How much ballast

[Wade Holloway]

I just got the new Nova Galaxi lathe, 16/44. So far I really like it. I had the Nova 16/24 before. This new lathe has the cast iron legs with spots where you can lay in shelves and store sandbags or anything else you want to use for ballast. I have some 8/4 oak that I am going to be using for the shelves, I am making two of them. The bottom one I was planning to put some sand bags there. Not real sure on what I will do with the second shelf. How much ballast are most of you using on your lathes? I did see a picture of someone's lathe where they had built some storage under the lathe. So I am open to most anything with the second shelf and looking for some ideas. The main thing is how much ballast is enough? I know the my previous lathe it would want to roam around some if I had some larger pieces that were out of round. Any help would be great. Thanks in advance.

[John Keeton]

Wade, you can look at the lathe review I posted to see what I did - http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...evo-1836/page3

[Wade Holloway]

Thanks John, It was the picture of your lathe that I saw the other day. Is that box filled with sand and then you have two drawers on top of it. It seems like it is two drawers on top of a big box. Is that correct?

Nice write up to by the way. Good article and a good looking lathe too.

[John K Jordan]

...How much ballast are most of you using on your lathes?

I think the amount of ballast depends entirely on what you turn and how you turn it. I use no ballast on my PM3520B or Jet 1642. I've never turned anything out of balance enough to make the lathe move or even feel like it's about to move. (BTW, the bigger lathe weighs about 700lbs with no weight added.) If I have a big blank I have a big bandsaw to get it very close then play with the speed control to find the "sweet spot". Weight can be added to balance an off-axis or unbalanced piece. I mostly turn dry wood and prefer smaller turnings, especially spindle turning. If I often turned large out of balance chunks then I would probably add a shelf made of 2x4s and pile sandbags on it until I was happy, then build a box for the sand/bags.

Another solution for vibration from out-of-balance blanks: A friend of mine turned many large bowls outboard on an old Delta lathe that was WAY undersized compared to today's monsters. This was back in the early 70s. He did fine with unbalanced chunks. He used several long pipe clamps to clamp the lathe rigidly to the wall of his garage. He said without these the lathe would have been all of the shop and he would never have finished a big bowl.

JKJ

[John Keeton]

Thanks John, It was the picture of your lathe that I saw the other day. Is that box filled with sand and then you have two drawers on top of it. It seems like it is two drawers on top of a big box. Is that correct?

Nice write up to by the way. Good article and a good looking lathe too.

Thanks, Wade! The ballast box is two 2x12s with three 2x12 blocks across the bottom providing support for a plywood bottom. There are four bags of sand (240#) covered with a plywood top. The separate "box" has two drawers house that all my chucks, rests, etc. proving total additional weight of around 360#. I believe the sand helps absorb vibration.