I have an generic far East made lathe and I've made a few modification including new headstock bearings but it doesn't feel right when turning and taking a video when using the lathe has revealed that the motor is oscillating under load, the motor is fixed to the bed of the lathe only at the front and is allowed to move towards the headstock for belt tensioning,there's a single bolt to tighten the motor but that doesn't hold the motor still.

So i decided to mount the motor separately from the lathe.

I took the hinge part off and turned the mounting bracket round so that the mounting hole are at the back.Mountingbracket

Step 1: Making the New Motor Mounts

I used 2 pieces of 2 x 2 angle iron 3mm thick to make the new mounts.

After marking the holes with a scribe I drilled 2 x 6mm holes parallel to each other for the bolt sliders and 3 hole equally spaced for fixing screws on each mount.

I cut the bolt slider holes with my jigsaw and cleaned them up with a file the slots need to be fairly accurate to except the square ends of a coach bolt so that they don't turn when tightening.

Step 2: Building the Motor Pedestal

I used 3 layers of particle board to bolt the lathe bed down and another 5 layer for the motor pedestal I ( I figured the more layer less vibration) isolated the last layer by inserting a rubber mat under it and 2 layers of rubber mat under the motor mounts.

I wrapped a block of wood slightly higher than the metal angle in the same material so that the motor sat on this rather than metal to metal

Step 3: Mounting the The Motor

The motor sit on the mounting brackets and slides in the slots for belt tension and held firmly in place by 2 coach bolts and 2 home made screw down knobs.

Check out my Instructable on making knobs.