Manufacturers lathe stand v making your own?

[Richard SeatonParticipant @richardseaton21413]

Hi

I am intending to buy a Warco 250V lathe and was wondering about buying a stand to go with it or making my own. As I see it each option has pros and cons.

Buying one from Warco would save time but costs £308 and looks a bit flimsy. If I make my own I still have to buy the materials and spend the time to make but it might be more sturdy.

Does anyone have experience (good or bad) with Warco stands?

Many thanks

[Richard SeatonParticipant @richardseaton21413]

[Thor 🇳🇴Participant @thor]

Hi Richard,

Welcome to the forum. As you say, buying a stand saves you time, so it depends if you have the tools and time to make your own and save some money.
When I got my 290 lathe I made my own stand from square steel tube welded together and some pieces of steel from my scrap box. The home made stand is far more sturdy than the stand I could buy for my lathe.

Thor

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

I got the stand when I bought my 280 back in 2008 and used it like that for about 2 years. Then decided that the panel in the middle was wasting a lot of space so made a draw unit to replace it, probably did not add much to the rigidity but happy with what comes off the lathe which is what matters to me

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

I think it was cheaper when I bought mine in 2015, but I've no issues at all with the stand I bought with my WM250V. LH top drawer holds drills, LH cabinet full range of hex keys and manuals, centre space has set of metric taps and dies, 3-point steady and my Myford vertical slide with vice (in frequent use), plus whichever chuck isn't mounted. RH drawer BA taps and dies, tailstock die holder and bits, RH cabinet travelling steady plus any other bits with no fixed abode.

Making my own would simply consume a whole load of time that I could've spent making parts instead…!

[Dave HalfordParticipant @davehalford22513]

You could look at roller tool chests and max out the dead space, some are rated for 500kg

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

I think the Warco stands use quite thick metal for the cabinet part so sturdier than they might appear. However the drip tray is thin unlike the old cast ones of 100 years ago. If I were going that route I might put in an additional plate, or perhaps a concrete slab to add mass.

[old martParticipant @oldmart]

Welcome Richard, if you make your own stand, it can be much stronger than the tin boxes that cost £300. Also it can fit your workshop better.

[Clive Brown 1Participant @clivebrown1]

I welded up my Boxford stand from 45 x45 x 6 angle. It's rigid, but don't underestimate the work involved, or the cost at to-day's steel prices. I found that quite a bit of corner bracing was needed, adding to the work. I had a mechanical saw, a huge help.

Ready-made would be my choice these days I think. I do have a Warco stand for my mill and I have no real criticism of that.

Edited By Clive Brown 1 on 16/08/2022 20:51:02

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

What you are looking for, in any stand, is rigidity.

It will be cheaper to make your own, but it does not need to be made from 20 mm steel plate.

The Eiffel tower is mostly fresh air, not solid steel

Even sheet metal, properly braced can be quite rigid. .Rear or side panels will act as diagonal braces in the plane of the flat metal . The bare framework may lozenge, but firmly fixing a sheet metal panel to it, transforms it into a deep girder.. Can you bend a 25 x 25 x 3 mm angle iron? You might bend a piece of 3 mm x 25 bar in one plane, but not in the other!

You can flex a plain cardboard box in one plane, but not in the other.

The stiffness of a girder is B x D^3 / 12, so doubling the depth increases the stiffness 8 times.

You might flex the panel across the 18 SWG plane , but you won't flex it in the other plane, even if it is only 100 mm deep.

So cupboard 800 mm high and 400 mm square, with the panels fixed firmly in place becomes a VERY strong girder, in all planes..

You drive around in a box made of sheet metal that is thinner than the steel used in the cupboards in the stand for the lathe, but it doesn't bend noticeably when you get in, or load a 50 Kg bag of cement into the boot.

The dash doesn't shake, or the doors unlatch, when you hit a pothole!

Howard

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Making a bench frame from 2" angle iron is easy enough if you have a welder. Making the drip tray is much fiddlier, especially if you don't have access to a guillotine and sheet metal folder to cut and bend the sheet metal into the lip around the edge. And then there is the making of cupboards/drawers, or the buying of a toolchest to fit under it. Certainly easier and quicker to get the readymade stand delivered with the lathe and get straight to using it.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

The lathe comes with the tray and back splash as part of the basic lathe so no need to worry about sheet metal if you are only able to weld box or angle.

People have different ideas about what's required. I remember posting pictures of the stand for my CNC and was told it would be no good. Still standing strong and does not seem to affect what comes off the machine even with feed rates of 1000mm/m and the rapid direction changes associated with that.

