Dibnah

Having made a number of countershaft arrangements of several different designs over the years I think what a I called a "crypto Myford" version would work well with your Zyoto. Basically a rectangular frame hinged off the bench just behind the lathe bed running up at an angle such that the drive belt from countershaft to lathe spindle clears the back gear pivots. The motor is suspended on a suitably pivoted bracket close to the bottom of the frame. I Imagine a frame around 3 ft long would work OK.

The one I made was for a Pools lathe. The motor was perhaps 2 inches clear of the back of the bed and a similar distance above the bench. The countershaft itself ended up with its spindle line around 16" back from the lathe spindle. Plenty of room to add a second shaft, ex-spin drier bearing carrier units are good, if you go for a two stage speed reduction which uses smaller pulleys. I guess somewhere around 350 rpm countershaft speed would be OK.

By cunning arrangement of the pivots (OK sheer luck!) thew eight of motor and countershaft unit gave adequate belt tensions. Plan B was bungee straps!

I made a belt guard from hardboard sheet which painted up quite well.

Clive

Dibnah
It looks like you've got the basis for what could be a nice piece of kit.

Dibnah

Rather than trying to create a sturdy bench I'd be looking around for cupboards or drawer sets that could be turned into a lathe support at reasonable cost.

Many years ago my then boss "found" a really solid 2 door metal cupboard the right size for his Zyto. Albeit a bit low. He made a superstructure to take a false top perhaps 6" higher up. Left the headstock end half of it open and sorted a drawer in the other half to hold useful stuff.

My "best" moment was when B&Q had a sale of two door plastic cupboards intended for garden use at a price too good to miss. Maybe Keter brand. I got two, bolted them together with a plywood plate between to stiffen them up and rammed planed to size wood struts down the hollow corner sections to make solid legs. Finished off by bolting kitchen worktop to the top making everything amply solid for a SouthBend 9C lathe. Bit bigger than your Zyto. I'd planned to put a panel on the back but didn't bother as by the time I'd bolted the shelves in it was well stiff.

Second best, albeit as design adviser to a friend so not directly for me, was to use the best pair of cupboards out of his old kitchen with all the joints stiffened with 1" angle iron and roof tiling battens(?) as appropriate. Basically stuff he had. I assume the deal with SWMBO was "You can have a lathe if I get a kitchen.". Not that I asked.

When setting up my Heavy 10 I lucked into a set of shallow drawers perhaps 2 inches deep, maybe 8 or 9 inches wide and a bit under a foot long. I made a stack of 5 or 6 to sit at the right hand rear of the cabinet partially overlapping both back and side. Really useful for lathe tools and the like. Later I added a wood batten to the side to hold morse taper things. Four holes drilled at about 30° upward slope. Now sits on my Smart & Brown 1024.

Clive

Well, you've moved all the weight really high up, made the base really narrow and put tiny wheels on it.

I would suggest that you never move it like that, running those wheels into any dip like the joints on those bricks in the floor will likely trip it up. You should at least be using the size of wheels from that mobile screen you have in the last photo.

I've got a cheap Halfords tool chest with that size of wheel and it gets stuck on anything.