Lathe Station

I just finished my new lathe station where I can keep most of my lathe equipment in one place. The old lathe stand was rickety with a big log on it and the drawer suspension broke on one side and helped me make the decision to build this new one. I had been thinking about it on paper for while and wanted to get a lot of stuff incorporated in there. I welded the frame to fit the lathe and was drawing out the lower case with 4 wooden drawers to put inside the frame for storage. Then I went to Employee Sales at Steelcase and they had these roll around peds with 2 drawers each, full travel ball bearing suspensions and locks. They were only $15 each and 15” wide. I had to fill 46” so I bought 3 of them and fitted the drawers and frame with oak trim. The metal drawers had flush pulls which are too hard for me to open so I bought some black wrought iron pulls that you can easily get your hand into. I added a switch to the right front of the lathe so I can kill the power if the piece decides it wants to fly out and I don’t want to get in its way to shut off the power. I had to use it once yesterday!!
Then I got ahead of my self. I did not show the picture here, but I welded this neat grinder stand for my Delta grinder I use for sharpening and had it bolted at just the right height on the back of the frame. It has a place for all the tool grinding fixtures and the diamond wheel dresser. What was I thinking???..The boring bar is right in that area for hollowing. The grinder got moved to the wall.
The last item was a self contained light that goes with the lathe. I wanted it to travel along the length of the lathe so I can position it anywhere. I put it on 2 rails made from 3/4” conduit.The first try had two goose necks from lights I bought at the resale shop. I hooked them together to get the needed height but the weight of the light caused it to droop and I did not want it dropping on a spinning piece in the lathe , So I used one flexible goose neck and a wooden stand with a lamp pipe in the center so I can really tighten it up.
It really works neat. I love it. the last improvement will be to replace that light bulb with a multi-LED bulb with a standard bulb base. It is a real joy to have all the tools, safety equipment, measuring equipment, polishing supplies and a bunch of jam chucks right in front of me! !I just have to remember which drawer they are in.

-- Jim Jakosh.....Practical Wood Products...........Learn something new every day!!