wood floor under lathe question

[skott nielsen]

I am building a new shop and thinking of doing 3/4 inch plywood over 2x4 sleepers on side installed on top of a floating slab. Will this support a heavy lathe like Oneway, Robust or Powermatic. Interested in you experience/advice. This is new construction under design so I have options open yet. I am committed to wood floor of some type for the ergodynamic benefits.

Thanks

[Reed Gray]

You could do it, but if it is wood on a slab, you need a vapor barrier between the concrete and the wood (either under the concrete before you pour, or on top of the slab after sealing it), and if you are putting a heavy lathe on top of that, I would either use 1 1/8 inch thick plywood flat on the slab, or a laminate of some sort. If you put 2 x 4 sleepers under it, you need the legs of the lathe to be on the 2 x 4s rather than on the plywood in between them, or any vibration can be amplified. I just got some good thick neoprene mats to put around my lathe.
robo hippy

[Scott Conners]

You could bring a pad of concrete up to finish floor level just large enough for your lathe to sit on, and frame with wood around that, best of both worlds.

[Judy Kingery]

Scott,

I like Scott C's idea; we bolted our big lathe to the concrete floor of the shop. Given it's pretty much the right height for about a 6' guy (or girl) and I'm 5'10" my husband made a nice 2" wooden platform surrounding the lathe with a great fatigue mat over that. Works perfectly for me. While I appreciate the esthetics of a wooden floor, I think the stability of the lathe bolted to concrete is well worth it. Solid as a rock. I'll be interested in seeing what all you do and any more suggestions, just thought I'd share what works for us is all.

Jude

[neil mackay]

I am building a new shop and thinking of doing 3/4 inch plywood over 2x4 sleepers on side installed on top of a floating slab. Will this support a heavy lathe like Oneway, Robust or Powermatic. Interested in you experience/advice. This is new construction under design so I have options open yet. I am committed to wood floor of some type for the ergodynamic benefits.

It would depend on the 2x4 spacing. If you used 24" spacing for the floor bearers it would be pretty darn solid. Bolting through this to the slab below you could widen out the spacing of your bearers. While your at it, consider using some construction glue to fix the plywood to the floor bearers. This will stiffen the floor up and prevent the nails or screws from working loose over time.

[Kim Ford]

Skott;


If you want to do a wood floor over concrete, then my suggestion as a general contractor would be:

• Vapor Barrier over the concrete (6 mil plastic)
• 2X4 sleepers 16" on center 3/4" t&g subfloor plywood. OR
• 2X4 sleepers 24" on center 1 1/8" t&g subfloor plywood.
• Where you are gong to put the lathe take 2X4's scraps and fill in soild underneath the plywood.

This was what I was gong to do in my shop when I built it a couple of years ago, however, I remembered I had a couple of cow mats (3/4" rubber) that I had picked up at an auction. Before I went the the expense of putting in the wood floor I put one of them in front of the lathe to give it try.

I have a bad back and cannot stand on concrete very long without really paying the price so I wasn't so sure it would work. Actually it did and very well. After about 3 months I gave up on the wood floor idea. The mat works well and the lathe in sitting directly on the concrete.

They sell these kind of mats at most of the big box stores so they shouldn't be that hard to find and I am sure less expensive than the wood floor.

Just my two cents worth.

Kim

[Bruce Smith]

Skott I just have to get my five cents worth in here. I believe someone metioned about a concrete, I for one would not recomend a concrete floor. Just ask any Doctor who treats patients with bad backs, legs and or feet, standing on concrete for an extended period of time really effects these body parts, so stick with the wooden floor unless you plan on using rubber cushioning mats in front of your lathe and work benches.
Now if you pour a concrete flood be sure and have good drainage under it, if you have to place aggregate down first be sure and have it compacted as you don't want the floor to crack and this is what will happen if it is not compacted. Also be sure and place some reinforcement in the concrete such as rebar or wire mesh. You didn't mention what part of the country you are in as you must consider FROST unless you live in an area where there is no frost. Like others have said be sure and place some 6 Mill vapour barrier down before pouring the concrete. Once the concrete in set and cured, usually around a couple of weeks or so you are then ready to construct on it. Did you give any consideration to running electrical conduit in the concrete before you pour as then you could have the electrical plugs come up through the floor or are you going to run the wires between the concrete slab and the wooden floor. If you construct the wooden floor on top of the concrete slab I would go for 2X4 sleepers 16" on center with a 3/4" sub floor (T&G plywood) and a 3/4" finish floor on top of that. Some of this may be over kill but I'm a firm beliver in going the extra mile.
Another way you could do it would be to lay 2X4 nailer strips with anchors in them in appropriate locations as the concrete is being poured. After the concrete is cured you could nail or screw one layer of good quality 3/4 T/G plywood. I hope this information is of some use to you. Good Luck.
Bruce

[Jim Becker]

Yes, it will support it, especially if you have rigid foam insulation between the sleepers.

[skott nielsen]

Thanks for the help so far. Very beneficial. Right now I am thinking about placing vapor barrier and foam under the slab and the sleepers,rigid foam and 3/4 ply on top of the slab. Any particular rigid foam product recommended?

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Skott, I know a woodworker/turner that build a very good shop and has all kinds of heavy and large WW machines in there, he bought a Oneway lathe 2436, and a number of turners did go there to try the new lathe and look over the shop, then turned a large piece of wood into a rough bowl, it did NOT work well, as the wooden floor was not stable enough.
See the problem is the large lathes with a large piece of wood spinning will rock side to side, and the wood is just not able to keep the lathe from doing that, even a concrete floor will flex some if turning a large off balance piece of wood, I have experienced that more than once.
Wood floor is nice for you, but not for a large heavy rocking machine, so yes have the wood floor all around the lathe, but give the lathe a solid concrete slab is my advice.

[Pat Doble]

When I did my shop addition last year I went with a vapor barrier, followed by 1x4 sleepers with 16" strips of 3/4" rigid foam insulation between them, then 3/4" T&G OSB, followed by the final 'topcoat'. For that I went with bamboo parquet because of the $1/sq ft price at the time.

I don't know how much ergonomic benefit it really gives over bare concrete - I did it primarily for keeping the floor warmer during the cold months, and never noticed any issues with my 3520b moving excessively because of it.

As I redo the entire process over the next couple months (note: garage fire and hundreds/thousands of gallons of associated water will cause shop 'issues' ) I will go with the same plan.

Good luck on the new shop, it's a fun and rewarding process filled with constant anticipation (at least the first time around).