Raising Lathe

[delaney001]

Hi, looking for advise if anyone has done similar. I am a little taller than average and i find my centre of chuck to be a little lower than comfortable. Have a Jet 1642 and want to raise it 3" off the ground.
It's currently bolted into a concrete floor, which is great for reducing vibration when rough turning 12" bowls.
I dont want to pour a new concrete plinth, as the location of the lathe might change in future. Is there any simple way of raising the lathe up, but avoiding introducing vibration into turning on bigger pieces?
Thanks

 

[MusicMan]

I would raise it on two 3x3" beams bolted to the floor under the legs at each end. The lathe would then be bolted to the wood, and your vibration sampling would be even better. I've done something similar with a Wadkin saw.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

^^^^ quite commonly done with Graduates, as they are quite low by design.

 

[delaney001]

I had thought about doing that, but i assumed the timber would introduce vibration. Is that not the case?
(be great if not, as thats a fairly simple solution)

 

[minilathe22]

I found chipboard pieces stacked up, and then threaded rods going down to those expanding metal style concrete anchors works well. Also with using multiple layers of something, you can fine tune the height more easily until it feels comfortable.

 

[TheTiddles]

The vibration will come from the lathe not the wood (obviously), what you’re wanting to do is not have something that’s easily excited by the lathe. The idea of being heavy isn’t a solution in itself, easy though it seems. If you run your lathe at a very low speed with a very heavy out of balance mass you can excite something on the other side of the building.
In your case and as you have it bolted to the floor just put in a spacer and increase your bolt length.

Aidan

 

[delaney001]

great stuff, thanks. Will give it a go!

 

[Misterdog]

Breeze blocks ( dense concrete type). Put some rubber or similar (heavy duty carpet underlay) to control vibration.

Bonus- 100mm is better than 75mm.
https://www.wickes.co.uk/Tarmac-Sta...2J1Czd__ncUuxBwZ3jRoCrkMQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
I use them all over as I'm over 6 foot tall.

 

[MusicMan]

The simple solutions would work. The reason I suggested bolting to the timber and bolting the timber to the floor - separately - is that this introduces some damping in the vibration, relative to using long bolts through the timber into the floor. A stock of chipboard spacers would work even better but again I would separate the bolts for the lathe and the bolts for the floor. No a biggie though, all the above suggestions should work.

 

[delaney001]

Simplest solution often the best. Put a length of 4x3” under each leg and bolted straight down into the concrete. Thanks for the advise

 

[Sachakins]

+1 for bolting wood to floor, then lathe to wood. This method isolates the rigid bolts from lathe to concrete, which although is rigid won't allow dampening