flip-down lathe bench

[David Swenson]

I am an occassional wood turner with limited work space. So I was thinking about building a workbench and mounting my 36' Delta midi lathe to a cutout of the bench top, and then have that pivot on two central points. When I want to turn some wood, I pull out a lock, flip up the lathe (which otherwise is hanging upside down under the benchtop) and then relock it in place. Project over, I flip it back down to have a flat, open benchtop that I can use for something else.

Question: Anyone ever done or heard of this? Any ideas on bench design? And, most importantly, can anyone foresee any problems with storing the lathe upside down 90% of the time?

Thanks. I'm new to this forum and look forward to hearing your comments.

regards,
David

 

[JimQ]

I don't see any problems with it hanging upside down, but I don't think that a flip over bench insert will be able to hold it rigidly enough to safely turn wood. My Midi lathe, with extension, is bolted to a bench top that is a solid lamination, 6 feet long, 15 inches wide, and 5 inches thick, mounted on a frame of 2x6's. It needs to be heavy enough to absorb the vibration from turning. Somehow it still manages to creep away from the wall. Usually everytime I round square wood......

Good luck.

JimQ

 

[Jeff Jilg]

We're sort of keeping the How-to's and Tips area for mini-articles describing how to do something. Moving this thread to the main text forum.

 

[John Taylor]

Captive docking station

David,
HOw about building a workstation with a double layer top. Cut out a U shape in the uppermost top and miter the inside edges so that the angled point is on the top side of the uppermost top surface. Bolt several of your small shop tools to seperate peices of the same top material with an opposing angleplate. Simply slip out one tool for another to utilize the same workstation. I have seen several docking station articles in woodworking books and magazines over the years. The seperate tools could then be stored in a vertical riser on their indivigual mounting plates and to secure each tool further a couple star knobs or something simular could be installed into threaded inserts that would affix each base to a set of standard holes in the workstation.

 

[MichaelMouse]

I don't see any problems with it hanging upside down, but I don't think that a flip over bench insert will be able to hold it rigidly enough to safely turn wood. My Midi lathe, with extension, is bolted to a bench top that is a solid lamination, 6 feet long, 15 inches wide, and 5 inches thick, mounted on a frame of 2x6's. It needs to be heavy enough to absorb the vibration from turning.

How about making the rotating insert with a double thick table, the one immediately under the lathe having the edge cut thus ( \ --- / ) to allow full-length hold with wedged opposite strips ( --/ \-- ) on the main bench top? Sort of a double French cleat with wedges and/or bolts holding the moveable cleat in register rather than gravity?

I modified the dogs on my workmate to grip down and in for my router table and other benchtop tool mounting boards. Works pretty well against vibration and load.

 

[Andy Hoyt]

Drill a corresponding hole in your work bench for each hole in the lathe's leg system. When you want to turn, run a carriage bolt up through the table and leg holes, spin on a nut and begin turning. This assumes your work bench is stout enough to handle the forces generated by the lathe.

 

[Brodie Brickey]

Bench Design

With those kinds of space limitations, I'd recommend building a cabinet. Make the top out of 4 sheets of 3/4" ply. Cut out a piece as in the picture below (so when it goes back in it "locks in" from the top 2 pieces of the counter top. This gives you the weight and strenght you need. You can also create multiple copies of the "replaceable" counter top and attach a CMS, benchtop Drill press, and anything else you want to it. When they aren't in use, they slide into the cabinet on full extension slide with the necessary weight rating. Counter sink holes to bolt the machine to your "portable top" and you're all set. For the lathe you may also want to have through bolts setup to go through the entire counter when attached to hold it more securely, but for other machines you probably won't need it.