Lathe bench revamp

Rob Keeble

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Location
GTA Ontario Canada
Well i spent all the time i can trying to find the very old post I am sure i did where i originally hacked this bench.

The reason is relevant is i took a very wide steel bench i brought with me all the way from SA and few years ago I cut about a third of the width and overlapped it and bolted the two halves together. It was a real make do crappy job given i had no welder. Then rattle can sprayed the whole lot including my green craftex lathe Canuck RED. :rofl:

Well this was one project that added to my justifying list to buy a welder and get into welding. So with the welding table out the way i got stuck into this during the week.

Here are some pics

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Sorry i was so busy having fun i never got to take pics during the process earlier in the week or yesterday. I find i really dont take any electronics into the shop lately that way phone text or browsing does not get in the way and distract from doing something.

So to give you a run through, if you look at the bench side you can see green where the two pieces were overlapped previously. I cut the cross members and welded the two halves together such that the bench now does NOT ROCK as it did before on casters.

Then put a new deck on it. Underneath the BB ply top skin is the last of the crappy SA pine that came with it. Oh boy talk about crap wood.

Then i found some metal casters on sale $8 bucks at our Princess Auto and made up a few plates for them yesterday making use of my Harbor Freight portable bandsaw. Man I know there are many crappy tools those guys sell but if you ever cut metal of any kind with a hacksaw and want to change that experience, then buy one of these new HF Portable Bandsaws when they on sale for $99. You have to buy a Milwaukee or Lennox blade set for it but when the two parts come together you will not be sorry....Brent take note this is a tool on your spread i can see you loving to bits.
I cut 3/16 plate squares from a larger piece of plate yesterday and it was an unbelievable experience. The noise and mess that would have been there and the time had i wanted to do that with my grinder and cut off wheel , well this took literally less than 5 minutes to cut out these rectangles of steel.

Then drilled and tapped 16 holes and found old bolts from the bolting together and used them to install new casters.

So at this stage the bench is flat on top and on the ground ..phew i am delighted.

Welded the caster plates on and voila all set.

Now while i am at it, this thing is way too mobile and there are no brakes on these casters so i am engineering a bracket this is the prototype

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What i have done is taken a piece of the offcut angle iron from the bench and crafted a bracket to support a 1 Inch bolt.

I added to gussets to the side of the angle iron but before that i took it got it in the vice and used my oxy set to do the very first cutting i have ever done of steel.

What an experience. :rofl::rolleyes::huh::eek: Yeah i did it with absolutely no training just my version of common sense.

I had thought long and hard about the tools i had to cut a 1 inch hole in 1/4 inch steel and figured the only thing that i could do was give it a go. Believe me fire extinguisher was readily on hand. After with a rat tail file i cleaned up the hole and bolt fitted.

Not at all happy with the overall job as i say this was more of a lets see if this would even work prototype.

I plan on welding this bracket to side of bench (note side, not front) if anyone has alternative suggestions would love to hear them.

The large NUT will be welded to the bracket underneath and i hope that by adjusting the bolt i can crank it up enough that with 4 of these on each corner i can stand the whole bench on the bolt head.

Thinking of increasing the footprint of the bolt head by welding some more steel to it but need to think about that.

As you can see my welding is not the greatest but its coming along. Keep in mind this is 1/4 inch steel way above the limit for my welder.

But you can see my weld on the caster brackets is a lot better, in that case the surface was prepped and better positioning and grounding all round.

Hopefully by end of today i got these sorted out, fitted and lathe is once again back in business mounted and running. Hold thumbs :thumb:
 
Ted i am going to make my own table, Swags cost more than the tool and the unit the make the table for is old here is the new one very much a copy of Milwaukee but probably heavier. Its really good value. Lots of old model issues have been addressed.

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Today after my cutting torch you tube education, i had to run to Tractor Supply and get a bigger cutting torch tip. Wow ...what a difference the correct tip and the education made.

Cut 4 brackets in no time, what with portaband, and cutting torch

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Here is my small outfit

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And here is first bracket with nut welded. Still got to cut pieces for gussets for side but i had to stop for a loo break and to cool down, i was getting a little too excited at being able to do this work and having so much fun.

