Lathes on casters

[Peter Simpson 3Participant @petersimpson3]

Hi All,

I have just purchased a Colchester Bantam. The lathe is sitting on heavy duty castors at the moment. What are the views on lathes on castors ? Would the lathe be stable enough even with the castor brakes been on ?

[Peter Simpson 3Participant @petersimpson3]

[peak4Participant @peak4]

No experience of a Bantam on castors, but do use them on other machines.
I'd be happy provided that the castors are outside the base footprint of the machine, when they are set at their narrowest track.

I wouldn't use these castors underneath the cabinet.

You could always lift the cabinet on a crowbar and insert a spacer at each end, maybe hardwood of a length of HD box section.so the castors are available to move the machine for access, but it's not normally resting on them.

Bill

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

It would probably be stable, but only if all 4 castors are taking their share of the load on a solid floor.

[BazParticipant @baz89810]

On the plus side it has raised the lathe up, Bantams are quite low and working one for a day will give you backache. I have a Bantam 1600 of about 1965 vintage and have raised it up on two lengths of four inch square fence post. I am not sure I like the idea of all that weight on castors, I presume the casters are fixed through the bolting down bosses, if it were me I would want the casters mounted on some outrigger to take the caster outside the machines footprint, if you have ever seen a lathe with an out of balance job on a faceplate rocking about you will realise how easy it is to tip one over.

[Andrew TinsleyParticipant @andrewtinsley63637]

I use castors that have a screw down foot. So best of both worlds, very stable when all four feet are screwed down and easily moved by screwing up the feet.

Andrew.

[John HaineParticipant @johnhaine32865]

I put my S7 on casters so I could move it out to fit a new 3ph motor. The ones shown in the photo above on a Myford are very similar. I can't say that the whole experience was stress free, and whilst on casters the lathe felt very unstable. I can imagine one trying to run over a small bit of metal on the floor and tripping up the lathe with disastrous consequences!

[John HaineParticipant @johnhaine32865]

I put my S7 on casters so I could move it out to fit a new 3ph motor. The ones shown in the photo above on a Myford are very similar. I can't say that the whole experience was stress free, and whilst on casters the lathe felt very unstable. I can imagine one trying to run over a small bit of metal on the floor and tripping up the lathe with disastrous consequences!

[Clive FosterParticipant @clivefoster55965]

You need some pretty serious castors if a lathe is to be stable at rest and move any sense. The small heavy duty ones used on pianos and similar aren't up to it whatever the load rating may say.

I put 6 big, screw down, ones with 5" diameter wheels on my P&W Model B hoping to make it easier to move from gate to workshop and into place.. Lathe was about a ton, castors rated about a ton and a half each so it ought to have worked OK. In practice it barely worked. Possibly a bit less faffing then roller or skates but certainly harder moving.

These days I'm a fan of sliding on steel rods laid rail fashion. Diameter in the 1/4" to 1/2" range works OK without major jack up issues to get the rods under. Using like a rail gives the machine a smooth surface to slide on so no tripping over small stones, ridges or tamping marks.

Clive

[Chris Pearson 1Participant @chrispearson1]

I cannot see the point. You would have to level the lathe every time that the castors are used.

I once tried moving a bandsaw on castors which were supposed to be suitable for the load – they lasted about 6 feet. In the end, I "borrowed" the ones under a large Snap-on tool chest.

[Rod RenshawParticipant @rodrenshaw28584]

I wonder about the "levelling" of the lathe for accurate parallel turning, would this have to be done again after each move?

Rod

Sorry, did not see previous post while I was typing mine.

Edited By Rod Renshaw on 19/01/2023 18:46:10

[Phil super7Participant @philsuper7]

I would serious worry about using a lathe on castors, when a faceplate was being used and out of balance. Also when I was an apprentice i cannot recall any lathe being on castors, they were all secured to the floor.

[Anonymous]

Posted by Chris Pearson 1 on 19/01/2023 18:40:43:

I cannot see the point. You would have to level the lathe every time that the castors are used.

I think that needs to be qualified with …… "if perfection is your goal".

While I don't use castors anyway, as far as I recall I only ever approximately levelled my ML7 and It's done everything I ever wanted. I would bet there are many others here with similar experience.

I don't decry people who feel that way and want to get everything aligned to a wavelength of blue light or whatever the standard is – more power to them. But horses for courses.

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Seems a waste of good castors. Are you really moving the lathe every week? If you do maybe put 2 non swivel wheels at the tailstock end well spaced apart and a cunningly positioned bracket at the headstock end. When you need to move it pop your trolley jack under the special bracket to lift up that end, or the type of crowbar with two little wheels used by pro movers.

[Dave HalfordParticipant @davehalford22513]

Posted by Rod Renshaw on 19/01/2023 18:45:08:

I wonder about the "levelling" of the lathe for accurate parallel turning, would this have to be done again after each move?

Rod

Sorry, did not see previous post while I was typing mine.

