Any recommendations for turntable stand?

[mobaiz]

I’m trying to decide between the GRS satellite turntable package or the Lindsey turntable stand. Both look good but im leaning towards the GRS version even though it’s more money. Any recommendations on which way to go? Thanks in advance for all your help

 

[allan621]

I had that question myself. They are both good turnable stands. I decided on the Lindsay because of the price. And it was a good decision for me because there isn't any extras to pay for that I probably wouldn't need. It goes up and down with a lock. It turns round and round with a lock. I'm not sure what else I would need.

On the big other hand if you're handy... if you look around the cafe you can find some alternatives; do it yourself plans, cut off drill press stands from harbour frieght and probably more. And a lot cheaper than the Lindsay or GRS.

Allan

 

[mobaiz]

Allan,
Thank you for responding and the info you provided. I do have an old drill press stand but without bolting the stand down I notice a slight wobble when I’m engraving. Also the turntable I have is an old cake turntable and didn’t work too great. Get tired of chasing my work under a scope. The reason I’m leaning towards the GRS stand and turntable is because of the height. The Lindsay has a minimum height of 24“ and with my vice it makes it a bit tall For my comfort.

 

[pkroyer]

If you can afford the GRS or Lindsay, getting one of those and getting to engraving makes good sense. For those of us with less sense, trying to cobble together something seems irresistible. I tried a drill press stand, I got on Craigslist for $15. . I cut the post off so that I could wedge it under a heavy workbench, and it was rock solid. It worked okay, but it did not have a crank I tried a crank from a trailer dolly and that sort of worked. Someone on the Café showed a stand they made with a car wheel bearing and a steel disk from eBay. I bought those. I don't weld so I could not complete as shown in that post.

Then I saw a Sumner low jack stand on craigslist. I had a guy turn the top of the jack stand and weld the disk to it. The first image below shows the first try as a proof of concept. The second shows the 'finished' stand with a Shimpo pottery turntable. The lowest it will go is about 20 inches. I have about $115 in the stand and about $90 in the Shimpo. Now I have a cut off drill press stand and a wheel bearing left over. Even Steve Lindsay on his site sort of recommended the Shimpo as a low cost alternative.

Does any of this make sense - No. Did I have fun playing around - Yes. The good news is that it mostly works for what I do. The bad news is that it mostly works and I can not justify buying the GRS or the Lindsay stand now. I won't even go into how I just made a variable speed, reversible power hone from a small 3/4 hp wood lathe that I had. This add two more decisions, direction and speed to what was simple with the original GRS power hone.

Oddly enough, I have even been doing some engraving.

 

[Grayson]

You need not bolt the drill press (or other machine tools) into the floor. They can be bolted into a 3/4" piece of plywood.