10 Free Lathe Stand Plans To Kickstart Your Woodcarving Project
Building your own lathe stand is a rewarding experience. You get to customize it exactly the way you want and add any features that you wish.
Luckily, a lot of DIY enthusiasts have also built their own lathe stands and put up the plans for free to help other would-be builders.
Following are 10 of these lathe stand plans from around the Internet. We put this list together to help inspire you in building your own custom lathe stand.
Ready for your next project? Here are some plans that I recommend for you to read such as workbench plan, table saw fence, miter saw stand, router table, router dado jig, woodworking project for beginners, scrap wood project, woodworking plan, homemade log splitter.
1. Sawhorse Style DIY Lathe Stand Tutorial
The unique aspect of this lathe stand is its simple frame with its 4 legs splaying out in a sawhorse or A-frame way. All 4 feet are adjustable though, making it able to sit level on any floor.
There are plenty of large and bright pictures in this tutorial and they come in a step by step style, making the build process easy for you to understand.
Another important aspect to note is that the entire frame got built from 3/4 x 4-1/2-inch boards, and since 3/4-inch thick boards are too thin for a lathe stand frame, most of the parts got doubled using glue.
Required tools include glue, a drill, lots of clamps, a jigsaw, and a sander.
2. Lathe Stand Cabinet DIY Plans
Measuring 33 inches wide and 18 inches deep, this DIY lathe stand is about 30 inches high, although it's still left for you to customize the height to your needs.
It's also a cabinet with 2 shelves, which you can customize to your needs as well. You'll need 2x4's, 1x2's, and 3/4-inch plywood to complete this project.
If you are looking for a beginner-friendly lathe stand tutorial, then this might not be for you, because you'll also need to make pocket holes and 1/4-inch rabbets for the door frames. The last finishing touches are also all up to you.
You'll need a framing square, a drill, miter saw, sander, and a measuring tape to carry out this project.
3. Professional Quality Lathe Stand Plans
Here's a stand that offers everything you need in a professional quality lathe stand. It's strong, it's heavy, and it's stable.
Its legs splay out in opposite directions, but that's not all to this stand. Using copper tubes to house the nuts, its legs and rails got bolted together into a joint that can never shake loose.
You get the full plans for this project, including color-coded parts, which make everything easier to understand, plus a shopping list and a cutting list for your convenience.
The final height will, of course, be up to you, but the plan includes shelf spacing for wood lathe holders, as well as how to glue 2 sheets of 3/4-inch birch plywood sheets together for improved strength.
4. All-In-One Lathe Stand Tutorial
This mini lathe stand tutorial comes in 2 versions. There is this introduction with a few pictures and a diagram, which is free.
Then, there is the paid tutorial which costs $9.99 and comes with 12 pages of how-to instructions, plus 50 full-color pictures and diagrams, providing every information necessary to build this stand.
If you are a good woodworker though, you can build this stand simply by taking a look at the included project diagrams. You will also need to come up with your own measurements, but it is doable.
Highlights of this design include 2 drawers, one of which is specially designed for wood lathes. There are also 2 open shelves, and caster wheels to make it mobile.
5. Simple & Free DIY Mobile Lathe Stand Plans
Coming from the DIYHuntress, here are another mini lathe DIY stand plans. It measures 30 inches in height including casters, is 30-1/2 inches wide, and 10 inches deep.
You'll need to download the 14-page and completely free plans from Gumroad.com using the included link. Inside the PDF file, you'll get an 11-step building tutorial, plus a tool, a material, and a cut list.
There is also a cut diagram and the tools you'll need include a pocket hole Jig, a brad nailer, a drill, and a table saw or a circular saw.
When customizing the height, it's important to remember that this stand's 30-inch height includes the casters, so you'll have to consider your own comfortable working height and the height of the casters that you would like to use.
6. Mobile Wood Lathe Stand with Excellent Storage Tutorial
You can either follow this step by step tutorial on the web page or watch the video tutorial version. It shows you how to build a sleek-looking lathe stand with enough space to meet all your lathe-tool needs.
There are 3 drawers and a large shelf, plus a wood lathe hanger on the side of the stand. It stands 30 inches high, is 21-1/2 inches deep, and 42 inches wide.
Broken down into 5 steps, this tutorial takes you through each step with detailed instructions and enough pictures to help you get it. It's not the perfect beginner project, but anyone can get it right by simply following the instructions.
Needed tools include a pocket hole jig, an orbital sander, parallel clamps, a miter saw, a drill/driver, and a router.
7. Simple Stand for a Homemade Lathe DIY Guide
Just as it happened with the author of this lathe stand, you too may need to build a stand for a homemade mini lathe.
This project brings up some of the points that you might need to consider, as well as certain issues that might be specific to your homemade lathe.
He used mortise and tenon joints, which means glue and mallets, plus a table saw to make the cuts. Depending on your exact lathe though, there could be design differences and you might need to make changes to this original design.
As you can also see, this lathe stand does not have a top, unlike most other stands on this list. You might also need to make some custom installations, as with the motor in this guide, the important thing is to plan first.
8. Ashley's DIY Handmade Mobile Lathe Stand
Ashley's mobile lathe stand features a unique design, including casters for mobility, although it offers little in terms of shelf space for her tools.
She presents her tutorial in 10 steps, beginning with the cutting of the 2x4 and 2x6 boards for the frame. Since they were scraps, you could also use any boards you have available to you, as long as they are thick enough.
You'll need a pocket hole jig, a saw, a drill/driver, and clamps for this project. Ashley added a few pictures to this tutorial and they are large and bright, showing you exactly what she means along the way.
The legs form a trapezoid shape, so a miter saw will be handy to make some angle cuts. Still, there are no fixed measurements because the final height will depend on your own height.
9. Johnny's DIY Lathe Stand Tutorial
Johnny built this simple wooden stand for his metal lathe. The tutorial is available in video form, as well as in written form with pictures on the website.
The tabletop matches the lathe's base exactly in dimensions and it's made from plywood with hardwood trims.
Johnny provides a materials list, 2 cut lists, and a cutting diagram to make his tutorial easier to understand. You can also download a SketchUp file to view the plans on your computer.
Tools you'll need for this job include a drill, a table or miter saw, and a brad nailer. Having a SketchUp file here, also means that you can easily make changes to this plan on your computer if you wanted.
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We've come to the end of this list of lathe stand plans and we hope you've been inspired to build your own customized stand.
You are welcome to bookmark or share this list using your social media, as well as to pin any images that you find interesting.
And if you've got a moment, then why don't you drop us a few lines in the comments? Because we always love some feedback.
Last Updated on January 1, 2019 by