Mini-Lathe Bench Setup
The mini-lathe bench is set up for my ring-making work flow. The tools you’ll see throughout Part 1 & part 2 of the shop tour pages are used for many other projects as well.I won’t go into the specifics of how or what each tool does during part 1 & part 2 of the shop tour. I will be setting up a page for each tool for greater detail.Part 1 covers mostly tools I use for the mini-lathe bench set up.
It’s not possible to fit Every tool used during the ring making process on one bench so I’ve broken the shop tour page into two parts.
Since I started making rings back in March of this year I’ve rearranged the bench 10 to 15 times to give me a comfortable workflow. All the tools on the bench are layed out for easy access during the making of rings.
Starting on the right hand side of my lathe I have a 8″ bench grinder,1″ belt sander,20 drawer organization container,Dremel Fortiflex. The upper cabinets I have all my stuff for polishing & buffing.You’ll see an inside photo down this page a little bit. The lower cabinet drawers have sandpaper storage and a miscellaneous tools used during the making of different types of rings.
I live in Arizona so a air conditioning unit is a must for our hot summers. I have measured the tempature without the A/C on and it has reached 105 inside my shop. We have pretty mild winters so I don’t use the heater too much,usually to knock the chill off.
The 1″ x 30″ belt grinder is used for many things, including glass grinding and sanding the bulk off of ring inlay material.
What shop goes without a trash can? Sitting next to the trash can is a shavings/chips bucket that are created during turning metal on the mini-lathe.
On the left side Part 1 covers mostly tools I use at my mini-lathe bench set up within arms reach is the sandpaper storage,bucket of water,face shield and a rag.
Had to do a close up of the mini-lathe from the tail end.
This is called the bed of the mini-lathe.
And the 3 jaw chuck,I smell a 4 jaw chuck coming soon on my next upgraded mini-lathe. The hose in the back is a vacuum hose to help cut down on the misting coolant and wood shaving while there is turning in progress.
Almost through Part 1 of the shop tour which covers mostly tools I use for the mini-lathe bench set up.Long shot of the mini-lathe bench set up.
Let’s move on over to the other side of my mini-lathe bench set up.
Sitting between the 4 in. x 36 in. Belt/6 in. Disc Sander and sandblast cabinet is a 10″ compound saw. For ring making I use the compound saw to cut ring blanks and for cutting inlay material.
Below the compound saw there is an open area of the bench that houses the pressure pots used for the sandblast cabinet. The reason for having 2 pots is that it makes it easier to change different size grits without having to clean out the pressure pots each time.
Here sits my 40 lb. capacity floor blast cabinet.
When I built my shop back in 2002 my focus was not on making rings. I built it more for sandblasting decorative rock & glass items.I still use the sandblast cabinet for this purpose, just not as much as I use too.
That about wraps it up for this side of my shop.
In part 2 of my shop tour I’ll be sharing other tools such as drill presses,vises,welder,plasma cutter and many more tools I use inside my shop.
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