Author Topic: AL320G Lathe Stand  (Read 8353 times)

Offline Joco

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AL320G Lathe Stand
« on: October 21, 2016, 10:55:34 AM »
I thought I would show the progress made in fabricating a lathe stand fore my AL320G.  It's not an original design so no claims to fame here.  The alterations I think I will make in this build will be to use cupboards in the upper half of the stand to hold larger items such as chucks, plates, probably some form of coolant reservoir and perhaps some smaller bits of stock.

The bottom frame is intended to be a large shelf for a range of metal stock that I want to keep near the lathe. It will also add good weight to the base of the stand.

Pic 1: Showing one of the level feet on the lathe.  M12 Bolt into a threaded 12mm thick welded sandwich of 6mm flat bar.  The second nut allows a simple locking mechanism.  The square spreader is 6mm bar stock plug welded to the head of the bolt.  It should be just enough to hold things in place as there is no lateral force in play on the plug weld.

Pic 2: Shows the lathe stand with a long level diagonally across it.  The stand has been levelled and checked end-to-end and corner-to-corner.

Pic 3: Shows a close up of the level bubble for the level as shown in Pic 2.  The same reading was evident in all the checks mentioned above.  Pretty good really. I would need to invest in an engineers level to get it any better and I'm not more sure there is enough value in having one of those at this stage of my learning.

Next step is setting up and welding in the support beams that the lathe will actually rest on.

Cheers,
James.
« Last Edit: October 21, 2016, 11:00:14 AM by Joco »
James
Wellington - NZ

Offline Nick_G

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Re: AL320G Lathe Stand
« Reply #1 on: October 21, 2016, 11:35:39 AM »
.
Looks a very neat and sturdy job.  :)

Nick

Offline steamer

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Re: AL320G Lathe Stand
« Reply #2 on: October 21, 2016, 11:36:22 AM »
Coming along nicely!


Dave
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Offline b.lindsey

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Re: AL320G Lathe Stand
« Reply #3 on: October 21, 2016, 01:06:27 PM »
Oops. I see you beat me to it. I had asked about pics over in your welcome post before seeing this post. Nice job on the stand thus far!!

Bill

Offline Joco

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Re: AL320G Lathe Stand
« Reply #4 on: October 21, 2016, 07:33:57 PM »
As Bruce noted i have a tendency to "over engineer". :noidea:

But i have been good re the foot plate weld failure i noted in my welcome thread.  Thought about why the weld was a bit porous at the base, what the real loads are on it and went from there. Concluded a pre squirt of argoshield gas into the hole before welding would probably flush the hole of air then moving  straight into starting the weld.
Then a bit of smacking the results about to make sure its reasonably solid.
After all once the lathe stand has been leveled and the bolts locked those welds will be doing sod all of nothing.

Cheers,
J.
James
Wellington - NZ

Online Jo

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Re: AL320G Lathe Stand
« Reply #5 on: October 21, 2016, 07:57:42 PM »
As Bruce noted i have a tendency to "over engineer". :noidea:

There is nothing wrong with over engineering, it just means that you, and what every you are making will be safer, in the long run :)

Jo
Enjoyment is more important than achievement.

Offline steamer

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Re: AL320G Lathe Stand
« Reply #6 on: October 21, 2016, 08:17:11 PM »
Funny..   The biggest failure of most machines is the lack of stiffness.    it breeds misalignment, and all the problems that go with it.


I've never heard anyone complain that a bench for a lathe is too stiff......don't spare the steel.

Dave
"Mister M'Andrew, don't you think steam spoils romance at sea?"
Damned ijjit!

Offline Joco

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Re: AL320G Lathe Stand
« Reply #7 on: October 21, 2016, 09:33:40 PM »
Cheers guys.  Got some gussets to weld in today as well. 6mm thick stuff.  That should add some lateral strength to the large rectangle of the frame. As much as anything I just love welding. I think I must have discovered my calling from a past life.  ^-^  whatever the problem is, weld it!   :naughty:
Just one thing to be careful of when throwing 150+ amps about   :zap:
James
Wellington - NZ

Offline Nick_G

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Re: AL320G Lathe Stand
« Reply #8 on: October 21, 2016, 09:38:21 PM »



I've never heard anyone complain that a bench for a lathe is too stiff......

Dave

I agree. - Although my base if made of a decent thickness of steel and nice and sturdy there are hollow pedestals at either end with a cabinet in the middle. I have contemplated filling the void of each pedestal with concrete.

Nick
 

Offline Joco

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Re: AL320G Lathe Stand
« Reply #9 on: October 23, 2016, 01:43:22 AM »
More welding today after a false start yesterday in thinking some measurements I had made were the accurate ones when in fact they were approximations.   :slap:
So used the chip tray as a starting point to get the correct offset from the front edge and re did a part.  So off to the crappy toolpress (which I will joyfully scavenge the motor, pulleys and belt from once the mill is up and running) and we have something correct to the nearest half mm.

