I finally pulled the trigger on a Lathe.....UPDATE Post 87....

trevj said:
No matter where you end up setting up your lathe, you really will want some decent lighting over it so that you can see what you are doing without having to dance around dodging the shadows.

I try to have at least one decently bright 'room' light overhead, as well as a decent stand light on the machine itself if possible. Bright bright bright!

I like the storage over the door, and the high ceiling! Nice having the walls painted too!

Cheers
Trev
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I pre-wired in a switch with a "tail" sticking out the top of my pony wall. I plan on putting up a 8' T-5 strip directly above the lathe, final positioning depending on lathe placement.....

The biggest reason(s) for the wall was;

1- I had to get wire to the lathe to feed power into it.

2- I had to be able to hang a work light somehow with out impeding the OH door travel.

And since I was building a wall.... I made it 4' longer than necessary to hang a bench on the other side. More bench space is always welcome! And then wired in a couple extra plugs.... It has been my exp that one always seems to find a need for a plug months after the construction is finished!

I have also picked up a rolling tool box to house tooling etc. And I've found most of the reference material referenced in this thread on Amazon.ca, so I'm a bit lighter in the wallet after the weekend!

Thanks again for all the advice, info and tips. I'll be sure to take a bunch of pics during the moving process. I decided against hiring out the job. No one would give me a quote. The "cheapest" budget price I could get was $500-$1000.....

The move is planned for the weekend.... I'll keep y'all posted!
 
Looks two of us will be proud lathe owners this weekend! Friday is the day for me, have two strapping teenage boys to help me out, really can't wait!
I did order "The Amateurs Lathe" from Amazon, should arrive by the end of the week, after telling my neighbor this he told me he has a copy that will come with the machine as well as the fluorescent fixture he has over it. :)
I'm impressed by some of the setups here, I've been working in my shop every night to get it ready and will post pics when it's in place.
 
Looking forward to seeing everyone lathe setup. I'm trying to get my garage all prepped for the day I get a lathe.

I just got my lights in last week but still need to run some wire for a rotary phase converter.
 
notsorichguy said:
I pre-wired in a switch with a "tail" sticking out the top of my pony wall. I plan on putting up a 8' T-5 strip directly above the lathe, final positioning depending on lathe placement.....

The biggest reason(s) for the wall was;

1- I had to get wire to the lathe to feed power into it.

2- I had to be able to hang a work light somehow with out impeding the OH door travel.

And since I was building a wall.... I made it 4' longer than necessary to hang a bench on the other side. More bench space is always welcome! And then wired in a couple extra plugs.... It has been my exp that one always seems to find a need for a plug months after the construction is finished!

I have also picked up a rolling tool box to house tooling etc. And I've found most of the reference material referenced in this thread on Amazon.ca, so I'm a bit lighter in the wallet after the weekend!

Thanks again for all the advice, info and tips. I'll be sure to take a bunch of pics during the moving process. I decided against hiring out the job. No one would give me a quote. The "cheapest" budget price I could get was $500-$1000.....

The move is planned for the weekend.... I'll keep y'all posted!
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Stay safe and watch those toes. Good luck!
 
You're right, there can never be enough outlets.

Because of the kitchen cabinet style lowers used in my latest (and last) shop build I don't have a bracing apron along the front of the top. Previously I've had outlets along there as well so that power tools plugged in don't drape the cord over the bench. But oh well.

As well as the overhead light above the lathe you might go back and look at what I did for a spot light in the picture from post #42. I used an Ikea "Jansjo" light which I made up a new mount for that attaches to the rear of the carriage. It's proven to be a great aid for local light on the cutting tool as well as being right there to bend into place to light up the inside of any boring jobs. The small size really stays out of the way too.

Best of luck to both of you with your moves and placements. Hopefully all the information from this thread helps you get things set solidly in place and the machines trimmed up.
 
I bought my lathe a couple years ago. It's a 13x36 colchester master that was made in January of 1950. It has a one piece base that is cast and is part of the lathe so we couldn't take it apart.

The lathe was at my buddies house and we thought about how to get it out of his shop in one piece. So after much thinking he borrowed an a frame he had at work and erected that in his shop. He used crane slings and a proper chain come along to lift it up.

Heres a picture of it the next day waiting for me.



I simply pulled my truck underneath it and we let it down. The lathe weighs somewhere in the 2000lb weight area so it's super heavy to say the least.

Well after a long slow hour drive I got home to our property.

After much playing with rigging I finally got my lathe more or less centered. The hardest part of lifting a lathe is the fact that the headstock end is way heavier then the rest so it's hard to get it to lift flat. I picked it up with my tractor and slowly drove it in the shop. We then slid it into place with a couple guys.



If I was going to move a lathe again I'd make a lathe lifting plate that slips under the lathe bed and then it has a hole in the middle where you can Insert an eye bolt. That way you can slide the plate closer or farther to the headstock which will balance the weight in the center and make moving it a breeze.

For pictures of that plate go on practical machinist forum or have a look in "how to run a lathe" book where I think there's pictures. I made a plate to lift my lathe and it Makes it soooooo much easier to get it to lift straight.

