I have a Jet Midi with bed extension bolted to a home-made work bench. Other than length, it's conceptually similar to yours in the picture.

I think you'll be fine with those landscaping bricks.

I don't have mine weighted and I don't have an issue with vibration. We're usually not turning heavy pieces of wood on these smaller lathes. I think if I had something on the lathe which would shake around several landscape pavers like that, then I have a real balance issue that has to be addressed.

 

Make the back feet long enough to keep the lathe from walking. The legs should hold the lathe at the optimum work distance from the wall. This will also make the lathe less tippy when you push on it.

 

I know you said you wanted to avoid using ply for stand and with the current price, I understand. I did build mine out of ply and ended up using about a sheet and 1/2. My lathe is a Nova drv xp, so a little larger than yours. I get no vibration unless I am turning a large out of balance piece which is going to happen regardless of the stand. The cabinet is about 24×52" inches and allows me to have a place for me set the turning tools I am using for a particular project. I don't have any shop space to store all of the lathe related stuff so the 10 drawers are perfect for my needs.
The only downside is that if I forget to shut a drawer while turning I have to vacuum out the drawer.

 

Mark- great tip, I'll do that. Thanks!

Bob, I'm still pretty new and this and am a little intimidated by drawers. I am thinking about making the shelf into a lidded box that I can use with some hinges I have laying around. Keeping dust out of the tools seems like a smart idea.

I really like the stand in the back for your centers and the drill chuck, etc as well as the rest to hold additional tools. 'm going to add those for sure. Thanks for the tips!

 

Mark- great tip, I'll do that. Thanks!

Bob, I'm still pretty new and this and am a little intimidated by drawers. I am thinking about making the shelf into a lidded box that I can use with some hinges I have laying around. Keeping dust out of the tools seems like a smart idea.

I really like the stand in the back for your centers and the drill chuck, etc as well as the rest to hold additional tools. 'm going to add those for sure. Thanks for the tips!

- Jorge313

It is just shop furniture, and I wasn't in the mood to make a "proper" drawer. These are just cut to length and pocket screwed.

 

The goal of adding mass is to inhibit vibration of the lathe via the inertia of the mass. If you want the landscaping bricks to be effective, they need to be rigidly attached to the lathe, even if indirectly, so their mass is added to the lathe's mass.

If you're going to put the weights low down in the base, there can be no wiggle whatsoever in the legs. Think massive legs and attachments. Alternatively put them in a box firmly fixed to the bottom of the tabletop.

Either way, the bricks shouldn't be able to shift around. Wedge them in place.

 

Only put fixed casters at one end and turn a couple of handles for the other end. Lift slightly and it rolls easily, set it down and it sits solid. The fixed wheels are aligned lengthwise so they block the lateral forces while turning.

This "wheelbarrow" style mobile base works all over the shop. No locking casters needed.

Planer on wheelbarrow mobile base - note shop turned handles.

 

For my Rikon 10×18 lathe (mini?) I built a stand from 2x material with angled legs and it's solid-I thought I would put weight on the bottom, but never did-it just doesn't move! Granted, I have not turned any large or extremely unbalanced pieces, and it's not a big lathe, but I have been very pleased with the stand. Will try to remember to take a photo tomorrow.

 

I made a rolling stand out of plywood. The top is two layers of 3/4" plywood. I put two large drawers on the front for lathe tools and supplies and doors on the bottom where I store my face shield and a plastic case with my pen turning bushings. The bench is deep enough that my slow speed grinder with the Wolverine sharpening jig fits on the back side. When not in use, the long arm of the Wolverine jig slides under the lathe. The extra pieces under the feet of my lathe help provide the clearance. I need to take an updated picture of the back side, as I've since added a bracket that holds a dust collection tray. I've not had any vibration problems with this setup so far.

 

I have an old Delta lathe with one of those angle iron stand. I used to have a piece of plywood on the cross pieces and just had a bag on concrete stored on it. But eventually I found for the smaller projects I was doing it didn't noticeably help. Your mileage may vary.