Lots of welding and the stand has cross members to support the lathe with the drilled holes checked for square to within half a mm.
Pic 1: shows the frame.  It's actually got enough to just get the lathe mounted but I'm going to add some gussets (ran out of time this weekend), try and turn the feet plates to circles and add a frame half way up to hold some cupboards. Which I can make at a later date. Also plan to add a backing board frame that will effectively extend the rear splash guard area and provide a place to hang a small number of tools. Oh and paint it all. Probably a boring black. But it won't show the crud as much as a lighter color.

Pic 2: just shows the drip tray on top. Makes it look like a real stand.  ;D
One little discovery that had me going for a bit was the holes on the tray were not perfectly centered on my mounting holes. PANIC.  Until I did some measurements and discovered whoever manufactured the tray had less understanding of what square means than I do. The diagonal measurements were different by about 3mm!
James
Wellington - NZ

Offline bruedney

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Re: AL320G Lathe Stand
« Reply #10 on: October 23, 2016, 01:45:15 AM »
I thought you were flying out today :thinking:
‘Results! Why man, I have gotten a lot of results. I know several thousand things that won’t work.’ — Thomas Alva Edison

Offline Joco

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Re: AL320G Lathe Stand
« Reply #11 on: October 23, 2016, 01:48:36 AM »
I thought you were flying out today :thinking:

4:45pm flight to AKL.   I thought it was earlier but checked it yesterday evening and found I had more time to make sparks  :naughty: ... oh and pack.   :embarassed:
James
Wellington - NZ

Offline bruedney

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Re: AL320G Lathe Stand
« Reply #12 on: October 23, 2016, 02:00:29 AM »
Ahhh got you

Isn't there a cross brace missing for under the heavy end of the lathe?

Have you checked out any engineering suppliers close to your conference in SF?

Bruce
‘Results! Why man, I have gotten a lot of results. I know several thousand things that won’t work.’ — Thomas Alva Edison

Offline Joco

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Re: AL320G Lathe Stand
« Reply #13 on: October 23, 2016, 02:32:38 AM »
Ahhh got you

Isn't there a cross brace missing for under the heavy end of the lathe?

Have you checked out any engineering suppliers close to your conference in SF?

Bruce

There is another brace I could put in under the head.  I'm actually having a hard think about that and its something members here could provide advice for me.  While I have tried to get the cross braces as level to each other as possible they will not be perfectly level between them, perhaps ~1mm out.  So to be able to level the lathe and tune it correctly I rely on the weight it has bearing down on the stand frame and using the adjustable feet to drive any required "flex" up into the lathe to get the bed correctly levelled.
OR do i mount it on the support beams using a system similar to what I have seen people use on MyFords? Under this model the extra support has no value.
I have seen a CNC's AL320G supported on only a single cross beam under the head, so a second one isn't really necessary.

Thoughts/advice welcome, I have a number of days in the USA and over international water to ponder what to do next before I can get back to my workshop.

Cheers,
J.
James
Wellington - NZ

Offline Joco

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Re: AL320G Lathe Stand
« Reply #14 on: October 29, 2016, 07:39:00 AM »
A bit more progress today.  Managed to get some gussets on to the back of the frame (pic 1). These triangles are 130mm on the sides and 6mm steel.  So they should give some good lateral support.

I then figured out how to turn the feet to have circular spreaders (pic 2).   I have had to redo a number of the spot welds as they failed under angular force at various points.  The whole problem stems from [a] not having a large enough hole (redone ones have a 10mm hole) and not flushing the air out of the hole with argoshield before starting the weld.  The failed welds tended to be a bit porous at the bottom of the plug.

Cheers,
J.
James
Wellington - NZ

Offline Joco

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Re: AL320G Lathe Stand
« Reply #15 on: October 30, 2016, 10:23:33 AM »
Got the last of the bits welded on the stand today and managed to get it all primed up ready for the black enamel paint to go on this week. Still need to get all the feet turned up into a nice circle.

James
Wellington - NZ

Offline Joco

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Re: AL320G Lathe Stand
« Reply #16 on: October 31, 2016, 05:42:22 PM »
And painted.  Now to sort out the remaining feet!
« Last Edit: October 31, 2016, 05:47:34 PM by Joco »
James
Wellington - NZ

Offline b.lindsey

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Re: AL320G Lathe Stand
« Reply #17 on: November 01, 2016, 12:45:28 AM »
That just looks downright professional James. Any lathe would be right proud to be mounted on that stand!!  Well done  :ThumbsUp:

Bill

Offline Joco

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Re: AL320G Lathe Stand
« Reply #18 on: November 01, 2016, 09:55:45 AM »
Cheers Bill.

Got another foot rounded out tonight.  2 down, 2 to go.
James
Wellington - NZ

Offline Joco

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Re: AL320G Lathe Stand
« Reply #19 on: November 03, 2016, 10:02:33 AM »
Got all the feet turned now off to pararubber in the weekend to get some thin solid rubber to act as a vibration buffer.

