Lathe question

[dusty]

I am currently in a polychromatic turning class at Cerritos College. We use the smaller Jet lathes in class (Which is one day a week). I bring my projects at home and turn my projects on my SS 510. Works just fine. My only problem is I need to set my SS up on blocks. It sits too low for me and it hurts my back to stoop over to turn. I'm 6'2".

I know several turners who have elevated their Mark Vs for this very reason. It seems to work but I just have to worry - with the center of gravity elevated it becomes more of a tipping hazard. If you elevate it very high, I would think you'd want to secure it somehow or elevate it onto a fairly large surface area (something significantly larger than the legs' footprint).

[nickoleyt]

it was actually a charger for a remote control airplane.

[a1gutterman]

I know several turners who have elevated their Mark Vs for this very reason. It seems to work but I just have to worry - with the center of gravity elevated it becomes more of a tipping hazard. If you elevate it very high, I would think you'd want to secure it somehow or elevate it onto a fairly large surface area (something significantly larger than the legs' footprint).Hi dusty,
I know what you are saying sounds good, but after thinking about this, unless your Mark V is prone to "walking", just having the legs' foot prints raised is enough~and if you sandbag it too, it can knot "walk" around on it's own either. The Mark V will knot know that there is knot more floor around it's legs or knot. The real hazard is if the blocks under the legs will tip or move, knot the center of gravity of the Mark V. Sandbagging will prevent that.:)

[charlese]

I know several turners who have elevated their Mark Vs for this very reason. It seems to work but I just have to worry - with the center of gravity elevated it becomes more of a tipping hazard. If you elevate it very high, I would think you'd want to secure it somehow or elevate it onto a fairly large surface area (something significantly larger than the legs' footprint).
You could always fasten a 4"x4" post (about 3 feet long) under each end of the legs. If that's not high enough, you could fasten a couple of rail road ties to the bottom of the legs. Just don''t think you would have to worry about tipping in either case. If the ties are too high, you could mortise out a portion for the legs.

Nick once talked about putting a sand box under each leg (but I could'nt find the post) and burying the legs in sand as a means of stabilizing the lathe. Depending on the height of the box floor and depth of sand this could also be used to raise the lathe.

All in all, I'm glad that at 5'7" I don't have a height issue at all. (at least with the Mark V)