 

I am not a fan of storing lathe tools in drawers because of wasted time opening a drawer to change tools. Shelf storage with handle down makes selection easy. A set of shelves is in back of my lathe and the chisels etc. are in 4×4's drilled to accept the handles. The shelf closest to the cutting area is a great place to put the dust collector fixture while sanding. The lower shelves store the less used equipment and supplies. Not as much chips land there as one would expect.

 

I am not a fan of storing lathe tools in drawers because of wasted time opening a drawer to change tools. Shelf storage with handle down makes selection easy. A set of shelves is in back of my lathe and the chisels etc. are in 4×4 s drilled to accept the handles. The shelf closest to the cutting area is a great place to put the dust collector fixture while sanding. The lower shelves store the less used equipment and supplies. Not as much chips land there as one would expect.

- mike02719

While I agree with you on not storing all the tools, I am planning on building some drawers underneath mine for storing all the misc things like spare faceplates, chucks, pen mandrels and bushings.

 

The primary vibration plane will be perpendicular to the lathe bed. The unloaded lathe shouldn't vibrate, and rubber grommets are not needed, but there could be some hi freq motor buzz which grommets might take care of. As mentioned, put the extra weight as hi as possible and attached so it moves with the stand. The wider you make the legs the better the low freq motion from out of balance work will be controlled. Torsion box construction side to side of the legs will tie the stand together to better resist this motion. Depends on how large your projects get. Torsion box along the back of the stand (in line with the bed) will help some, mainly in moving the stand around. Regardless of what wheel arrangement you end up using, the stand needs to be supported by feet and not wheels when turning.

 

That's exactly what I'm planning to store- chucks, jaws, face plates, pen stuff- all the things that aren't regularly switched during operation.

Unfortunately my tool chest is too full to be readily useful, so into the stand they'll go.

But I'll keep the hand tools either on the top in a rest or I'm thinking of allowing them to hang on the side with the headstock when the lathe isn't in use. Bob has a picture above with some top storage/rests that I really like the look of.

 

OSU55- I understand what you're saying g and I'm sure you're correct.

My only concern, having no experience with turning and stands, is raising the center of gravity of the tool and stand. Will it be too heavy and more likely to tip?

The tool weighs about 90 lbs and I was planning on about 100 lbs of ballast.

And yes, I was planning on having the stand off the wheels and in contact with the floor when in use. I'm too old and am too used to having 10 fingers to go chasing running equipment around the shop.

 

Yes, adding weight hi makes it easier to tip, that's physics. The wider the legs the more resistance to tipping. Build it so some weight can be added lower if necessary. Not much force is applied in the horizontal plane while turning. More likely to be a problem from simply being bumped by you whether running or not.

 

I have tree lathes, smallest is the10" Jet, it is used for small stuff and as a learning and practising lathe for my Grand kids, it has steel pipes used for the stand, the horizontal pipes on the floor can have planks on them where the turner stands on to keep the lathe stable and from walking or dancing out the door,

the pictures should make this setup clear, the lathe itself sits on a wide 2X board, with a wide slot in it below the lathe to let the shavings fall through, I screwed a power bar to the bottom where lights, drill, etc. can be plugged into and all switched on or off at once.

 

Here's my lathe stand, made from construction 2x's. I used an open "shelf" beneath it to store my tools and fixtures, which keeps chips from collecting.

 

Pour some dry sand around the bricks to stop movement. Easier than wedges.

 

PC- wow, I really like that. It looks pretty straight forward and very functional. Makes me realize I've been overthinking it.

I really like the basket, simple, efficient and dust free.

Jon- good tip, I'll try that. Thanks.

 

Welcome to turning.. another hole to throw money in, but you can make some nice projects without much wood. My problem is I don't want to burn any firewood anymore because something may be hiding in it, waiting for help to escape. And not insects, but beautiful grain patterns.