Bolting a mill down vs leveling feet

[Ray C]

I once had a surface grinder that had threaded holes in the cast iron base but the threads were butchered-up beyond repair. In pinch, I drilled-out the holes and put 5/8 threaded rod thru with adjusting nuts at the top and bottom. Furthermore, I welded some 3/8 plates to the threaded rod then, set it down on top of 4 rubber hockey pucks; one under each leg. It worked perfectly and cost almost nothing.

Ray C.

 

[randyjaco]

The only place I bolted my machines down was in California because of the possibility of earthquakes. Here in Texas they go on adjustable mounting pads.

Randy

 

[Bob Korves]

Earthquake country is the worst place to bolt down machines unless you can make it VERY strong and solidly part of the building. If you look at videos of machines (and other stuff) in an earthquake, they slide all over the room but usually stay vertical unless they trip on something. The hold down bolts trip them immediately. The floor moves, the machine wants to stay, so the top stays relatively stationary while the base moves sideways. That puts the machine immediately over on it's side. The issue is similar if a forklift runs into a machine. If it is free on the floor, it usually just moves sideways. If it is bolted down, it tips over. I really cannot see bolting down machines unless a lot of reciprocating mass will be moving, or a large mass revolving off center. If the machine wants to move due to machining forces, for the machines in our hobby shops I say let it move. It is easier to move it back to where it was than to pick the broken machine up off the floor.

 

[dfsmoto]

Those are the ones I was referring to. I have never met anyone who has happily used them on a lathe or mill. I tried for months to be happy with them on a quality lathe. Finally gave up and mounted the machine on grade 8 bolts with nuts , washers and homemade small pad of steel, no cushion of any kind. I respect and defer to Mr. King and his wealth of experience on the subject, but those Mason feet are a waste of money for a lathe or mill IMO.

A lathe is a whole other animal. It needs to be bolted down and also have jack bolts next to each hold down to true up the ways.
A bench top lathe would be fine to use leveling pads on the base as you are truing it on the bench, but a floor standing one needs to be leveled by jacking or pulling down on anchors to take any twist out of it.

 

[Cheeseking]

I'm considering putting leveling feet under my new Acer 3VSii mill (full size Taiwanese Bridgeport clone) much like the pic below. However the feet will be spaced a little farther apart to also allow rolling a pallet jack underneath from the front occasionally. The leveling feet are rated at something like 4500lbs each. The feet would be adjusted "low" for the leveling and then adjusted "high" for rolling the pallet jack under. The steel tube is 2" x 3" thick wall, oriented flat wise

I'm anticipating some setups where the leveling would be advantageous.

So they would serve two functions: leveling, and "adjustable cribbing" for the pallet jack.

There are lots of pics on the web of people doing similar but not much discussion of how well it works over time. Can anyone advise first hand experience doing something similar?


View attachment 264017

The pic you posted is my BP. Normally I would not suggest doing it this way vs just plopping it on a couple thin, dense anti-vibe pads or just shims. I did it primarily to allow me to easily get underneath and move it if need be with a pallet jack. Plus I had the surplus HD pads and tubing on hand. Its been 5 years now and so far so good. No shakes or wiggles and its as level as when I first installed. I don’t care for the extra height it adds but fortunately I am tall enough to still reach the drawbar and basement has 8’ clear to the floor joists.

 

[jmarkwolf]

The pic you posted is my BP. Normally I would not suggest doing it this way vs just plopping it on a couple thin, dense anti-vibe pads or just shims. I did it primarily to allow me to easily get underneath and move it if need be with a pallet jack. Plus I had the surplus HD pads and tubing on hand. Its been 5 years now and so far so good. No shakes or wiggles and its as level as when I first installed. I don’t care for the extra height it adds but fortunately I am tall enough to still reach the drawbar and basement has 8’ clear to the floor joists.

Hi Cheeseking
You say that "Normally I would not suggest doing it this way" but then go on to say "Its been 5 years now and so far so good. No shakes or wiggles and its as level as when I first installed".
My main motivation for doing it is making it easy to level, secondarily, as you say, to make it easier to get a pallet jack under it, particularly from the front. The height would normally be set low for every day use (don't mind the added nominal height), and raised only when needing to move it with the pallet jack.
I already have the thick wall tube and the leveling feet. Can you advise of any reason not to do it?

 

[Cheeseking]

Nope if it work for you I would say go for it. Only pointing out there are pluses and minuses to the approach. The downsides are added working height (which could be a plus but who knows) and the possibility of it being not as stable, rigid etc. If I was to do it over I’d go with 3/4” x 2” CRS bars vs the tubing simply to reduced height. Again, had the tubing said wth lets use it. Assuming your pads are strong and not jiggly and the tubing is strong you will have no problems. “normally” may have been the wrong choice of words. Everyone’s situation and needs are different. A thought I had was to miter the tube ends 45deg thereby making more use of the threaded studs when raising it up. The way it is now I only have about 1/4-3/8” of adjustment and Im out of threads on the stud.
Like this...

 

[jmarkwolf]

Good info Cheeseking, thanks.

The studs on my leveling feet are 6 inches long so I've got plenty of adjustment on my 2in x 3in tube (oriented flat-wise), even after allowing for the height of the forks on the pallet jack. The feet will need to be spaced widely enough to clear the 27 inch wide forks (approx 32 inches allowing for some maneuvering room).

 

[Cgantner5150]

I used a treated 4x4 across the front and rear of my Bridgeport, spaced to allow the pallet jack to come in under from the sides. Lag bolts in from the top.
Works well so far (1 year).

 

[jmarkwolf]

I used a treated 4x4 across the front and rear of my Bridgeport, spaced to allow the pallet jack to come in under from the sides. Lag bolts in from the top.
Works well so far (1 year).

I do the same thing, but my lathe is on one side of my mill and toolboxes on the other, so approaching the side of the mill with the pallet jack is problematic. Approaching from the front is the best option for me.

I'm going to proceed with my leveling feet idea, so I can approach from the front, since I have all the materials on hand. I'll post pics of the "adventure" here later.

I can always do something different later if I don't like it.