[Jon LawesParticipant @jonlawes51698]

I have a length of worktop bolted to the wall the length of my workshop. It runs around the perimiter so it is triangulated by the geometry of it. It all sits on a very solid timber framework which is cross braced. The lathe is on top of that, bolted to a piece of cast iron roughly 3" thick. (God knows where it came from, it was my grandfathers lathe, I can't imagine where one would find some cast iron that size, its easily the size of an office desk).

I find the setup very rigid and have had it this way many years with no loss of rigidity or problems with the lathe moving! My mill is on the same bench, round the corner.

[Kiwi BlokeParticipant @kiwibloke62605]

Howard Lewis' comments are well worth taking on board, especially if you have access to sheet metal cutting and folding equipment. I'd amplify his comments by suggesting that adding mass to a machine stand is a Good Thing. Some manufacturers, finding cast stands too expensive, use concrete-filled sheet metal structures. Increases stability and damps vibration, but makes subsequent moving a bit of a challenge…

[Henry BrownParticipant @henrybrown95529]

My GH1332 came with a stand, it is well made and finished and structurally sound. I doubt I could have bought the steel, made it and painted it for much less than £300 even though my time was free, I have in the past considered using solid wooden benches for such things, especially my Axminster mill, but in the end I haggled a bit of discount off the stand as I guessed they don't want a load of unsold stands taking up space!

[Adam MaraParticipant @adammara]

I recently bought 10 x 3 metre lengths of slotted angle for £120, including a pack of bolts and 3 terminal blocks (to take it to the £120 carriage paid deal!) They were for another purpose, but it did cross my mind that they would be great for a bench as well.

[Richard SeatonParticipant @richardseaton21413]

Many thanks for all the advice it is appreciated I think I'm veering towards buying the stand with the lathe and trying Henry's suggestion of haggling a bit off.

[Hugh Stewart-Smith 1Participant @hughstewart-smith1]

hello Richard,

I couldn't help noticing that Warco have bumped up their prices somewhat and a considerable saving can be made from alternative suppliers. A look through the Model Engineer Workshop Magazine ads, for example, could bear fruit. There are similar machines available from reputable suppliers at £100’s less.

It might be something to do with the change in corporate structure of Warco Machine Tools Ltd in July 2021 with the resignation of the 2 directors and the appointment of 3 new directors. It might also explain their out-of-stock situation which went on for some time. Difficult times for everyone.

Hugh Stewart-Smith

Amadeal Ltd. – (continuing to support Model Engineering Magazine, Model Engineer Magazine and Engineering in Miniature.)

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Do just make sure you compare like with like for example some 250 size machines have an inverter and AC motor others have brushless DC motors. Also some retailers include things like 4-jaw, faceplate, steadies, etc in the basic price. Others sell them as extras so do the sums first to see what you are getting for your money.

I suppose price increase could also just be that the new stock cost them more and prices have had to go up to cover that.

Edited By JasonB on 18/08/2022 13:16:09

[pete hammondParticipant @petehammond94283]

Approx 10 years ago I bought a new Crusader lathe from Chester – put it on my existing bench and have stored the base parts safely ever since, not even opened the boxes the cabinets came in.. Think one part contains a suds pump. If it helps anyone £100 collection only from Aylesbury Bucks,

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

My Warco stand (for a WM280) is fine. May look tinny, but it's strong by design and plenty sturdy enough.

I bought mine to save the time and trouble of making one. My first problem was not having any suitable materials to hand. The second was time and space limitations. A quickly assembled commercial stand arriving with the lathe made installation quicker and easier for me, but it depends on what you have already.

Have to admit I hate flashing the cash but it does save bother.

Dave

[Niels AbildgaardParticipant @nielsabildgaard33719]

My 250 sits on 50-100 kg dolerite or adiabas as have all my lathes.

The next will probably be an 210 400 with 48mm spindle bore and the stand will be three-pointers:two on flor and one on wall.

I have difficulty chosing between two concepts,as I have some very nice pieces of wood from eating tables from the municipal dump.

There is a certain poetic beauty in having having helped  to raise a family and then support an old mans lathe toys.

 

Edited By Niels Abildgaard on 18/08/2022 15:56:28

[DalboyParticipant @dalboy]

+1 for the warco stand I brought mine for my WM280 strong enough for the job. The only draw back is that the bottom of the cupboard is much lower than the door so I use it for storing anything that is light weight making it easier to get things out.

I do like the idea of Jason's by adding draw units to it for extra storage as it stands it has just the two shelves in the middle

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