# A Good Workbench For A Lathe?



## GreyShark (Jul 15, 2009)

I need a good bench before I order my lathe or else I won't have anywhere to put it. Does anyone have any recommendations? Right now I'm looking at some 12 gauge Little Giant heavy duty welded steel benches.


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## 65535 (Jul 16, 2009)

I'd say make one out of wood. Then use a steel top or a covered wooden top. Personally I've never really seen a good prefabed workbench i liked.


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## sortafast (Jul 16, 2009)

here is what i did. I have an 8x12/14 lathe. Originally I just took a rivet rack type shelving unit i got at Costco and used that as a bench, but it was rather weak. So I (eventually) made this thing. It consists of 16ea 10ft 2x4's and 2 2x6's to cap the ends. Then there is only a 4x4 at each corner for vertical support. I made a jig to bore 3 holes all the way through so that they would line up and pounded a 5/8" rod through it. This rod was drilled and tapped on the lathe. I glued, then screwed then clamped with the rods. Top got about 5 coats of epoxy resin, not the best, but works for me for now. Eventually I will get a metal top. I only used 3 3" drywall screws to hold it to the wall. This this is bomb proof, and its at just the right height for me (6'4" tall). 

Here is a couple pics

I decided to take out the middle leg as they proved to be over kill and kind of hampered storage.







Here you can see the old bench in the background with the new benchtop in the foreground







and here is it pretty much as it is now, and yes it is still a disaster.


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## mdocod (Jul 16, 2009)

sortafast said:


> ...It consists of 16ea 10ft 2x4's ....



solid much? 

that's beautifully over-kill.


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## GreyShark (Jul 16, 2009)

It certainly is impressive. I'll have to consider building my own as an option.


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## PEU (Jul 16, 2009)

I made a similar post about my workbench a few days ago at cnczone:

I made mine out of 2x4" wood:























































Materials list: http://peu.net/mods/WorkbenchMateriales.xls 
Solidworks plans: http://peu.net/mods/WorkbenchPEU.zip

I took the photos after finishing the tables about two years ago, the mill & lathe weren't even working at that moment, now they are filled with tools, parts etc... a mess 

Top of the workbenches is made of two sheets of 18mm (3/4") plywood 

Wood was joined with Gorilla glue and then they were screwed together, used more than 100 #6 2.5" wood screws per workbench. This glue is awesome, you apply a super fine layer with a spatula, damp the other piece of wood and clamp, after a couple of hours it goes 4x its initial volume and is superstrong. 

Note on the gorilla glue: use gloves, don't be dumb like me, the stuff took about 5 days to go off my hands... and its black when dry...  and when not in use keep the bottle upside down, this allowed me to use it after years, otherwise it dries.

They feel very solid. Used 3/8" x 5" bolts two flat washers and a split washer at every joint (8 per table)


Pablo


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## cmacclel (Jul 16, 2009)

Sears


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## PEU (Jul 16, 2009)

Mac, please tell me thats not a photo you took yesterday... your shop looks like a computer chips factory... spotless! 


Pablo


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## Illum (Jul 16, 2009)

clean up after you eat, like a good machinist should:nana:


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## Torque1st (Jul 16, 2009)

PEU, I see you did add some blocking for the "F" members to the final assy. When I first looked at the design I noticed they had no firm support.


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## alpg88 (Jul 16, 2009)

welded hd steel bench is good, thou it will be almost useless if it isn't bolted to solid concrette floor, (thou it depends on how big your lathe is)
i had 50 cm lathe in ukraine, i had to dig up a hole in the floor of my garage, pour concrette, and mold in bolts welded to rebars, that i used to attach lathe's legs, it worked out great,


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## PEU (Jul 16, 2009)

The only support I added are these to all legs:






I added them to prevent the shown movement for the top beams, even when it should be naturally prevented by the tabletop, also they were added to relieve the joining screws from part of the mill/lathe weight.


Pablo


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## GreyShark (Jul 16, 2009)

Those are some great pics PEU!


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## GreyShark (Jul 16, 2009)

cmacclel said:


> Sears



Is that the standard fiberboard top on that 59741? How thick is the sheet metal?


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## darkzero (Jul 16, 2009)

I’ve got a bench from Sears too, no galvanized top though. I was originally going to buy a Waterloo but picked up the Craftsman one during the last Craftsman Club special with the back wall. Sears’ regular price is cheaper than the Waterloo & I saved $100 with the club savings. The Craftsman bench is made my Waterloo.

Lowes sells a Kobalt version that costs about what I paid for mine on special. The Craftsman ones also go on sale every so often outside of Craftsman Club.

Not a heavy duty shop grade bench but it does the job for a mini lathe.


Old bench:







Current bench:


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## saltytri (Jul 16, 2009)

I used 3 layers of 3/4" Medite (medium density fiberboard from Home Depot) over an eight-legged structure made from kiln-dried 2x4 and 4x4 Doug fir. It's screwed to the floor and to the wall studs. The dimensions are about 30" by 9'. It feels solid and is plenty stout enough for 500+ lbs of bench-top machines.

The best part is the galvanized top. I highly recommend this as part of your build. It was cut to dimension by the local sheet metal shop - total cost was something like $60 or $70. (I have no idea if that is a good price but the guy's shop was so clean, organized and empty that he obviously had little work, so I wasn't about to ****er over a few bucks). I don't remember the thickness - just that it was the thickest stuff he stocked. It makes a great surface because it cleans up easily and you can stick down a magnetic indicator base anywhere you want. It is fastened only around the edges by the aluminum-angle edging. It lies quite flat without being attached in the middle.

