I feel most people make the mistake of bolting a lathe to a table. I feel that should be a loose connection. Otherwise the lathe might be trying to control the twist in the table cause by weather

Marvelous, Bill! One of my interests that I've not pursued in any way but thought is the matter of raising the level of available manufacturing technology in countries that lack modern machines. David

WWI, also. Copy of an article from 1916 about Lucien Yeoman's' new method of making lathes (relatively) quickly and reducing the requirements for large iron castings is in the new Multimachine group

During WWII quite large lathes were built entirely of concrete in the U.S. to save on iron. Not portable, but effective. George in GR_._,_._,_

A top limited to 3.5" will fail even with rebar. Your top should be at least 6" and would need a double matt of #4 rebar or else the top will sag and flex. Youd also need corner bars with 18" tails

Just for fun, I looked this up. The weight of concrete is approximately 150 pounds per cubic foot, or 4,050 pounds per cubic yard. The formula for calculating the weight of concrete is: Length (in

My 3 pennorth on lathe supports and foundations: What matters most are rigidity, stability of dimensions and damping. If any of those are already inbuilt in excess into the machine tool, then the

What Allan said. ;) Epoxy floor coating would probably work fine for a sealant. Maybe even Thompson's Water Seal. Let me know how it works out! Bill in OKC William R. Meyers, MSgt, USAF(Ret.) A human

The issue I have always had with wood is that it expands and contracts with moisture. Different woods at different rates. Even the same kind of wood from different trees expand at different rates.

don't see why not animal

Hey everyone, New guy here, with some thoughts. I really like this idea as I have some experience in tying rebar together and making forms. If you were to put some sealer on the top and have some

You ain't kidding! Though you could put shelves between the columns. I've seen a photo of one that was cast in one piece, similar to the one Carla described in the PM link someone posted earlier, and

Might be tough to move around the shop, I would be certain of the positioning. It also seems to limit storage underneath. Harry

I've spent most of my life moing from one place to another. I'm not sure I'd know what to do with something that wasn't real easy to move. That bench, scaled for my SB heavy 10L, would just about have

it would definitely help with some of the rigidity issues with these smaller lathes . & it would keep yer beer a bit colder animal

It would be interesting to test and see what difference, if any, it made in the accuracy of the lathe. Bill in OKC William R. Meyers, MSgt, USAF(Ret.) A human being should be able to change a diaper,

Steve, I personally love the idea! The highest precision lathes I know of, which are capable of producing optical surfaces to an accuracy of 1/4 wavelength of light, are mounted on granite slabs. In

Here is a photo of what appears to be a concrete lathe bench with an Atlas-Craftsman lathe on top. Not my lathe, just a photo I found on-line some time back. Personally I think it's overkill. But

I don’t know about a lathe table, but I do fill my grinder pedestal stands with either concrete or sand. That dampen vibrations a lot. Al

Bill; To really get an idea of what run out is on the inside of the quill I need to measure two places (one deep in the MT2 socket, and one near the outer edge). I can probably set my DI up to measure