Concrete counter tops??

[Niels Abildgaard]

Hello Andrew

A proposal for Myford concrete pedestal.
6 inch high and around 75 kg mass.
If going the one belt VFD road later glue an extra block on as shown picture 2

 

[Niels Abildgaard]

Hello Andrew

If Your floor is concrete secure the block using 3 stiff legs.
If not make a foot like shown.
CAD is a drug easily empowering Your free will.

 

[steamer]

In the modern ultra precision machine tool industry, epoxy granite and granite are regularly used as machine bases......not a table tops , but as bases...even part of the hydrostatic way design.

Why

Dollar for stiffness...you can't beat granite....and stuff that has set still for a couple of billion years usually doesn't move around much...

I don't see any issue at all with mounting a conventional machine tool on concrete, if done carefully, and with some taste. It will add a great deal of stiffness to the bed of the lathe, and add some damping as well.

Concrete doesn't like tension....so some wire mesh at the least will need to be used....but I don't think it will move around much after that.......

A three point mount is good as it is kinematically correct....

Let us know how you make out.

Dave

 

[Niels Abildgaard]

Hello CAD addicted
Cannot help it.
Spantray used as mould

 

[lazylathe]

Hi Niels,

Glad you are having some fun with this!! ;D
The centre point mount is interesting!

I am going to be making a bench similar to this one: (courtesy of shopguys pictures in response to my lathe bench thread)

I am also thinking of using threaded rod to tie it all together once it is glued and screwed together.
The top will be something thick and heavy with a lowered section for the reinforced concrete slab.


Andrew

 

[lazylathe]

Long time no news in this area....

The renovations are completed for now...
Remove wall, rebuild wall in another area, drywall, mud, sand,Paint, laminate flooring for room and hallway, trim and install closet organiser.
Moved in all the furniture last night and it looks good!

Spent the day cleaning up the basement from all the wood dust and now i can finally resume work on the bench!!
The concrete is poured and has sat wet for a month. It is now out of the mould and dry.
I found a good deal on a concrete polisher and will hopefully be doing that quite soon.

Then i can finish off the top of the bench and build some shelves for storage.
Mount the slab on the bench and then the lathe.

If all this works then i will start on the bench for the South Bend lathe to live on.
And the one for the mill too...

Once all that is done i should be ready to make some chips!!!

Oh and paint the benches as well...
Have i ever told you how much i hate painting??? ;D

Andrew

 

[Niels Abildgaard]

Hello Andrew

PICTURE

Please?

 

[mgbrv8]

Very novel Idea

David

 

[lazylathe]

I have almost finished the bench!
Screwed on the top and painted it tonight.
Will need another coat tomorrow.
It will be getting some shelves in the future to hold the chucks and various other bits.
They are easy to add later.

As for the concrete slab i have decided to do a bit more work on it.
I put in metal tubes where the bolts for the lathe are going to go through the top.
They are a bit long so i will build a surround around the top and pour in some self levelling cement
so that the bottom is nice and smooth.
Then it will get wet sanded with a diamond disc and the various pads until i get tired of it! ;D
It has some bumps in it from the plastic i used to line the mould but they do not bother me too much!
Here it is after being moved onto a trolley so it can be moved out of the way.

Hopefully get that done this weekend and during next week!
Really want to get the Myford mounted and running again.

Also bought myself a smallish shop crane for moving machinery and the concrete slab!
SWMBO is quite happy about this purchase!
Princess Auto has them on sale now!

Andrew

 

[lazylathe]

Well it is done!!!
Almost...
So far it is bolted to the concrete slab without any shimming.
I want it to settle down before i start that process!
Also need to reconnect all the electrical and fire her up and listen to how she sounds on her new home.

Enough with the idle chatter, here are some pics!!!

I had previously painted the concrete with a sealer and then after it had dried gave it two coats of the
same paint i used on the bench.
The concrete is sitting on an aluminium sheet.