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I think that sides ;) welding will pass inspection for a newbie lol. Dont ask about other side, or about weld splatter getting in threads, or......fact is i now have to buy a wrench to adjust the 1.5" head of the bolt. Duh another trip to store some other day.

Gets dangerous so decided a pop and regroup was in order. Lol

Here is a shot of my welding table piled high with bits and pieces and tools.

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Having a ton of fun ...so long overdue for me.
 
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Pretty sure I've posted about that band saw before rob! I've gotten way more use out of it then I thought I would. And the bi-metal saw blade I got is still working quite well!
 
Levelers

I lost my post. So here it is again. Simple, Fast, Works great way to make a leveler with a large foot that does not drag on the cement floor.

Use your bolt in one of two configurations.

I took a couple pics of my dirty floor so you can see one method.

In either case you place a large, thick washer between the bolt and the cement (or whatever) floor. With this method, when the bolt is turned the friction will be on the washer instead of tearing up the floor over time. The washer stays still because of large surface in contact with floor. The pics show a "heads up" method.

The bottom end of the bolt rides on the washer, however not all of the bolt is touching the washer, just the outer part. The rest of the bolt end is in air. The contact area can be lubricated or waxed to make turning the bolt easier (cannot do that with a big foot welded to the bolt). A socket wrench or spintight can be use on the top of the bolt to turn it. The bottom of the bold needs just a tad of taper or rounding so it does not try to creep out of the washer hole. I have never had a bolt creep from the hole. The pics are of my drill press which tops a hundred pounds plus the other equipment that goes with it.

Method #2: Using a bolt with a rounded head---The head goes down onto the washer. Again lubrication is practical. The bolt is turned by the square part of the shaft adjacent to the bolt head using an open end wrench.

If you have any questions PM me (Jim C Bradley) or send me your e-mail address and I send you pics and drawings.

Enjoy,
JimB

I use this method to anchor tools that are on casters when they are where I want to use them. I had a wood rack that was well over 1,000 pounds when loaded. I used this method to anchor it. It worked fine. I did have to make a tool to get all casters pointed basically the same way before fully lowering the weight onto the casters from the bolts.
 

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Very cool thanks a to Jim. The picture explains it all thats a huge answer to my biggest concern. Now i can consider turning bolt around on how i was going to do. Will cut some washers out with my torch. :) Thanks.
 
Nice table, Rob. Beads are getting better.

Do you weld inside the shop or roll the welding table out of the shop? If you weld in the shop, do you use welding drapes to contain the sparks?
 
Nice table, Rob. Beads are getting better.

Do you weld inside the shop or roll the welding table out of the shop? If you weld in the shop, do you use welding drapes to contain the sparks?
Thanks Mohammad, i weld in the shop. Don't use any drapes, what i have learnt from welding instruction, if you clean up your weld metal, make sure you got right gas and good gas pressure and shield, you don't get a great deal of sparks etc outside of direct area.

I get way more sparks grinding or with a cutting disc. I grind indoors too. Just have spot in the garage which i have created by being able to move all my stuff around. I am committed to mobile everything, it makes creating a suitable workspace possible.

I am going to put the same bolt bracket on my welding table despite the casters being locking type. But its really cool to be able to roll it around, along with the welding cart.
Looks good Rob. I'll have to consider one of those bandsaws on the next large metal project I've got coming up.
Darren , i can guarantee you won't be sorry. Last night i put the unit i have in my woodworking vice upright. Used a velcro strip wrapped around switch to activate it. Then cut 8 triangle shaped gussets out of 3/16 plate in no time with great cuts as if i was at a metal bandsaw. The speed is variable but at its fastest its pretty slow so i found really easy to steady small piece of plate i was cutting from.
For $99 on sale i believe this is the best value for money tool i have ever seen. Yes its worthless with blade supplied ( wooden blade).
I got Lenox blades 2 in a pack from Lowes.
But even though i have thin cutting discs for my grinder, this is my go to , no sparks and quicker cut.

Hacksaw knows i dont love it anymore lol.
 
Thanks Mohammad good article btw there is a difference between different types of welding as far as sparks go. Arc welding from my past experience is way more and so is flux core welding without gas shield. That's the big negative in my view to the super cheap Mig welders sold by discounters like HF .
But I also have 3 fire extinguishers handy.

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk
 
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