I would bolt a strip of 10mm x 50mm wide strip long enough to be stable to each end of the base with some alternate holes for bolting it down as well.

David

Hi Adrian R,

I have a Craftsman lathe,somewhat similar to your machine. My lathe sits on two pedestals ,which I bolted to the floor after fixing them to the machine.Found no need to bother with shims. At one high speed,which I seldom use,I detected a slight vibration,so I fixed a strut from the back of the headstock to the back wall,problem solved !

Since my lathe is belt driven,I had no need to worry about oil leaks.

Even without bolting down,I doubt if it would topple over

It's not a difficult high risk requirement. The bolts only have to resist the toppling force. Although top-heavy the lathe is reasonably stable without bolts. It might only have to worry about being knocked accidentally by you. More effort needed if it might be bumped by a fork-lift or a car.

However, even cheapo M8 bolts should be good for about 500kg each, so 8 of them would be plenty to keep a lathe upright. Thing to watch is the possibility a bolt might pull out of a thin concrete floor, or the washer could fold over – the M8 washer that comes with the bolt has to span from the 8mm bolt across a 12mm diameter hole, not best practice.

I suggest:

• Concrete depends on who laid the floor, but worth drilling a for an M8 x 40mm Rawl Bolt or other expanding type if there's enough thickness, otherwise use shorter bolts to match the depth of concrete. If the floor is terrifyingly thin, ask again!
• Use the lathe to make a few extra thick washers, 3 or 4mm to add strength.

Dave

Regarding the difficulty of marking the holes for bolting down,Chester gave the spacing for the holes,so I simply cut a piece if plywood the full size of the lathe footprint,marked out the holes then screwed the ply to the floor while drilling the bolt holes. Worked very well,no bother finding the holes through the pedestal base.