Should I buy or build a lathe stand?

[Jack Gaskins]

I sold my little 1014 lathe and I am going to purchase a 1220VS. I need a stand for it. Is the steel stand you can purchase adequate or should I build a stand? If I should build a stand does anyone have any photos of their home built stands? Thanks.

[Greg Haugen]

Jack, I used to have a 1220 before I went to my current 1642EVS. The stand that Jet makes is very nice and quite adequate-I had it and really liked it. It's very easy to put casters on their stand. However for the price of it these days, you could build a very nice wooden stand with a weight/sand box and probably even some storage shelving or drawers for less money. So I guess it would all depend on if you want the lathe to be mobile or to customize it.

Not much help I know.

[robert hainstock]

I used an old maple workbench that I got at a school that was upgrading their shop. I mention this because I have had no issues with the lathe Walking, or moving. The 1220 is sooo smooth that it works fine on this fairly heavy bench. This bench is constructed of 6/4 maple and is quite solid. if you decide to build your own, you might keep this in mind. I have seen one Jet 1642 with heavy concrete bags on the crossmembers to hold it down on heavy out of round blanks. The 1220 does not need that much weight IMO. Good luck with whatever you decide.
Bob

[Steve Frederick]

I built a sawhorse, basically, with hollow legs. I filled each leg with sand.
I have #180 in each leg.
I got the idea from someone's site, but can't find the link.
Sorry about the mess..It's clean today!

[Alex Yeilding]

Here's one I built for my 1014VS. Box beam of 2x12 material, sand filled. Base of tripled 2x4s. wieght about 220 + lathe. Some things I'd do differently if I redid it, mostly having to do with rigidity:

A-frame legs rather than sled feet.
Build box like a drawer, with rigidly joined ends and dadoed-in ply bottom (mine has rigidly-attatched bottom, with ends "floating" in sliding dovetails to allow for movement. Angle-iron was added later to control vibration in that direction, which would go away if box were built differently.)

It takes a fairly large (for a mini lathe) out-of-balance bowl blank to get this to vibrate, and then it's just a matter of speeding up or slowing down the lathe a little to get off the resonant frequency. P.S. piece shown on lathe is for testing of vibration, NOT for turning!

[David Walser]

Jack,

One of the advantages of a mini lathe is the ability to move the lathe easily from one location to another -- for demos or to take with you on vacation, for example. Jet's stand is compatible with this advantage. The stand itself is very portable. So, if you might want to move your lathe from time to time, the Jet stand should merit serious consideration.

On the other hand, many users of mini lathes never move their lathe out of their shop. In that situation, you might be better off making your own stand. The Jet stand is very stable, but it does not provide any storage for your tools and you can improve on the Jet stand's stability somewhat by adding weight.

HTH

[Roger Wilson]

A plus for building a stand is that you can add shelves and drawers. I've seen stands on various forums for midi lathes that hold most of the stuff you will be using with the lathe.

I built a simple stand for my Delta midi with two shelves. All out of 1x4 common pine and construction plywood, pretty cheap. It holds a lot of my turning stuff. It could use doors though to keep out the chips and dust.

Here's a link to plans for a full function stand for a midi:

http://plansnow.com/minilathe.html

[Mark Burge]

Jack: I posted a pic of my stand a while back. Here's the link http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=110732

[Jon McCoy]

I spent $125 on steel legs and stretchers from Rockler, when I bought my 1220. Cut down some plywood for a top and bottom shelf, then put two sacks of redi-mix on the lower shelf. Bolted the top to the frame, and the lathe to the top. In theory I'll eventually build a custom stand with storage, but I wanted to get right to turning when I bought the lathe.

-jon-

[Brian Hughner]

I have the 1014 with bed extension and I built this mobile cabinet setup for it. I went with this type of support for the lathe because I have a fairly small basement workshop where everything needs to be mobile but I didn't need to have it portable. I also like to have a place to store the accessories for the tool with the tool, so I like having the extra storage for chucks and tools, etc. So far its worked out great. The extra weight makes it very stable, and I left room in the base of the cabinet for adding sand bags if I find I need even more stability.

[Gilbert Vega]

Before I got my PM, I built stands for my Delta Midi and for a Palmgren lathes that provided more than adequate storage.

[neil mackay]

Building a lathe stand is something I generally do, not because I can, but rather to improve on what is available and by far its more cost effective than purchasing some the very good but expensive lathe stands or bases.

The good thing about building your own and belonging to forum like this is the wealth of info on offer by other members.

[JerHall]

That would be one advantage of the Jet stand, and then build a rolling cart to fit neatly underneath; then it could be pushed back as you KNEED to. (Sorry) Or build one of the designs that have plywood box legs filled with sand at each end but open in the middle. I find it very tiring and a pain in the back to be hunched over the lathe and/or knocking my knees. But you can get used to anything. I like the rolling cart because it can also be pulled out to my right and provides a work surface for tools while turning. Also eases cleaning up. Jerry

[Bart Leetch]

That would be one advantage of the Jet stand, and then build a rolling cart to fit neatly underneath; then it could be pushed back as you KNEED to. (Sorry) Or build one of the designs that have plywood box legs filled with sand at each end but open in the middle. I find it very tiring and a pain in the back to be hunched over the lathe and/or knocking my knees. But you can get used to anything. I like the rolling cart because it can also be pulled out to my right and provides a work surface for tools while turning. Also eases cleaning up. Jerry

I have found this to be very true. I have a cabinet that I used next to the unisaw I rolled if over next to my lathe & tried it out as a place to lay turning tools & supplies while I turned worked out great. It also hold some turning supplies router bits & wrenches.