# leveling pad plans



## Ski (Sep 1, 2014)

Anyone make leveling pads? They are expensive to buy. Some thing to support a 1600 lb machine so should be overkilled to say maybe 3000 lb. Reason for use is shop is small and built on a slab. I have no doubt it shifts a bit during the froxen months. Curious. I have heard mention of someone using hockey pucks? Ski


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## Thoro (Sep 1, 2014)

http://www.Hobby-Machinist.com/showthread.php?t=25497

Just wrote about what I did for my lathe.  You'd be surprised what can achieve with some threaded rod, nuts and washers.... 3000 lbs, distributed over how many points? 1/2 threaded radio you keep it short would probably do it... 5/8 to be safe?


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## Ski (Sep 1, 2014)

Thoro said:


> http://www.Hobby-Machinist.com/showthread.php?t=25497
> 
> Just wrote about what I did for my lathe.  You'd be surprised what can achieve with some threaded rod, nuts and washers.... 3000 lbs, distributed over how many points? 1/2 threaded radio you keep it short would probably do it... 5/8 to be safe?


Distributed over 4 points on a 13 south bend. I thought I'd ask and see if someone engineered some already. Ski


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## Thoro (Sep 1, 2014)

I'm going to say my gut would go with 5/8" rod with hockey pucks if you want/need grip/vib dampening.


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## Ski (Sep 2, 2014)

Thoro said:


> I'm going to say my gut would go with 5/8" rod with hockey pucks if you want/need grip/vib dampening.


this 13 has room for 1/2 threaded rod . That said ,I am going to take a look at a hockey puck and see if I want to go there. I also gotta say that in case anyone is interested in trying leveling casters , I did. My thoughts on it is they are to wobbly once up on the pads. I can wiggle the lathe on them.  I am going to give them a test running the machune though. Leveling pad question is my thinking ahead if I decide to take the casters off. They are nice for moving it around tho for sure.


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## Thoro (Sep 2, 2014)

Good to know about leveling casters. For me personally, I just don't understand why a machine like that needs to be moveable.... Seems like it should be well thought through on where to put it., set it, and forget it... Who wants to constantly worry about leveling it after moving it, if you care about precision?


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## Ski (Sep 3, 2014)

Thoro said:


> Good to know about leveling casters. For me personally, I just don't understand why a machine like that needs to be moveable.... Seems like it should be well thought through on where to put it., set it, and forget it... Who wants to constantly worry about leveling it after moving it, if you care about precision?


True about moving it. That said,my shop is in a constant state of change. I also considered it would be nice for someone else in case I drop off the face of the earth and the thing would need to be sold. Easy to roll to the door. Men die young in my family. Thanks for your thought on it ! Ski


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## Ski (Sep 6, 2014)

I did some checking today on why the leveling casters allow movement. It appears to me to be completly in the pads. The movement is the pad compressing,in other words. Havving had one apart,I am thinking a replacement pad of less (or no) give could be made easily. I will look into it once the lathe is up and running. Ski


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## astjp2 (Sep 7, 2014)

I just get the commercial ones, Essentra components has them for fairly cheap.  I also get my machine crank handles from them.  
http://www.essentracomponents.com/?..._cable-ties_us&utm_content=1407_cable-ties_us


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## Kroll (Sep 7, 2014)

If you ask me,not a bad price.http://www.hobby-machinist.com/ozzmodz_classifieds.php?do=viewitem&itemid=121 No,I don't him just if I was in the market I would be all over this---kroll


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## Ski (Sep 15, 2014)

Just an update on the Footmaster leveling pads I have. The rock or bounce problem bothered me to the point of considering doing the leveling pad. At the same time I added the question on pads here, I thought I would see if Footmaster had a solution so sent emails to Caster Depot, where I got them and Footmaster themselves explaining what my problem was and received a very fast reply from both of them. Great people to work with,both CasterDepot and Footmaster. Ryan ,at Footmaster was very helpful and he worked with me and his engineers and came up with a solution. The caster I used initially was the GD80S with a poly pad. Their was a higher durometer scale pad [90A verses 80A] to try but that is not the route we chose. After a few pictures of the installation and a video, They decided to adapt a GD120S to a 1/2" stud to fit the South Bend 13". The pad is made of solid aluminum on this caster. I received these upgrades Friday and installed them. The issue of excessive movement is gone. This lathe is rock solid or as close to that as you can get without bolting it down. Just in case I did not mention this , Prior to deciding to try these leveling casters ,I had checked where the weight of the lathe was supported. Sitting on the floor the only contact the lathe made is right at the base bolt holes and leg bolt holes [1/2"] which made sense as far as leveling is concerned. For those considering going this route they will have a new part out soon with a 1/2 mounting stud, the part number to this is GD-120S-BLK-001. The capacity of this caster is going to change slightly due to the 1/2' stud but it was rated at 2200lb's each with I believe, a 4400lb per 4 recommended load. More than enough for this 13", 1600lb machine [give or take]. Cost may be a factor for some and has to be weighed in. That said,I also liked the fact of a clean installation and that it raised the working height of the machine for me. That should also be considered as changing the height is an advantage and a disadvantage depending on the operator. My shop is also my garage so being able to move things around as needed is a plus for me with my limited space. I am also located in Wisconsin which has some cold winters. Once the ground is frozen I have to re-level the lathe. Being on these makes that easy as well. Ski


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