I’m thinking of getting a bonsai turntable and have been looking at the Green T basic hydraulic turntable with the round top. Has anyone had any experience with this table, and do you have another you prefer?
Experience no.
Prefer. Depends on your willingness to spend. A used hairdressers chair base will deliver the same functionality. You will need to provide your own plywood top and time for diy. The green t will be delivered ready to go.
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I use a lazy susan and clamps.
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I use old wooden spoon with a lazy Susan attached and a old cut down tree stump as a stool.
Thanks for all your suggestions. I currently have a plastic lazy susan which isn’t capable of handling the weight of some larger trees, plus it would be nice to raise the tree up and down to more conveniently work on it while sitting. That’s why I’m thinking of making an upgrade.
The salon chair idea is interesting, but the base seems a little large to store conveniently. Maybe I can find an old office chair with a hydraulic lift that I can repurpose. I’ll keep you posted.
For a number of years I’ve used a hydraulic wheel around motorcycle lift which I modified with a turntable race and fresh top. Works great. I then treated myself to the shohin Green T and have found it an absolute gem to use, clamp it on to the motorcycle lift most of the time but can use it indoors as well. I then won a full size Mojo Bonsai work table at The National in the UK this year. As an engineer I am impressed with the build quality and tilt function. It’s very stable with my bigger trees as well. I guess I’m spoilt.
Hello Blown55,
Out if curiosity. How much weight have your trees on average. Asking, because the Mojo did not fare that well (imo) at theTrophy this year.
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Not sure in KG but mostly what I would define as 1 man trees with a couple of 2 man. I’ve had no problems.
If you all didn’t know, salon chair bases are the used for 99% of ready to use bonsai turntables.
I picked these up last year from a salon owner who was replacing their chairs. The star bases are a little smaller than the round bases. Green T uses the star base on their turntables
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Home Depot and Lowe’s have premade wood rounds in various sizes. They take stain well, and are inexpensive. They also have the Lazy Susan base plates 350# capacity for about $5. A few screws and that’s how I make my turntables.
The same components and an old hydrologic bar stool saved from the trash heap make my work station pictured. I have used an old barber chair base as well.
Any chair base will usually have a slightly angled plate at the seat, but a few washers will level it out nicely.
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@Forestcat I have one of the Green T basic and am pleased with it. Good build quality. But I often prefer to work at my main workbench with a Lazy Susan tabletop style turntable from Kaizen. At some point I’d like to upgrade that to a Mojo tabletop turntable.
I use concrete form panels, they are 1 1/8” thick exterior grade HDO plywood.
Heavy duty, won’t warp or deteriorate. form panels are made to take a lot of abuse from the elements.
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I have the Green t plus which has the extension. I do like it but the biggest negative is it can not lift my larger trees into the extension part. If you get the basic model you won’t get that problem.
Thanks to everyone for their suggestions! The commercially available tables on the market are very nice, but I don’t want to invest that much money right now. My husband made me a table with a turntable on top. It doesn’t raise and lower but it is vastly superior to what I had been using. I’m going to keep my eyes out for a used salon base.
This is the detail from a tip published in Fine Woodworking for an adjustable shop stool. it uses the tail stock from a pipe clamp as the adjustment mechanism. Not as easily adjustable as the salon chair base, but readily available and not very expensive.
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It’s looks very well built. Nicely done Nick!
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What did you use for the top surface? Is it textured steel plate or a textured rubber/polymer?
It’s a textured polymer rubber.
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Thanks. I have another one to make vey soon.