HEAVY METAL MOVEMENT

After wishing for one of these Smithy Lathe/Mill/Drill press combos for about twenty years, I finally ordered one in March of 2018, for my 65th Birthday.

However, knowing it weighs almost 700 pounds, and I wanted to be able to move it around the shop, I had some getting ready to do.

This metal tool cabinet was given to me by my Brother-in-law about eighteen years ago, and was the right height for such a machine. I had built the top by planing the edges off of three 2x8's to get them to square, then biscuit joined them together to make a solid top.

The cabinet is pretty strong, steel all around with doors and shelves, but the back was open, so found, (run over), street signs, were cut to size, and bolted on, to enclose and strengthen the box of the cabinet. That glowing spot is reflectiveness of the coating on one of the signs.

I have written previously of using found run-over road sign posts for projects.

Using 1" long by 1/2" diameter bolts, I bolted pieces together from the posts.

A Step Drill was used to make holes for access to put the bolts inside the tube of the post, so that the bolt connected portions could be against each other rather than squishing the hollow tubeing. (See second photo.) The hole has to be large enough to accept the socket that holds the bolt head or nut.

The frame of these posts goes all the way around the cabinet because I doubted that the cabinet steel itself was strong enough to resist bending from the torsion of a thousand pounds of offset weight pushing down on swivel castors. The castors had to be out a bit from cabinet walls to make a stance not ready to tip over while being pushed across the shop.

There are also 1/2" bolts through tubing and side walls of cabinet.

The castors were given to me by another Brother-in-law, and are rated at 700# each.Their flanges are bolted to underside of the doubled post positions, which exceed front and rear of cabinet..

A folding tool box shelf was bolted to end of the cabinet to hold drill index, wrenches, instructions, thirty five pounds of stuff, while working, because there really isn't much room on the top around the Smithy. If the outer end is lifted, the diagonal brace comes out of its resting place, and the shelf folds down against the cabinet fairly straightly. (I did learn the hard way not to drop it down, as the shelf will bend!)

The end of the top is just big enough to accept a clamp on, twisting almost any direction, vise from Harbor Freight. It has a sort of "C-clamp" base to hold on to the table top if you chose not to bolt it down with the holes in the base.That way I can use it anywhere.

My two Grand-sons gifted me with a cast iron wrench emblazoned with "MAN CAVE." It made the perfect handle for pulling the left door open. A spare wrench was used to mirror it on the right door. Two Bolts through have three nuts on them, one against the back of the wrench, and one on each side of the door.

Just as an aside, I could not use both a Proto, and a Craftsman wrench, because I couldn't seem to drill through them, their steel was too tough. Had to try drilling three different wrenches to find one I could get a #10 bolt / 3/16" drill bit through.

There are multiple wrenches and chuck keys that come with a machine like this. It is disastrous to leave one in the working position while turning on the machine.

So I drilled specific holes in the bench top for a permanent place to check to make sure the keys were all accounted for. They are just below the turn on switches, (Yes, there are three of them. Well, actually two, as the third is a Turn-Off switch), to make it convenient to check on Key placement prior to switching on.

Lathe Chuck Key - Check

Drill Chuck Key - Check

Tool Post Key - Check

Mill Post Key - Check

OK, turn it ON!

(Yeah, I notice that in the photo I haven't yet made the Mill Post Key storage hole!)

I didn't manage to get a photo of it, but it occurs to me that SOMEONE might wonder, "How did he get the machine from his truck onto the bench????"

The bench top being six inches higher than the truck bed and all.....

After ruminating on all sorts of multiple posts with a winch to lift Lathe, or a Crane built using a Telephone post by the driveway, it finally occurred to me.......

If I lifted the truck six inches, I could just drag the Smithy onto the bench!!!! With a winch.

So, I put the floor jack under my differential, and jacked the truck bed up to just higher than the bench, then pulled the Smithy right onto the bench with a boat winch. (I did chock the wheels of the truck to keep it from going away at some sort of crucial moment.)

Sad thing was, I didn't manage to get a photo of my genius.

Thanks for your interest.

Now I just gotta figure out what I want to shape next.