Lathe on suspended floor.

[Jakmac]

I have recently had to move from my old work shop to a new one with a suspended floor. I set up my lathe (Axminster ATVS2030) today and ran it with a 10” bowl blank. At 300 rpm the lathe began to vibrate and the floor began to vibrate too.

Has anyone had this issue and if so how did you solve it?

I have tried putting the lathe feet over the joists with both feet at the headstock end over parallel joists ( bed running parallel to the joists ) , then I rotated it 90 and tried with the feet from each leg over the same joist ( bed running across the joists )

The second position allowed the lathe to get to about 420rpm before vibration started.. at 600rpm it was less bouncy but by no means steady.

The building i am in is rented so the possibility of pouring a concrete pad is out of the question... plus it’s about 3 foot of crawl space so would be very expensive..

Any help or advice would be massively appreciated.

Cheers. Jack

 

[Phil Pascoe]

If you have three feet of space underneath and you have access to it, try putting some braces between the joists under the lathe and and pads on the sub floor.

 

[Jakmac]

Thanks.
Do you mean to take the floorboards up and put posts from the ground to the joists??
I thought about this.. would I have to attach the bracing to the ground some
How to make this work?

Jack

 

[Walnut Les]

You could also try putting your lathe on a thick sheet of 8x4 ply as that would spread the weight over a greater area and also cut down on much of the vibration.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

If you're on soil underneath you need some concrete blocks or something to spread the weight or the strut will slowly sink. You don't need much of a fixing onto the joists but in view of the fact there'll be a little vibration it might pay you to notch the posts out and put a nail through them. If you get the length right you should be able to knock them in tight and have them dead upright. I had them under my floors where the grates were.

 

[Jakmac]

Thanks phill. That sounds like a good idea. Il have a look at the floor under the floor boards tomorow and see if that will be possible I believe it’s hardcore underneath as it’s a building in an old industrial estate.

I would really prefer a solution that doesn’t involve lifting all the floor boards.

Someone suggested a large pad ( like a low stage ) made with 2x4 with joist running perpendicular to the existing joists.. on top of the existing floor. Braced down... and lathe bolted to that.
idea being to spread the load over a much larger space and strengthen the old existing floor.

Does that sound like it would work???

 

[Phil Pascoe]

It would probably help.

 

[Silverbirch]

Sand is a good vibration killer. It may help, as an additional measure, if you can add it to the base of the lathe as ballast. Perhaps containing it in a box construction would be possible, or just use sand bags. Also, are the walls solid and if so, would it be feasible to fix the lathe to a wall, perhaps with brackets of some kind?

 

[Jakmac]

Ballast is another aproch I wanted to ask about. Would it dampen the vibrations before they get to the floor ??

My lathe is a big one.. it already weighs 280kg would another 200kg as ballast on a suspended floor be too heavy??

 

[Silverbirch]

Not something I`ve used, myself, though I did look into it at one time. There is plenty of information to be found online about it. It would be cheap and fairly easy to do, though, and easy enough to reverse if it doesn`t do anything to solve your problem.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

My lathe is a big one.. it already weighs 280kg would another 200kg as ballast on a suspended floor be too heavy??

With that sort of weight involved I would definitely look to reinforce the floor.

 

[Lazurus]

If you are planning a long rent in the workspace I would ensure it is really fit for your intentions or it could be an uncomfortable time instead of pleasurable.
Is there a "sweet spot" at which the lathe stops vibrating, it sounds like some sort of resonance which unless the floor is really well reinforced may not go away.

 

[Mark A]

If you have access to the crawlspace then some braces wedged between the joists and concrete blocks on the ground will go a long way to sure up the floor.

Also think about fitting some noggins under the lathe if there aren't any already.

 

[Jacob]

Stand it on a couple of full size 2" concrete paving slabs?

 

[Jakmac]

Cheers guys. It turns out the floor wasn’t too bad. I braced the joists and loaded the lathe with 200kg sand ( 8 bags) and she runs smooth now and the rooms not shaking.

Thanks for all the help.
Jack