I'm considering this machine. My shop (garage) floor has a bit of grade/slope so my current (RF-45 type) mill required those rubber leveling pads under the stand. But the 935 is a heavier machine. Can I still use pads like this in the existing holes of the casting base, or is the machine weight getting up there & it needs to be supported with a rigid base & somehow grouted or shimmed? I noticed some of you have the mill sitting on a welded base. Is this more for increasing the table work height or related to how it rests on the floor? I'll have to measure my actual ceiling height but guessing I don't have a ton of excess headroom. hence the questions.
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935 floor base
- Thread starter petertha
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- Oct 27, 2016
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The PM935 is a bit low, I'm 6'2" and need to raise it 6" minimum. You may find the height OK as is, but 2 - 3" lift would be better.
The base is hollow underneath, the bolt holes are only in the top part of the casting, so you will need a base that you place the mill onto and mount leveling feet to.
David.
The base is hollow underneath, the bolt holes are only in the top part of the casting, so you will need a base that you place the mill onto and mount leveling feet to.
David.
- Joined
- Nov 15, 2016
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- 943
I used some of these on both my Mill/Drill and Lathe with 16 mm Galvanised Bolts and they work great, the cost was within budget as well. It is mid Winter and after a couple of weeks of torrential rain I had a flood,(1"),through the garage, so glad everything was up off the floor, made clean-up a lot easier.
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Here is what I did with my PM935 that arrived last week. I wanted it up on leveling feet and to increase the height of the machine off the floor just enough that my pallet jack forks would clear going under the mill from the side (forks are 21" wide, 3.5" tall, the cutout is 24", but I needed another 1.5 inches of height for them to clear).
I started with two pieces of 1/4" thick 3x4 angle, 26" long, clipped off the 3" side corners at 45-degrees, flap-disc'd off the mill scale and radiused the corners and eased all the edges.
I ordered 3" diameter leveling feet from McMaster 6111K247 - could have gotten away with the 2" high versions instead of the 4" versions I ordered. These feet are 3/4-10 thread, come with a locknut, but no washers or other nuts (which I ordered separately).
I decided to use 5/8" AllThread to attach the angle plates to the mill through the holes in the base of the PM935, and set the leveling feet outside the base of the machine to improve stability. 10" long all thread into tapped 5/8 holes (which are 417mm apart CL-to-CL), the leveling feet were placed 60mm in from the end of the angle brackets:
After drilling, I primed and painted the angle brackets:
After two coats, and installation on the PM935, this is what the finished platform looks like. The 5/8 AllThread fits the 3/4" holes in the machine base just fine. Opposing jamb nuts were used to captivate and secure the 5/8” AllThread to the angle. I will ended up trimming off the tops of those and adding acorn nuts to leave a no-snag top on both the 5/8” AllThread and the leveling feet mounting studs once everything else was settled.
After cutting the threaded studs and adding acorn nuts is shown here.
Since the floor here is 1.25" T&G commercial decking plywood on stringers, my plan is to drill out 4" diameter holes in the floor and put in 4" diameter solid aluminum round bar stand-offs that will go down to the concrete floor below, turned to match the height of the floor. I'll post on that once finished. And it's also time to re-paint the floor, obviously.
Hope this helps.
I started with two pieces of 1/4" thick 3x4 angle, 26" long, clipped off the 3" side corners at 45-degrees, flap-disc'd off the mill scale and radiused the corners and eased all the edges.
I ordered 3" diameter leveling feet from McMaster 6111K247 - could have gotten away with the 2" high versions instead of the 4" versions I ordered. These feet are 3/4-10 thread, come with a locknut, but no washers or other nuts (which I ordered separately).
I decided to use 5/8" AllThread to attach the angle plates to the mill through the holes in the base of the PM935, and set the leveling feet outside the base of the machine to improve stability. 10" long all thread into tapped 5/8 holes (which are 417mm apart CL-to-CL), the leveling feet were placed 60mm in from the end of the angle brackets:
After drilling, I primed and painted the angle brackets:
After two coats, and installation on the PM935, this is what the finished platform looks like. The 5/8 AllThread fits the 3/4" holes in the machine base just fine. Opposing jamb nuts were used to captivate and secure the 5/8” AllThread to the angle. I will ended up trimming off the tops of those and adding acorn nuts to leave a no-snag top on both the 5/8” AllThread and the leveling feet mounting studs once everything else was settled.
After cutting the threaded studs and adding acorn nuts is shown here.
Since the floor here is 1.25" T&G commercial decking plywood on stringers, my plan is to drill out 4" diameter holes in the floor and put in 4" diameter solid aluminum round bar stand-offs that will go down to the concrete floor below, turned to match the height of the floor. I'll post on that once finished. And it's also time to re-paint the floor, obviously.
Hope this helps.
Last edited:
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- Dec 26, 2015
- Messages
- 2,148
Oh, and if you like the pucker factor associated with rigging a machine into an elevator shaft, here is what I did yesterday:
More to come . . .
More to come . . .
Some good ideas here, glad I asked.
David, does the 5" gap to accommodate the forks correspond to under the casting, or do you mean you would jack the legs so they go under the steel frame? Anyway, that seems like a very smart way to get in & out on the floor without overhead equipment.
ps - Wow. That is one heck of rigging thread-the-needle job. Now I feel kind of silly worrying about how to roll mine in & out of the double wide garage door
pss - I seem to recall you had an (PM version) RF-45 & were about to commence your patented overclocking & soup-up routine like the lathe. Did you opt for this mill instead or did I miss the build?
David, does the 5" gap to accommodate the forks correspond to under the casting, or do you mean you would jack the legs so they go under the steel frame? Anyway, that seems like a very smart way to get in & out on the floor without overhead equipment.
ps - Wow. That is one heck of rigging thread-the-needle job. Now I feel kind of silly worrying about how to roll mine in & out of the double wide garage door
pss - I seem to recall you had an (PM version) RF-45 & were about to commence your patented overclocking & soup-up routine like the lathe. Did you opt for this mill instead or did I miss the build?
- Joined
- Oct 27, 2016
- Messages
- 288
David, nice to see you have received your PM935 and looking forward to seeing your build thread.