# Shop Notes Mini Lathe Stand



## jleiwig (Aug 2, 2009)

Has anyone made this?  I plan on making it hopefully next weekend and I am wondering if anyone has some good modifications that they did?


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## Greg O'Sherwood (Aug 2, 2009)

I have not made it, but I've recommended some mods to it that others have used.

1st - put doors in front of the shelving areas to make them less succeptible to dust (or make them into drawers)

2nd - put the lathe on the right side of the top instead of where it is pictured. If you place it on the right side, you will be able to stand at the tailstock end of the lathe, making hollowing much easier.

.


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## jimm1 (Aug 2, 2009)

*Shop Notes Mini Lathe Table*

I made it. I changed the large drawer into 3 smaller drawers. I wanted my chisels on the side of me, so I didn't have to keep openning that drawers. AS you can see however, I eventually made a lazy-susan chisel stand. All the ships kept filling up the drawers. The big drawers are filled with blanks. The two small drawers are filled with spare pen parts. I also added the paper towel holder. It helps out with finishing. I also added a back-splash. This prevents little things from falling benind the table. One thing I would do different would be the wheels to skirt ratio.  I would have more clearance between the floor and the sides.
Have fun.


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## jleiwig (Aug 2, 2009)

jimm1 said:


> I made it. I changed the large drawer into 3 smaller drawers. I wanted my chisels on the side of me, so I didn't have to keep openning that drawers. AS you can see however, I eventually made a lazy-susan chisel stand. All the ships kept filling up the drawers. The big drawers are filled with blanks. The two small drawers are filled with spare pen parts. I also added the paper towel holder. It helps out with finishing. I also added a back-splash. This prevents little things from falling benind the table. One thing I would do different would be the wheels to skirt ratio. I would have more clearance between the floor and the sides.
> Have fun.


 
Have you had any problems with the MDF?  I was debating between the MDF and actual plywood.


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## jimm1 (Aug 2, 2009)

Absolutely no problems with MDF. I amke all my tool stands from it. Before I painted the cut ends that are exposed, I thinned some wood glue with water and "painted" them, Paint took with an even coat.


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## rjwolfe3 (Aug 2, 2009)

Man that looks nice. I wish I had seen it before I built the one I made.


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## jleiwig (Aug 3, 2009)

jimm1 said:


> Absolutely no problems with MDF. I amke all my tool stands from it. Before I painted the cut ends that are exposed, I thinned some wood glue with water and "painted" them, Paint took with an even coat.


 
That's good to hear.  There is quite a price difference making it with MDF versus good plywood.  Although if it was really that much difference the extra 80 or 100 bucks wouldn't matter.  I only plan on building it once!


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## THarvey (Aug 3, 2009)

Greg O'Sherwood said:


> I have not made it, but I've recommended some mods to it that others have used.
> 
> 1st - put doors in front of the shelving areas to make them less succeptible to dust (or make them into drawers)
> 
> ...



If your floor space will allow, I would also recommend turning your grinder to the side.  That would give you some workspace to the front of the cabinet.  If you expand the plan, a little, you would have enough space to assemble pens.


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## jleiwig (Aug 3, 2009)

THarvey said:


> If your floor space will allow, I would also recommend turning your grinder to the side. That would give you some workspace to the front of the cabinet. If you expand the plan, a little, you would have enough space to assemble pens.


 
My plan is to have dedicated areas for everything.  I will have a blank/kit storage area, a turning area, a sharpening area, and an assembly area.


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## jleiwig (Aug 3, 2009)

Ok.  So I've decided that I'd rather have all drawers.  I'm planning on having 4 large drawers down the left hand side.  The first drawer will hold drill bits and drill chucks, The second drawer will hold a scroll chuck and jaws and a collet chuck plus collets, the third and fourth drawer will hold blanks.  Each drawer will be 6 1/8" tall x 23" wide x 16 1/2" deep.  On the right hand side I will have a total of 6 drawers.  The top 4 will be half height drawers, so they will only be 3" tall x 23" wide x 16 1/2" deep.  In the top two I will store turning tools with no bottom on the drawers like in the plan, and in the third drawer I will store bushings and mandrels/centers either in a grid made out of hardboard or plastic boxes from the container store, the fourth drawer will be for pen kits divided up with a hardboard grate.  After the half height drawers I will have two more full size drawers the same size as those on the lefthand side of the case.  I will store more blanks in those.  I plan on creating inserts out of hardboard for the drill drawer and chuck drawer to organize everything with holes and slots cut for each thing to have a specific place.  

I know I'm getting really anal, but right now it drives me absolutely nuts to not be able to find anything when I need it with all this stuff just laying around.  All this time and money invested, and I have to search for something.  I will also be building a wall cabinet at a later date to hold sandpaper and finishing supplies. 

I plan on using the tabletop I have the lathe sitting on right now as the top layers of the cabinet.  It's an old drafting table that is covered in melamine.  I'll rip it down the middle and double it up and it will be good as gold, and should be easy to clean.

Hopefully I can get the plywood needed this weekend and get it ripped down to size to start routering some dados.