One nice design feature is that there is a cutout along the wall in the middle of the bench that is about two feet long and maybe three inches wide. This provides a place to hang the various electric cords out of the way so they don't lie on the bench. This helps particularly with the cables from the mill and the lathe to the DRO readouts. The cables are pretty long and can't be shortened so it's nice to be able to get them out of sight and out of the way.

The spaces between the legs are sized for three tool chests that hold most of the tooling and such. 

For the backsplash, I used particle board that comes covered with a white plastic surface, also surrounded with aluminum edging for appearance and protection. It's probably not all that durable but it doesn't need to be. It looks nice, the plastic is easy to clean, and that's about all that matters.

All in all, this has worked out pretty well.






Excuse the mess but I'm in the middle of a project!


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## Torque1st (Jul 16, 2009)

PEU said:


> The only support I added are these to all legs:
> 
> I added them to prevent the shown movement for the top beams, even when it should be naturally prevented by the tabletop, also they were added to relieve the joining screws from part of the mill/lathe weight.
> 
> ...


Exactly! :thumbsup:


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## tino_ale (Jul 17, 2009)

These are Wabeco machines, how do you like them? Why did you choose them over much much bigger machines you can get for the same price, even brand new? Very interrested in your feedback and choice on these



saltytri said:


> I used 3 layers of 3/4" Medite (medium density fiberboard from Home Depot) over an eight-legged structure made from kiln-dried 2x4 and 4x4 Doug fir. It's screwed to the floor and to the studs. The dimensions are about 30" by 9'. It feel solid and is plenty stout enough for 500+ lbs of bench-top machines.
> 
> The best part is the galvanized top. I highly recommend this as part of your build. It was cut to dimension by the local sheet metal shop - total cost was something like $60 or $70. (I have no idea if that is a good price but the guy's shop was so clean, organized and empty that he obviously had little work, so I wasn't about to ****er over a few bucks). I don't remember the thickness - just that it was the thickest stuff he stocked. It makes a great surface because it cleans up easily and you can stick down a magnetic indicator base anywhere you want. It is fastened only around the edges by th aluminum-angle edging. It lies quite flat without being attached in the middle.
> 
> ...


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## saltytri (Jul 17, 2009)

tino-

I don't know why anyone would want bigger machines. These look really big compared to my Sherline stuff! 

Seriously, they are big enough for what I want to do and for the space I want to use. I know that people often feel pressure toward getting something bigger but I'm not there (yet).

The mill is bigger than it looks in photos. It is plenty powerful, more than enough so for the maximum 5/8" shank size. I haven't come close to exceeding its capacity and ability. The lathe can swing a 6" chuck without straining and with a 30mm spindle bore, it can handle bigger workpieces than many comparably sized benchtop lathes. Most of my turning is AL but I've done steel and S/S without being disappointed. Many machines better automate the threading process but I'm not in a big hurry. Changing TPI means changing cogs but for the threads that we use on lights, this usually means changing just one or two and it doesn't take very long.

I went through the same shopping and evaluation process as many others have described here and in other machining forums. I recognized that as a relative beginner, it was risky for me to buy used, though I know that a lot of folks have and like old American iron that works great. I'd love to have a good South Bend or maybe a Hardinge HLV (when I win the lottery, the first thing I'll do is buy a new one) but I'm not confident that I could be sure of getting a serviceable unit and I don't have the expertise to renovate a machine. Also, that isn't how I wanted to spend my time. The same line of thinking applies to the Chinese machines. There is some good and some bad and the recurring theme is that most can give good results if you are willing to do some fiddling, sometimes a really lot of fiddling and head-scratching.

If you take used and Chinese out of the mix, there isn't much left. The Wabeco distributor is within reasonable driving distance, he supports what he sells, and the machines are very nicely made. Some people say they are overpriced and that may be true in the judgment of some. Right out of the box, they work with smooth precision like a Benz or a Leica. Working with high quality machines is rewarding in and of itself and maybe someday I'll be a good enough amateur machinist to deserve the privilege.


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## tino_ale (Jul 17, 2009)

Thank you for your reply. I want to reply to you, but I'll do it HERE to avoid hijacking this thread more than I've already have...


saltytri said:


> tino-
> 
> I don't know why anyone would want bigger machines. These look really big compared to my Sherline stuff!
> 
> ...


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## GreyShark (Jul 18, 2009)

After reviewing a number of options I bought a Craftsman 59181 Professional 5 Foot Workbench today. I decided I want to spend less time working on my tools and more time working on my projects so I shelved the idea of building my own lathe bench for now.

Sears claims this bench will support 2500lbs which is almost as much as the welded steel Little Giant workbench I was looking at. It appears to be made of 16 gauge steel which is not as thick as I'd like but it is considerably beefier than many alternatives in the $200-$300 price range. It has a splash guard on the back, peg boards on the sides to hold tools and a stiffener under the 1.5" thick fiberboard top for extra rigidity. Two big advantages for me were the screw adjustable feet which will make leveling a lot easier and the fact that it required assembly which made it possible to actually get it into my workshop. The welded steel workbench was, well, welded together and the dimensions would not have worked out for me. The build quality is actually pretty decent though the stiffeners on the legs are held in place only by a few spot welds. While probably adequate I may add bolts for piece of mind.


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## precisionworks (Jul 18, 2009)

> and a stiffener under the 1.5" thick fiberboard top


The shop built bench for my wood turning lathe has five layers of 3/4" MDF for a top - your bench currently has two layers of MDF. Two layers may be enough, but it's quick & easy to add another layer or two or three. Each additional layer adds weight & helps to dampen vibration.

You can also install "end panels" made of MDF or plywood, cut so that they are attached to the front & back legs at each end. A back panel can also be attached. These additional panels add lots of stiffness to the bench & help prevent racking.


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