Now I HAVE to make space. I foresee a big clean and a full trailer of crap to dump this weekend.
James
Wellington - NZ

Online Jo

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Re: AL320G Lathe Stand
« Reply #20 on: November 03, 2016, 10:31:32 AM »
... and a full trailer of crap to dump this weekend.

Don't get rid of anything potentially useful: you will only need it the day after you throw it out  :facepalm:.

Jo
Enjoyment is more important than achievement.

Offline Joco

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Re: AL320G Lathe Stand
« Reply #21 on: November 04, 2016, 04:33:18 AM »
... and a full trailer of crap to dump this weekend.

Don't get rid of anything potentially useful: you will only need it the day after you throw it out  :facepalm:.

Jo

as much as I would like to horde as much as possible I need to make some tough calls.   As Bruce will attest my garage is a little bit full.   :embarassed:
James
Wellington - NZ

Offline Imagineering

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Re: AL320G Lathe Stand
« Reply #22 on: November 04, 2016, 07:21:14 AM »

Quote

as much as I would like to horde as much as possible I need to make some tough calls.   As Bruce will attest my garage is a little bit full.   :embarassed:


You haven't seen mine yet James ....

Offline bruedney

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Re: AL320G Lathe Stand
« Reply #23 on: November 04, 2016, 07:47:50 AM »

Quote

as much as I would like to horde as much as possible I need to make some tough calls.   As Bruce will attest my garage is a little bit full.   :embarassed:


You haven't seen mine yet James ....

James, I have to agree with Murray. Your's is nothing compared to his.

He has loads of crap!!!

Bruce
‘Results! Why man, I have gotten a lot of results. I know several thousand things that won’t work.’ — Thomas Alva Edison

Offline Joco

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Re: AL320G Lathe Stand
« Reply #24 on: November 04, 2016, 08:11:03 AM »

Quote

as much as I would like to horde as much as possible I need to make some tough calls.   As Bruce will attest my garage is a little bit full.   :embarassed:


You haven't seen mine yet James ....

James, I have to agree with Murray. Your's is nothing compared to his.

He has loads of crap!!!

Bruce

  :ROFL:  Well I still have to sort out my more limited crap.  I have a daughter demanding I finish her desk which I can't do since I can't get at the tablesaw and wife demanding I let her car back in the garage. Oh making room for lathe stand.

But nice to know I'm not worst.    :cheers:
« Last Edit: November 07, 2016, 04:40:29 AM by Joco »
James
Wellington - NZ

Offline Joco

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Re: AL320G Lathe Stand
« Reply #25 on: November 12, 2016, 03:08:11 AM »
Well its done with and with a huge amount of help from Bruce  :praise2: I have the AL320G installed on the stand.

I have 3mm thick solid rubber pads under the feet to isolate vibrations and everything has been levelled to a reasonable degree. At some point I will run Rollie's Dad's method to see how good things are and adjust accordingly.
http://neme-s.org/Rollie's_Dad's_Method.pdf

I have done some test cuts on some scrap round stock. The HSS in my Diamond holder is cutting like a hot knife through butter. Lovely curled swarf coming off with a nice clean finish.  :ThumbsUp:

Set my self a target of 12mm diameter with a starting size of 12.60mm. So set my cut by the dial to 0.6mm (so on the chinese lathes that setting the dial to a 0.3 mm as its all in radius not diameter -- I'm learning!) and managed to get to 12.01 as read off the digital callipers. I'll take that as a win!
 :whoohoo:
James
Wellington - NZ

Offline bruedney

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Re: AL320G Lathe Stand
« Reply #26 on: November 12, 2016, 07:59:27 AM »
A fun morning and great team effort  :cheers:

So jealous now - roll on April/May 2017

Bruce
‘Results! Why man, I have gotten a lot of results. I know several thousand things that won’t work.’ — Thomas Alva Edison

Online Jo

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Re: AL320G Lathe Stand
« Reply #27 on: November 12, 2016, 08:04:59 AM »
8) Well done James,

Are you going to add a couple of wooden shelves on the stand so that you can hoard store the lathe chucks and other tooling there  :)

And it looks like a nice piece of rubber is called for on top of the headstock before you discover it is a great place to store the smaller tools and scratch up the pristine paint work ::)

Jo
Enjoyment is more important than achievement.

Offline Joco

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Re: AL320G Lathe Stand
« Reply #28 on: November 12, 2016, 08:24:43 AM »
Jo - the game plan is to keep improving the stand. I just didn't want to wait for more and more weeks before getting things in place.

So the next things that will get worked on are:
[1] Shelf for the very bottom.  Plan is to use plywood (probably 12mm). That will be strong, not too expensive.  Probably will polyurethane it so there won't be any colour to get chipped.

[2] The upper spans will support cupboards. To be nice and strong that will be all made from 18mm construction grade plywood.  Still trying to decide on painting versus polyurethane.

[3] Temporary wheel fixtures to allow moving the stand around the garage.

But FIRST I need to complete my welding cart.  Got the wheels on it, now I need to test fit the gas cylinder to make sure the balance is going to work.

Cheers,
James.
James
Wellington - NZ

 

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