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## jleiwig (Aug 3, 2009)

Here is a picture of what I'm describing.  I just took a drawing of the carcass and divided it up like I described, so it's not perfect, but gives you the idea. +


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## bvanwie (Aug 3, 2009)

I made one of these myself.  The plans as-written include the 2 drawers on the right -- those drawers are smaller than most of my tools.  I made the larger left-side drawer into 2 tool drawers and the right-side drawer a regular drawer to hold chucks, sandpaper, etc.  I also put my lathe on the opposite side than the plans so that the drawer could sit open and I could still stand in front of the lathe.  The pic is prior to putting the hardware on the doors.  I messed up the center divider -- it is too tall by about 1/4".  It doesn't hurt it functionally, but it bugs me.   I remember seeing a couple of mistakes in the plans, but nothing too major that I can recall.  Mine is made out of MDF, and I can't stress breathing protection enough.  The filters in my facemask turned brown with gunk.


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## jleiwig (Aug 3, 2009)

bvanwie said:


> I made one of these myself. The plans as-written include the 2 drawers on the right -- those drawers are smaller than most of my tools. I made the larger left-side drawer into 2 tool drawers and the right-side drawer a regular drawer to hold chucks, sandpaper, etc. I also put my lathe on the opposite side than the plans so that the drawer could sit open and I could still stand in front of the lathe. The pic is prior to putting the hardware on the doors. I messed up the center divider -- it is too tall by about 1/4". It doesn't hurt it functionally, but it bugs me.  I remember seeing a couple of mistakes in the plans, but nothing too major that I can recall. Mine is made out of MDF, and I can't stress breathing protection enough. The filters in my facemask turned brown with gunk.


 
Wow..that's a colorful setup! 

The MDF dust is one of the reasons that I was debating Plywood.  

However I think I'll just have the borg do the long rip cuts and I'll just use a circular saw and guide for the crosscuts outside.  That way I don't have to worry about the MDF dust.  Plus the cost is about half of what the crappy borg plywood costs.


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## skiprat (Aug 3, 2009)

If you want to see a really smart one, then check out Big Shed's cabinets
http://www.penturners.org/photos/index.php?n=6911
Better than those in my kitchen:redface:


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## jleiwig (Aug 3, 2009)

skiprat said:


> If you want to see a really smart one, then check out Big Shed's cabinets
> http://www.penturners.org/photos/index.php?n=6911
> Better than those in my kitchen:redface:


 
Yeah..I saw those when I was searching for ideas.


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## rjwolfe3 (Aug 3, 2009)

Justin,
Is that a free plan or do you have to buy it online or is it in a mag?


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## jimm1 (Aug 4, 2009)

Post your pix when done. Good luck.


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## toolcrazy (Aug 4, 2009)

rjwolfe3 said:


> Justin,
> Is that a free plan or do you have to buy it online or is it in a mag?



I sure it is either buy or in the magazine. I get shopnotes, but I don't remember seeing it. But I'm sure it's there. 

I'm using an old dresser for my lathe stand. I have enough room for my lathe and extension bed and my grinder.

Also, be sure to take into account proper lathe height when you build this cabinet.


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## jfoh (Aug 4, 2009)

I made mine with all drawers instead of doors or shelves. Drawer tracks to handle the weight. Top four drawers are not tall, but they hold lathe turning tools perfectly. As you go down the stand the drawers become taller. Bottom drawers hold finish cans that fit upright, barely. Six drawers on each side. You never have enough drawer space in a shop. Being able to store things neatly and in an orderly manner is a gift worth its weight in gold. I use to spend more time finding things that I had just plopped down than I spent turning.  I was so happy with it that I built two other very similar ones for the shop. Went a mess to three work surfaces with over 40 drawers to put things in. Everything is also on casters so I can move them around easily.


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## jleiwig (Aug 4, 2009)

Ok. Here is the layout for the carcass. I will fit the drawers after the carcass is built.


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## jleiwig (Aug 4, 2009)




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## byounghusband (Aug 4, 2009)

Man, that's a great idea!!  I just built a new stand for my lathe and mounded it on the left.:redface::redface:  
I will move it to the right side.

Thanks!!

Pics will be coming....



Greg O'Sherwood said:


> ......2nd - put the lathe on the right side of the top instead of where it is pictured. If you place it on the right side, you will be able to stand at the tailstock end of the lathe, making hollowing much easier.....


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## jleiwig (Oct 2, 2009)

Bringing this back to life, as I still haven't yet built my lathe stand, but the wife is going crazy with boxes of stuff laying around, so I'm hoping to get a start on it tomorrow depending on whether I get some CFO approval for funding (just had to buy a replacement dryer = really poor now!).  

I was thinking of starting with just the basic carcass which would only require 1 1/4 sheets of plywood for around $60 bucks or so.

My question is this-  I'm thinking I should just do dust frames instead of solid partitions between the drawers so that if any chips do get in between the drawer and carcass they will fall to the bottom level where I can then sweep them out occasionally.  Does that sound like a better plan? 

According to cut list I think I will have enough left over of the plywood to make the dust frames, so the only thing I'll have to wait on to construct is the drawers.  8 or 12 pairs of drawer slides, plus the wood for the drawers and face frame will have to wait until next month.  

I plan on cutting the drafting table top up I have now to make the work top of the bench.


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## TowMater (Oct 2, 2009)

I made something similar, never saw the article though.

I bought a solid core door from Habitat for Humanities Restore ($10.00) and cut it in half. used it for the top and bottom and then built the cabinet inbetween. I've been using it without any doors for about two years now and it's done it's job well for me. I can post a pic later if you'd like.


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