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  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2018
    Location
    Cairns, Qld.
    Posts
    70

    Default New stand for lathe

    My AL300 lathe has sat for about 20 years on the two metal box stands that it came with. I have often wished it was; 1) a little higher for operator comfort, plus 2) the cupboard doors are not big enough - it's always a struggle getting heavy items in & out; 3) shims were necessary at most corners of the stands due far from flat bases, 4) more storage space would be good. Why not do something about it?
    After a bit of prevaricating around the bush & some internet research, I decided to make a 'spanning beam' style of stand, which gave me plenty of shed time just as this current madness was kicking off.

    As it was on the two boxes...
    General view 2020 - just prior to new stand - 50%.jpg

    Pieces cut to size & ready to weld... The main beam is 1200 long of 250 x 100 RHS, frame & legs are 75 x 50, plus some 25 x 25 at the rear. Minimum cut from the steel supplier was 2 metres so there is a hunk of expensive main beam to spare for another job. (Yet to be identified). The beam was found to be slightly convex across the wide sides during preparation & drilling etc., which is not a good thing. I was able to bend these faces at the lathe mounting areas back to flat or very slightly convex in my hydraulic press. The hardest part was lugging that heavy beam in/out/around/rotate multiple times. The through holes for the lathe bolts were drilled using the milling machine as my piffy little bench drill couldn't have coped. Lots of careful measuring involved so that I could lift the lathe off the old box supports & directly on to the new beam without any hair-tearing or rude words.
    2020 - New stand 1 - basic parts - 50%.jpg

    Upside down for painting after welding... I had it all professionally welded, as I don't do enough of that to be competent at what needed to be 'right first time' as far as I am concerned.
    New stand 2.jpg

    Painting in progress... The frame is assymetric when viewed from above.
    New stand 3.jpg

    Heart in mouth time. Will it fit?? Note the extra wide legs that I made for the engine crane a year or more ago. The standard V-shaped ones just run out of width when trying this operation or lifting my HM46 mill. Very frustrating!
    New stand 5 edited.jpg

    Finished; inside view... Had to weld a plate over the old drain hole in the middle of the drip tray. 16mm plywood shelves & lighter 9mm boxed-in sides. Can get lots of tooling inside & access is far easier. Thankfully the engine crane lift & transfer from old to new mounts went smoothly.
    New stand 6 - 50%.jpg

    Outside view... It's about 60mm higher than before & much more solid. The stand weighs about 90kgs. & needed only one 0.5mm shim under the front l/h leg to stop a tiny bit of wobble as the concrete floor is pretty good for level. My precision level showed very good overall alignment at the time. I will revisit that again & try a test bar turn. The legs have provision for an angle bracket to be bolted on & secured to the floor if necessary.
    Attachment 388646New stand 8 - finished - 40%.jpg Overall a worthwhile exercise I think. I sold the old box mounts on Gumtree, so that recouped a little of the cost.

    Note Thanks to Baron J for pointing out the fix for my earlier upside-down photo issues.
    Last edited by Halifax614; 13th Sep 2020 at 08:25 PM. Reason: Photo problems

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2012
    Location
    York, North Yorkshire UK
    Posts
    6,436

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Halifax614 View Post

    Unfortunately, the extra couple of pictures of this that I tried to add keep coming out upside down. Why is that ?.
    It is because the "EXIF" information attached to the picture tells the system "This is the way round that the picture was taken" !

    To get rid of the EXIF info, you need to edit the picture and re-save it. I just crop the edges off mine !
    Best Regards:
    Baron J.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
    Location
    Port Sorell, Tasmania
    Posts
    74

    Default

    Nice work Halifax. What wall thickness did you use on the main beam? Would be interested to hear some feedback after you have done some heavy cuts. I would like to do something similar with my 336.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Age
    56
    Posts
    1,416

    Default

    Nice work, I've been planning the same type of stand and getting rid of the sheet metal stands, only using heavy channel.
    I'll include a chip tray drawer, so it will need to have a big U welded in the center to accommodate it.
    For a lathe stand minimum welding skills would be needed.
    Using Tapatalk

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Oct 2019
    Location
    Tasmania
    Age
    53
    Posts
    149

    Default

    Good job, well done.

    Do you have to realign the lathe now?

  6. #6
    Join Date
    May 2018
    Location
    Cairns, Qld.
    Posts
    70

    Default Big beam lathe stand

    Thanks for the positive comments gentlemen.
    The main beam material is 10mm thick. Better too heavy, than later curse & wish I'd spent an extra few bucks. The rest of the 75x50 framing is 3mm material. It's a solid beast of a thing. The whole machine 'feels' a lot more solid now that there is this extra mass beneath it.
    I checked alignments after installation with my precision level & ground test bar & dti's etc. & could not fault it. Certainly no worse than previous. I have not yet done the 'turn both ends of a bar & measure diameters' process. The lathe certainly could be shimmed on the big beam if required. I did think about mounting the beam on adjustable cross bars at each end & floating them on the main frame, but it all became overly & un-necessarily complicated. I'm just an amateur machinist fooling around after all.
    The whole frame assembly was welded together upside-down on a proper flat welding table with plenty of temporary struts & supports tacked on, so I'm satisfied that it is square & true. I did double-check as best I could subsequently. It has to be better than the previous arrangement.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    May 2018
    Location
    Cairns, Qld.
    Posts
    70

    Default New stand for lathe

    Further to the above, after a couple of months use of the lathe (A 20-year old H & F AL300 belt - drive machine) in a home/hobby environment , I'm satisfied that the more solid box-beam mount is an improvement overall. It definitely feels more 'solid' to use than when mounted on the previous twin metal boxes.

