Lathe for Christmas! Location?

[Aaron Buys]

Well I was very blessed this Christmas and received my first lathe as a gift from my in-laws along with some tools to get me started. Now I can finally stop lusting after all the turnings you guys are making and start my own. (Okay maybe the lusting will continue =) The lathe is a General Maxi-Lathe 25-100 and the tools are Fisch. My wife even chipped in and bought me a mandrel attachment and a slim line pen set! But the question is....where to put it? Since I don't have a workshop, and I'm not big on working in the freezing cold garage, my best choice seems to be to set it up in the storage room in our unfinished basement. Its rectangle in shape with a furnace, washer/dryer on one end and pretty much nothing at the other end...so I'm thinking that would be the spot for it (a good 20 feet from the furnace side.) However, I'm trying to figure out the best solution to keep the shavings confined to a small work area so I'm not filling my home with dust. Aside from building a wall to create a second room in there, what are my options? Hanging a large plastic drop cloth from the ceiling to section it off was one idea I had but I'm not sure how reasonable that would be.

Also, the lathe manual recommends putting the lathe upon a work bench but General's website also shows they make an optional stand for it. Would you guys recommend a I buy/build a bench or just buy the optional stand (not sure what the cost is yet.)?

Any input you could give me would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Gary Herrmann]

Build yourself a bench for it. You can make it the height you want and build in storage for the tools and other odds and ends. I like my stand. I've already pretty much filled it up with various things.

Congrats on the gloats, er gifts.

[John Hart]

Congratulations Aaron!! Cool gift and the doorway to the vortex. Ya know, shavings do tend to fly everywhere...but sanding dust creeps everywhere. If you are going to have those appliances in the same space, they will get saturated with dust. Shavings clean up pretty easy. Maybe one those heavy rubberized freezer curtains like at refrigerated warehouses.

[Joyce Baldauf]

Congratulations on the new lathe.

I use an air cleaner for the dust. To confine the shavings I hung a couple of plastic shower curtain liners on suspended metal pipes. Already have the holes in them for hanging and any shavings that hit them simply fall to the floor. Trick is not to track them into the other part of the basement on your shoes.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Congrats on your new lathe Aaron!

I also have my shop in the basement and dust/shavings will always be an issue. I use a small 650 Jet dust collector for most of it and have hung a large canvas painter's cloth from the ceiling to help keep the chips within a manageable area. Works for me.

As far as a stand - I agree with the others in that you should build your own. That way you can build to suit your height and also add whatever storage areas you require.

Congrats again and have fun with it! Look forward to seeing your first turnings!

[Jim King]

I could get nervous filling the furnace room full of sanding dust. A home made hood hooked to a shop vac for sanding would be easy and make me feel better.

[Gary DeWitt]

Previous posts all good ideas. Make your stand so the spindle on your lathe is at your elbow height for comfort. Don't forget to add any height for a floor mat, if you're going to use one.
Welcome to the club!

[Pete Jordan]

I bought the stand.

Build one.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Congrats on the lathe Aaron. Now it is time to get it dirty and start making some chips. Have fun and enjoy.

[Jim Becker]

Congratulations, Aaron. Welcome to "the addiction"......

[Wally Wenzel]

I have to go along with Jim in that creating that much dust that close to a furnace is not a good thing any dust that fine is almost or just as dangerus as gasoline. As a retired firefighter i would be much concerned about the safety of the rest of the family. Wally

[Aaron Buys]

I have to go along with Jim in that creating that much dust that close to a furnace is not a good thing any dust that fine is almost or just as dangerus as gasoline. As a retired firefighter i would be much concerned about the safety of the rest of the family. Wally

Yeah that thought crossed my mind a few times. I measured it out and the lathe would be located 21 feet from the furnace and water heater and (in the event I used the heavy canvas "wall" idea) the canvas would be 14 feet from the furnace. This would give me a 7x10 foot area to work in. If I combined this with a dust collector and a window opened to vent out the dust (on the lathe side of the cloth) would this be enough to ward off any explosive tendancies? Obviously I don't want to sacrifice saftey for convience but I'd rather not have to put up a full wall if its not neccesary. Then again perhaps I should just do it right the first time and put up some drywall. =)

[John Hart]

....This would give me a 7x10 foot area to work in....

My last shop was about that size. You can accomplish pert'near anything in there. $30 for studs...$30 for drywall...$36 Door.....$10 Door knob.....5 hours of work. Hideaway in the basement....priceless.

[Ed Frie]

I once worked with construction plastic "curtains" stapled to the underside of floor joists, all around my basement shop, within two feet of the furnace on one end, doing all kinds of woodworking (cutting, sanding, etc) for 5 years without any problem.
I can understand the theoretic concern of the dust near the furnace (from the retired firefighter's post (and he would be more knowledgable than I)), but sometimes, at least in medicine (my area of expertise), things that are theoretic concerns may not be "clinically" relevant. The dust would have to reach a very dense concentration in the air to be explosive (like in a grain elevator).
But please don't take my word for it. Just because I got away with something doesn't make it right. I'm just saying...

[Tom Sherman]

Congratulations AAron, what a cool Christmas gift very thoughtful wife and in-laws you have. Be sure to allow yourself plenty of room around your lathe wherever you put it. Don't fret over it too long get that puppy set up and start making shavings.