New Wood Lathe + Building a Stand (cutlist)
We recently got a new addition to the workshop - a Grizzly G0844 woodturning lathe. The main reason why I wanted to get a lathe was to make the step of sanding and finishing our spinning tops a little more efficient. The spinning tops are cut on the rotary attachment on our Avid CNC machine, and while the CNC is great for a lot of different jobs, sanding and finishing is not one of them!
When the tops come off the machine, they have quite a lot of tool marks on them, and in order to get them smooth and balanced, quite a lot of even sanding is required. Ideally, that means the top should spin as you sand. Initially, I placed the tops in a drill chuck and sanded them that way, however it quickly became clear that solution wasn't great for sanding a larger amount of tops. What I really needed was a way to secure the tops very well (like in a chuck), in a machine that spun fast (a lathe).
So, here we are, with a new Grizzly benchtop lathe. It's a great machine with a variable speed control. Being a benchtop lathe, however meant it needed a stand. I'm actually rather partial to benchtop lathes as opposed to larger ones on legs, since a smaller machine gives you the opportunity to use the space underneath for storage.
So we decided to build a basic stand using 2x4s and plywood. It measures 27 by 41 inches, with a height of 30 inches. It has two drawers on drawer slides and 4 heavy duty wheels so you can move the stand when you need to.
Here a cutlist of the pieces for the stand:
2x4 base:
#4 @ 29 1/4" (legs)
#4 @ 16" (short sides)
#4 @ 36 3/4" (long sides)
Top & Sides (3/4" plywood)
#1 @ 41" x 27" (top)
#2 @ 13" x 20" (sides)
Two Drawers
3/4" plywood:
#4 @ 35 1/2" x 4"
#4 @ 19 1/4" x 4"
1/8" plywood
#2 @ 35 1/2" x 19 1/4" (bottom)
The drawers feature box joint construction and are glued together. The base is connected with 5 inch screws, and the top and sides are screwed down as well.
For more information as to how the base is constructed, make sure to watch the video.