    I did the 'Turn a double diameter on a test bar in the chuck' exercise a day or two ago to check for bed twist & general performance. I used a piece of approx. 25mm dia. MS rod that had the outer test section about 125mm from the chuck; cross checking with both imperial & metric mic's I see maybe 1/2 thou difference in old money between the inner & outer ends. Good enough for my rough old work.
    Previous checking with an engineer's precision level across the ways at the left & right ends of the bed had shown no discernable twist.

    A similar quick turning exercise with a bar between the 3 jaw chuck & tailstock centre saw a couple of thou. difference at the r/h end over about 220mm, which a tiny tailstock offset tweak would fix. I rarely do any really long turning jobs anyway.
    So, I'm happy with it.

    H614
    Last edited by Halifax614; 14th Nov 2020 at 06:06 PM. Reason: spelling

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Sep 2012
    Location
    York, North Yorkshire UK
    Posts
    6,436

    Default

    Hi H614, Guys,

    You have done a really nice job on that stand, I don't care for the colour, its a bit bright for me ! I'm still trying to use up a tin of what was supposed to be "Myford" green. Its more like "Lincoln green" which is a little lighter.

    Glad you are now able to get your pictures the right way up ! That issue had me baffled for a while, till someone pointed out about the EXIF data.
    Best Regards:
    Baron J.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    May 2018
    Location
    Cairns, Qld.
    Posts
    70

    Default Lathe Stand

    Thanks Baron J. You know what it's like using up old paint. Thinks..... "That looks like enough for the job" - and it isn't; so you buy another tin, & thus it continues.... It was a choice of 'Marine Blue' or 'Machinery Grey' out here; both pretty boring. Though I did use up some of both colours on the recent Sheraton lathe restoration so as to match this bigger machine set-up.

    Halifax614

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Sep 2012
    Location
    York, North Yorkshire UK
    Posts
    6,436

    Default

    Hi H614,

    Like an id10t I bought 2.5 Lt of it didn't I.
    The tin is still half full, so everything is going to be painted green.
    Best Regards:
    Baron J.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Adelaide
    Posts
    574

    Default

    Your stand looks like a job well done - I have what looks to be the exact same lathe - I purchased it new in 1983 - came with a chip tray but no base/stand - my home made stand is similar to yours, over the years I added a QCTP (homemade), changed the drive from 1ph motor to 3ph & vfd and last year added a 2 axis DRO.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    May 2018
    Location
    Cairns, Qld.
    Posts
    70

    Default AL300 lathe stand

    Thanks 'familyguy' for your comments. Would you care to elaborate on the vfd/3 phase motor conversion? I've been kicking that idea around for a while, but as usual for me, procrastination rules....
    If the single phase unit went kaput, I'd do it for sure....
    Do you have any photos?

    Halifax

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Adelaide
    Posts
    574

    Default

    I'll get some pics during the day and post them tonight.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Adelaide
    Posts
    574

    Default

    Here's some pics of the VFD setup, VFD is mounted on the back of the splash back I also included a double power point for lathe light etc. I did this so the lathe would be self contained if it ever needs to be picked up and moved it is all self contained. The apron stop/start/reverse lever now only stops and starts (up position) - the VFD I have does not include the components to allow a braking function, if I ever get a new VFD with E stop/braking I'll wire the stop start lever so centre will be off, up is go and down is brake/E stop.


    The jog button is still operational, jog motor speed is approx 7 RPM the central rocker switch is power on/off, the left hand control is motor speed and the elongated knob on the left is forward/reverse to the left is forward and to the right is reverse - this follows the movement of the carriage when using power feed. The motor is 2KW, with a single sheave pulley, - I almost never need to change the pulley speeds at the headstock, 95% of all speed changes are done with the speed control knob. Min speed is around 12rpm and max is 2400rpm.


    The three most useful mods to the lathe are carriage stop graduated in thou's - QCTP, home made and the VFD/3ph motor, the DRO is useful for making multiple identical parts but I could get by without it.
    If you decide to go with a VFD there is plenty of friendly knowledge in this forum if you find you do need help.

    20201124_160845.jpg20201124_160901.jpg20201124_160932.jpg20201124_160937.jpg20201124_161008.jpg20201124_161117.jpg

  15. #15
    Join Date
    May 2018
    Location
    Cairns, Qld.
    Posts
    70

    Default 3 phase/VFD etc on AL-300

    Hello Familyguy:- Thanks very much for the photos & description. Looks good. Were there any size or space issues with fitting the new 3 ph. motor on to the hinged mount plate? What is the maxm. rpm that the drive motor is rated at?

    Cheers,
    H614

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