Leg levelers for lathe stand?

[Matt Meadows]

Ok so I considered upgrading my lathe but ended up using most of the budget getting the big Rikon grinder and CBN wheels from Ken which I'm thrilled about.

So for now I'm going to make this Harbor Freight reeves drive lathe suffice. It's not that bad of a machine for someone at my hobby level. I turn one bowl a week on average.

So I'm building a stand out of mdf (better at vibration damping and I have tons of free mdf offcuts from work).

My garage doesn't have the best concrete so I'd like some leg levelers, and would prefer some nice metal ones. Can anyone make a suggestion?

I'm tempted just to use some big lag bolts and countersink/epoxy the nuts into the base.

 

[Bob Vaughan]

1/2" T-nuts, 1/2" carriage bolts, and 1/2" nuts for locking might be something to consider. The carriage bolts have a flat that works well with a wrench.
Machine leveling pads get rather expensive but Reid Tool has lots to look at.

 

[Jim Reynolds]

In the worth what you're paying for it category, I suggest tee nuts, all thread and hex nuts to lock things in place. The upgrade would be rubber padding on the bottom to reduce wandering around. The premium version has a box of sand under a shelf.

 

[Kurt Manley]

https://www.grainger.com/category/hardware/hardware-supplies/leveling-mounts/stud-leveling-mounts?categoryIndex=1

Grainger has them. Scroll down a bit for options

 

[Doug Freeman]

@Matt Meadows I started out with the HF lathe, used it for ~6 yrs before moving on to a better lathe. Build a cabinet/stand if you want to, but the metal stand it comes with can be made very stiff and its pretty easy - make it into a torsion box by “skinning” the gaps of the legs.

You could use mdf, I just used 3/8” ply. Close in the gaps in the legs with a solid sheet, screwing the sheets onto the legs. I also put a ~18” piece across the back of the legs to tie them together. A wood mid shelf was added, also screwed to the legs. I screwed the legs down to a ~1” thick piece of sheet, then put a wheeled machine base under the whole thing. All the flexing etc of the screwed together std stand went away, and the shelf and base piece of wood provided a lot of area for ballast.

 

[stu senator]

See <https://www.mcmaster.com/products/machine-mounts/>

 

[Brian Deakin]

Carrymaster casters Expensive but you can somtimes find them on ebay

Also please note they have castors with diffeent load ratings

CarryMaster Leveling Casters & Wheels | Zambus, Inc.

CarryMaster, the revolutionary leveling caster designed for easy moving and level setting of industrial or commercial machines and equipment. CarryMaster, with two functions in one compact unit, provides cost effective and simpler way to move and level your machines and equipment.

www.zambus.com

 

[robo hippy]

Any big box store will have them, and if you have a cabinet supply shop near by, they will have more variations than you can shake a stick at....

robo hippy

 

[John Snow]

Ok so I considered upgrading my lathe but ended up using most of the budget getting the big Rikon grinder and CBN wheels from Ken which I'm thrilled about.

So for now I'm going to make this Harbor Freight reeves drive lathe suffice. It's not that bad of a machine for someone at my hobby level. I turn one bowl a week on average.

So I'm building a stand out of mdf (better at vibration damping and I have tons of free mdf offcuts from work).

My garage doesn't have the best concrete so I'd like some leg levelers, and would prefer some nice metal ones. Can anyone make a suggestion?

I'm tempted just to use some big lag bolts and countersink/epoxy the nuts into the base.

I don't know how big your lathe is, but I used to "level" my Jet 1221 VS with wedges. I had casters mounted to shop-built legs with cross-members mounted at the feet, so I'd roll it into place and tap the wedges in at the corners under the cross-members. I also had a loop of cord in the end of each wedge to make pulling them out and storing them more simple.