Should be making some chips in the New Year!!!! ;D

Andrew

 

[MarioM]

What is the correct way to insert a picture withing a post as the ones you have.......silly question?? scratch.gif

 

[lazylathe]

Underneath the "Bold" etc are 6 more icons.
The third one is a picture, click it and you will
get [IMG] inserted in post.

You need to have a photobucket etc account.
When you hover your cursor over the picture
you want to insert click on 'direct link'
The address for the picture is copied, just right
click between the square brackets and click paste.

Easy as pie! Try it in a post and click preview to see
if it worked!

Andrew

 

[MarioM]

Andrew,

Thank you very much. It worked.

Mario

 

[lazylathe]

Well it seems no one was really interested in the last few posts about the bench...

Anyway i will finish off this thread with the lathe mounted, shimmed and ready to go! ;D
It has been a fun experience, if a rather long and drawn out one...

Tried a few test cuts to see if it has made a difference and it really has!
No vibration in the bench or any that can be felt in the concrete itself.
So it is good at dampening vibrations i would presume!

Tried a parting cut and it went really easily, no squealing or complaining.
Then tried a general cut towards the headstock with the powerfeed engaged.
This was done on a bar i had done on the lathes previous mounting.
On the original bench it was quite rough and i could see the fine threading.
Without changing anything on the lathe the cut is now smooth and shiny!

All in all i am a happy camper and should be starting something simple pretty soon!

Anyway here are some pictures!

Andrew

 

[woodnut]

Hi Andrew

Looks good. I have been lurking in the background watching your build. I think I just might have to try this out.
I am redoing my work bench now. I quickly try out the Lathe on the new table but its still a bit bouncy.
Looks like your slab is 4" thick?

Nice job.

John

 

[dsquire]

Andrew

That concrete bench looks like it is going to do exactly what you want it to do. Glad to hear that it seems to improve the quality of the cuts that you make with the lathe.

Well it seems no one was really interested in the last few posts about the bench.

There have been lots of interest in this Andrew. In the last few days with the holidays the number of posts in general have been down and sometimes there have been so few posts that I have even checked to make sure I was still connected to the internet. Some posts seem to invite a lot of comments and others a lot of traffic without comments. As long as the traffic numbers are up then you know people are reading and interested in your posts.

I look forward to more of your posts in 2012 and beyond Andrew. May it be a good year for you. :bow:

Cheers

Don

2455​

 

[GailInNM]

Andrew,
It sure looks like it is doing just what you intended. Nothing like a nice damped mass to cut down resonances in improve stability. I like it.
Gail in NM

 

[Niels Abildgaard]

Hello Andrew and glad it worked well.
When You do the southbend anchor it down on the midle points under the bed and You will be surprised by the improvement as well.
Concerning interest in Your doings,I can say that I have waited and waited for Your results.
Nothing like being able to say I told You it will work.

 

[Niels Abildgaard]

Hello Andrew

May I suggest another lathe improvement?
Looking at Your last picture it is evident that You will be better of without QCTP and that horrible tool overhang.
A mr Radford from NZ made a much better crosslide without compound and claimed it was the best thing that happened to his Myford.
I will suggest making a tangential tool as shown.It handles Carbide and HSS equally well and it is very little effort to resharpen.
If You care to measure the exact distance from top of compound slide to lathe centerline I will send You a sketch free of charge for Your Myford.

 

[lazylathe]

Hi all,

Thank you for the kind words and encouragement!
It is greatly appreciated!
Any input from the professionals is highly valued by myself!
Still very new to all of this and every bit of info helps me out!

I had thought that the post had become a bit dull and boring and drawn out!
No big deal, my fault as i had kind of taken a 2 month hiatus whilst renovating! :-\

To answer a few questions:

It is 4 " thick and weighs close to 200 pounds.
This seems to cut down and vibrations and has improved stability drastically!!

Thanks Neils!
This was the tool holder i was interested in:
http://www.eccentricengineering.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2&Itemid=17

Making my own may be a bit out of my reach for now, but i am willing to try

Thanks for the offer of a diagram! ;D
I will do my best to get an accurate measurement for you!

Andrew