If I didn't have a tractor I'd hire a tow truck and get it to lift up my lathe onto a trailer. Then after I'd get the tow truck driver to meet me on the other end to unload it.
 
Well, It's been a bit more than a week since moving day.....

Went out and picked up the Lathe Good Friday. All in it was 45 min loading it up, and then less than 20 min unloading. Set-up took a bit more than a day!

I didn't take as many pics as I was intending to, I brought my father with me (to drive a second truck) and the only other pair of hands besides mine were the previous owners!

A John Deer Tractor with forks was used to pull the lathe off the stand and placed on a sturdy wooden base that I had made (it was 1/4" shorter than my box length I didn't want any fore-aft play). Everything was Strapped down 6-ways from Sunday and tarped for the 20KM trip from it's previous home to my garage!







Unloading was accomplished fairly handily by backing in the Garage and using an engine hoist to lift the lathe and then pulling the truck out from underneath it. (side note, if you have a camera in your end-gate, there is a wire that goes to the camera. if you don't blow some air into the dirty dusty connection before re-connecting the wires, your camera wont work!) I didnt' take any pics of the unloading as I was on the hoist and Dad was in the truck! but I did remember to take a couple pics after they were safely on the floor.....





The stand was pretty light, probably less than 80 lbs, so we were able to move it around by hand, and the engine hoist was more than up to the task of lifting and moving the beast around!







The next day saw the magical appearance of the "Rons" (rarely seen in the wild together at the same time) 2 good friends that are both very familiar with lathes (they both use them everyday at their day-jobs) one being a machinist by trade. They helped me get everything levelled and trued and then we spent acouple hours visiting and "playing" with my new toy! Finished off the set-up portion by cutting down a M-14 Barrel to 18.6" and threading it 1/2"x28.







I would like to thank all of you guys for all the info, tips and tricks that made it this a smooth and painless move and install!

Now the real learning begins!
 
Sorry I never thought of it before but I made the same mistake when I set my lathe up the first time...I put it fairly tight against the wall. Now I leave room behind for access for cleanup, retrieve dropped things and above all else room to do belt adjustments and mechanical inspections.
 
fingers284 said:
Sorry I never thought of it before but I made the same mistake when I set my lathe up the first time...I put it fairly tight against the wall. Now I leave room behind for access for cleanup, retrieve dropped things and above all else room to do belt adjustments and mechanical inspections.
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This issue has already reared its ugly head.... It's currently 12" from the wall. Which isn't enough room to work on anything back there!

The motor is 120/240. Wired 120. But there's a control x-mer in the control box. It WAS wired 240......

After setting the pig up, the one contactor wasn't pulling in and the other was iffy..... I had reverse 50% of the time and forward not at all! I left just enough room to partially open the cover and manually push in the contactors. Then it would run fine. That's when we spun up the barrel and cut, crowned and threaded.

After the Rons left, I hoisted the lathe up, pulled it away from the wall enough to work in the control box, and discovered the issue. Swapped a wire, and it works tickity-boo!

But.....

Now that I have it back in place, levelled and shimmed.... The motor seems to lack enough torque for heavy cuts. It spins up fine but you can hear the motor start to lag and work pretty hard once the tool hits the work. Especially when doing 25+ thou cuts in steel.

So I'm in the process of running 240 out to the lathe.... By that I mean, I have all the materials laying on the floor of the garage, I just have to get a "round-tu-it"....

Which means, I'll have to hoist the lathe up, move it away from the wall another foot or two to rewire.....

I'm a stubborn cuss. So I'll likely still just leave myself 12" again for final placement..... I could pull it out 2-3 feet from the wall, but then I don't have room for the bike to live in the same bay of the garage...... I currently have 60" between the bike and the lathe.... Which is nice, any closer and I'll be moving the bike every time I go to use the lathe......

Did I mention I'm lazy? And I also "prefer" to do things 3 or 4 times to get it right..... :redface:
 
Journeyman.ca said:
A lathe is the only tool that can build itself...which posses an interesting question. Which came first, the lathe or the lathe?
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For the most part that's quite valid and MANY of the parts are done on lathes. But the shaping and truing up of the bed ways aren't something that can be done on a lathe. Nor is the contacting surfaces and dovetails of the carriage, cross slide and compound slide.

Line boring of the tail stock to accurately center the bore to the head stock being done right on the machine? Spot on that!
 
fingers284 said:
Sorry I never thought of it before but I made the same mistake when I set my lathe up the first time...I put it fairly tight against the wall. Now I leave room behind for access for cleanup, retrieve dropped things and above all else room to do belt adjustments and mechanical inspections.
Click to expand...

I've got enough to get in there and do minor stuff. But if it's something major that requires pulling off the motor or anything of that sort I figured early on while figuring out where to put those concrete pillars that I'd say "ta hell with it" and use the engine hoist to lift it up and off the pillars it's on and work on it out in the middle of the shop. If I don't move the lower nuts on the studs it is resting on I shouldn't need to do a LOT of work to re-true it. Heck the "full meal deal" truing job only took an evening.
 
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