New mill, anchor to floor or just sit it down ??

[Dabbler]

The best reason for leveling a mill is to stop the cutters from rolling off the table!

 

[ttabbal]

The best reason for leveling a mill is to stop the cutters from rolling off the table!

Stick them in the slots of the table... And curse when you can't get them back out.

 

[hman]

I saw a discussion once, I think at the PM forum, about whether mills need to be level to the world, or if table/head alignment is all that matters. One guy made a comment that settled it for many, including me: "Tell Navy machinists that machines need to be level."

I agree that machine tools don't really have to be level in order to function properly. But I carefully leveled my mill (at least, the tabletop) to make it easier to check tilt angles or levelness of workpiece surfaces. In many cases an "angle cube" gives me all the accuracy I need. And it's less complicated if the mill itself is level.