Edited By Rod Renshaw on 19/01/2023 18:46:10

No

It's different levelling or lathes on ships wouldn't work

[Chris Pearson 1Participant @chrispearson1]

Posted by Dave Halford on 19/01/2023 21:05:32:

It's different levelling or lathes on ships wouldn't work

Well, they don't. Yes, they may be accurate enough for some purposes, but the deck cannot be guaranteed to remain true.

I distinctly remember raising this point when I first went to sea in 1990.

[Martin KyteParticipant @martinkyte99762]

Oh I wish we hadn’t inherited the phrase levelling a lathe. All is required is that its mounting does not induce a twist to the bed. You could screw it to a wall if you liked with the bed vertical and get it turning parallel.

regards Martin

[Phil super7Participant @philsuper7]

Martin I agree, Consider Lathe's with a slant bed.

[Martin KyteParticipant @martinkyte99762]

Posted by Phil super7 on 19/01/2023 21:41:45:

Martin I agree, Consider Lathe's with a slant bed.

That’s almost biblical. Consider the lathes of the slant bed, they turn neither taper nor bellied, yet even these be not levelled.

😊

[pauljamesParticipant @pauljanes79128]

I agree with " I wish we hadn’t inherited the phrase levelling a lathe". All that matters is that the bed is not twisted. I have an older 9" Southbend lathe which is mounted on casters. My workshop is small and I need access to the storage cabinets behind the lathe.

These lathes were used in earlier days by the army in their mobile workshops, and not always set up on a solid base. Because they were fitted with a rigid bed, it was recommended that they only be supported on 3 points, 2 at the head and 1 at the tail.

The type of base for the lathe is dependent on the rigidity of its bed and the one on the Southbend is very stiff and does not require "levelling" each time it is moved. Other type of lathes may be different.

[Pete RimmerParticipant @peterimmer30576]

I can tell you since rebuilding machines is my hobby (I mean grinding, scraping, alignment not just clean and paint), and since concrete cutting, breaking grinding is my profession where I've had to grind plant room/water tank plinths to +/- 2mm over several metres, and because when I'm in the process of rebuilding (but not the alignment phase) a lathe will typically sit on casters,

1. Concrete isn't flat. Even a properly laid power-floated floor is very unlikely to be flat enough that you can move a machine sitting on four points and not have it twist. For your average tamped/trowelled slab – no chance.

2. If you sit a machine like a Bantam on casters and move it any amount, the twist of the bed will change. As a matter of fact, I have sat a bantam on casters whilst in the rebuild process and ran a test whereby I had a dial gauge reading bed twist whist it was being wheeled around and that dial gauge was swinging like a metronome. Here it is on it's 6" 200kg casters after I wheeled it out into my garden for a photo.

So if you're asking can you use a lathe that's on casters the answer is – certainly you can. If you're asking can you move it and expect it to hold alignment, even to move it one way then move it back – certainly not. For most people it's not really an issue because their lathes are not aligned anyway.

 

Edited By Pete Rimmer on 19/01/2023 22:11:31

[Chris Pearson 1Participant @chrispearson1]

Posted by Martin Kyte on 19/01/2023 21:34:21:

Oh I wish we hadn’t inherited the phrase levelling a lathe. All is required is that its mounting does not induce a twist to the bed. You could screw it to a wall if you liked with the bed vertical and get it turning parallel.

OK. I have levelled my lathe. By that I mean that the bubble in the level is at the same place at both ends. So it slopes a bit back to front at both ends, but by the same amount. It also slopes a bit along its length as does the floor. This is all measured with an engineer's level.

The instruction book for a Myford 254 describes levelling the cabinet and then the lathe.

[Martin KyteParticipant @martinkyte99762]

My Super 7 sits on a steel cabinet which itself is bolted to spacers through the chipboard flooring and into the concrete. The lathe is 4 point mount on jacking screws. It’s aligned to turn parallel hands off. So if I’m doing anything critical I don’t lean on the lathe at all when turning. An elbow on the tailstock will throw it out , not much but enough to measure.

regards Martin

[Martin KyteParticipant @martinkyte99762]

Posted by Chris Pearson 1 on 19/01/2023 22:30:49:

Posted by Martin Kyte on 19/01/2023 21:34:21:

Oh I wish we hadn’t inherited the phrase levelling a lathe. All is required is that its mounting does not induce a twist to the bed. You could screw it to a wall if you liked with the bed vertical and get it turning parallel.

OK. I have levelled my lathe. By that I mean that the bubble in the level is at the same place at both ends. So it slopes a bit back to front at both ends, but by the same amount. It also slopes a bit along its length as does the floor. This is all measured with an engineer's level.

The instruction book for a Myford 254 describes levelling the cabinet and then the lathe.

And you have done precisely the right thing, I merely comment on the ambiguity of the term. Actually what you describe is a process of setting both ends of the bed parallel using a level. Maybe the phrase should be paralleling but I doubt if it will catch on.

;0)

Martin

[Henry BrownParticipant @henrybrown95529]

I'd be concerned about the twist/movement, that would cause inconsistency when turning, on the bed and if you use a four jaw chuck for tirning parts that aren't cylindrical/balanced movement on the castors would probably be an issue.

Edited By Henry Brown on 19/01/2023 23:26:22

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