I really didn't want that much mass, and I like solid wood better, but if my lathe were any bigger and I knew exactly where I was going to leave it, I would consider modifying my design to that.