This bench caught my eye in one of my trips to the local ACE Hardware. It was on sale for $89.00 and somehow found its way into my Jeep. I guess the color did it, plus the two drawers that are on ball bearing slides, just right for lathe accessories to be handy to the machine.

My ACE Hardware sold out of these quickly and I don't know if its a regular stock item. However it appears that one of the Waterloo brand benches sold by suppliers like ENCO is a close duplicate and priced about the same if you're interested in one.

As appropriate for this Chinese lathe the bench is also from China. The lavish use of ID stickers on the components keyed to the assembly instruction sheet made it easy to assemble with all the pieces ending up in the right places. Not like the Christmas Eve toy assembly frenzy I remember from long long ago.

It had a tool rack across the rear of the top that I discarded. Of course then I had to make a larger top to fit. I used the top off a Craftsman bench that had a steel top surface and doubled it up with MDF for a total thickness of 1-3/4". I also added a laminated strongback of 3/4" plywood about 5" high under the top in the longitudinal direction right under the locations for the lathe mounting bolts. The bolts pass through the top and strongback and are reinforced with fender washers on the bottom end bearing on the strongback. When the bolts are snugged up the whole assembly becomes very stiff, like an I-Beam.

I also added a leg extension made from a piece of square tubing with a 1/2" nut welded to one end. Into the nut is threaded a leveling pad with a jamb nut. This assembly is then bolted into the corner of each of the four legs of the bench.