I just acquired a wood office desk made in the 1930's which looks like it would make a good bench for my South Bend 10k lathe. The desk has lots of drawers, very helpful for all the little (and some not-so little) hunks of metal that come to roost around metalworking machines.
The top is 50 by 34 inches and about two inches thick. Because of its age I'm fairly sure it isn't ersatz wood, but rather plywood or possibly even solid wood. The joinery is well done, the cabinetry straight-grained and clear of knots. It's a smaller and less-ornate version of this:
The obvious approach is to just bolt the lathe and countershaft to the top of the desk, that wouldn't be any worse than the table it's on now. The lathe is far stiffer than either and straighter to boot.
I wonder if it might be better to bolt the lathe and countershaft to a sheet of half-inch or so plywood, just strong enough to support belt tension (which isn't all that great, there's a prop rod 'tween headstock and countershaft assembly) and place it on a cushion atop the desk. That isolates the lathe from irregularities in the desk, the cushion will serve to absorb at least some vibration.
Has anybody tried something like this? It's hard to believe a bench contributes much if anything to the stiffness of a machine tool, but it could contribute to vibration damping.
Thanks for reading, and any thoughts.
bob prohaska