Lathe Stand Build, from repurposed materials

The woodshop was on on a Christmas "blackout," so I didn't want to post any work after the last one in order not to spoil any surprises! It just took me a while to get back into the swing of posting. I have quite a few projects to post, so I'll try to not to overwhelm everyone in one single post.

Here's the construction of a solid table (key word=SOLID) for the mounting of the hand-me-down Rockwell-Delta Lathe, made in the 1950's. Total cost out of pocket for this lathe stand: about $30! SWEET!

 Here's the finished product! Super solid base, heavy duty mortise and tenon construction, gravity mount motor, and a tool rack divider. Follow along below and see how I made it:

 

 

 Here's what I started with. It's an old chunk of glue-lam left over from shop construction. When I first knew I was going to build the lathe table, I brought this piece in from outside, where it had been sitting for years. I dusted the termites off with a blowtorch (works great!) and put it on the lumber rack to dry for about a year.

After pulling all the nails and staples, the glue-lam was run through the planer to clean it up. It BARELY fit! Perfect!

 

Then I began the work on the feet. I had a few prototypes already from a conference table I built several years prior. I first established the edge of the bottom recess for the feet...

...then using a dado blade on the table saw, I roughed out the rest of the recess.

A little clean up with my favorite Stanley low angle hand plane, and the feet were mostly done. The reason for the recess is that with a flat board that contacts all the way across the floor, you will have all kinds of wobble. Recessing the middle section will allow for varying floor hieghts not to affect stability as much.

With the feet done, I moved on to tackling the angled tennons (big square pegs) on the legs. This was my first try at it, and let me tell you, it's not a simple process!

the legs mounted in the feet, getting ready for layoing out the mortises (holes) in the worktop. I REALLY wanted to build the entirely from repurposed materials, but I also ran out of 4x4 stock, and didn't want to sacrifice on longevity. The legs ended up being the only wood I had to go out and buy specifically for this project. 

First fit of the legs and base into the table top. Just a little trimming, some final touches, and she's ready for glue!

 

The recently glued assembly. The tennons fit so well into the mortises, and the top was so heavy, there was no need to clamp it all together while the glue dried.

 

Same as the first picture. I forgot to snap photos of the process of making the tool rack , but here's the lathe mounted up and secured to the table top. It's a super solid Rockwell-Delta, from the 1950's. Its a bit cumbersome to make adjustments on, without the new flashy cam-locks and such, but it'll work just fine for me!

For the tool rack, I used the cut off ends of the 4x4 leg pieces, cut at an angle, and secured with a tight friction fit followed with Timber Lock lag screws. Normally, I would have incorporated a mortise and tenon fit here too, but I was already way over on time, and this saved me an entire day's work.

 

 

Close up of the tool rack dividers, made from 1/8th inch backing stock that had a little water damage. I knew I kept this stuff around for a reason! Each slat is individually mounted in a saw kerf recess cut on the table saw, divided by leftovers from some reclaimed material from old Brazilian shipping palates.

 

 

The motor is an OLD Montgommery Ward's motor, mounted with a fan belt from the auto parts store, hung on repurposed door hinges. (The fan belt was the only other item I specifically bought for this project.) To adjust the speed, you simple move the belt over the proper wheel on the motor, followed by the oppposite on the lathe. Viola!