Comfortable Working Height

The PM-935 weighs about 1500 pounds, right? How did you raise it 11"? That's raising the center of gravity 11". Being a knee mill, maybe raising it that much may not be such a big deal because the base is so heavy.

But that's what I am dealing with on a PM 932 class bench mill. Having a Bolton ZX-45, I'm a Precision Matthews wanta be.

Hello everyone, post #1. Besides not having a base for my mill, I am picky about working height being 5' 11" and shrinking a bit by the year. My only solution is to make a base. My concerns are raising a fully loaded 900 pound mill to give a hopefully 40"ish table height. I've thought a lot about using concrete as a cost effective base, but not able to move the mill is an issue and the situation of earthquakes here in California. I really like the concrete pad solution up thread and I suppose it could be surfaced to move laterally if one desired, and when bolted to an existing base would lower the center of gravity.

Common wisdom dictates a base that slides laterally during an earthquake, as in the high rise building construction that has a shock system that moves horizontally. A high center of gravity system such as a heavy tall milling machine is not something you want to bolt to a concrete slap, at least here in California.

So, my in progress solution is a mill base made with 3" square, 1/8" wall tubing that will be 29+" high. The mill base to mill table height is almost 10", giving a height from floor of about 39". A 5" vise would add 3" to that.

Back on the concrete subject, it and epoxy resin is currently being used for structural vibrational stability of CNC builds. My idea is to fill the 3" square tubing with concrete to add mass and maybe add epoxy resin to the mill base and lower Z axis part.

Anyway, I have to finish the base in order to build the mill which is torn down. Maybe I can post another or 2 to earn the right to post photos of my progress. (In the right section)
 
"How did you raise it 11"?"

I made it out of 4" X 8" X .166 tubing, and the stance is wider by almost 4" per side. It is behind a mound of stuff in my over crowded garage, and my working mill is in front of it. I need to put a 27" pallet jack under it from the front.

I'll post a picture of the base when it is uncovered.
 
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Seems like bench ht. should be variable based on the size of work. If working on a fixed ht. machine, elbow ht. seems good for me. 41" in my case.
In my commercial woodworking shop all four assembly benches are hydraulic tables, 4 x 10' . Strangely, employees resisted the idea when originally proposed. Now they wouldn't go back to fixed ht. Change is hard!
 
I like the idea of making the base wide enough to put a pallet jack under it from the front, in the event you wanted to move it. Of course the levelers (feet) would also have to be tall enough to allow the pallet jack under it. And the added width should make it a little more stable. I have a pallet jack in a storage facility, I'll have to take some measurements and see I can come up with a design that makes sense.
 
/\ Relook at post 2 in this thread and follow the link to post 8. It allows for exactly what you are talking about. Dimensions and all. A standard pallet jack is 27" wide.
 
Pallet jacks are very handy. You can get them new, in a variety of widths and lengths, at reasonable prices.
 
I have 2 pallet jacks in my little shop. a 27" and a 21" It makes moving things a lot easier!
 
I have 2 pallet jacks in my little shop. a 27" and a 21" It makes moving things a lot easier!
The 21" would be nice for a lot of things in a small shop.
 
To continue where I left off over a year and a half ago, here is my square column bench mill with a table height of almost 40", with the head all the way up. The vertical struts of the base are filled with concrete and the base and column is filled with epoxy resin, but that is another story.

At 5' 11" or so, this working height is a huge plus over a lesser solution. I could easily get 41" out of the leveling feet, but here is my gripe. On short work pieces, I'm sitting on a shop stool anyway, with the limited visibility caused by a large wide head, and especially with collet use.

Up thread, someone asked about a knee mill working height and no one commented. Well, as I rebuild a Rockwell 21-100 vertical knee mill, I get it now. The working height stays the same on all size word pieces because the head stays the same and the knee moves with the size of the word piece. And the added benefit is the stability is easily retained due to the cast iron base and column giving a lower center of gravity than a bench mill on a bench. The spindle of the Rockwell is at about 52" with my current base/caster arrangement, a foot higher than the bench mill.

Just something to think about.
 

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The bed of mt Mini-Mill is at about 42-1/2", which places the top of the vise jaws at 45" and the hand wheels a little below elbow height. I'm just under 6' and this is comfortable for me. Didn't plan this, it just worked out when I added a riser to get Y-Axis hand wheel clearance above my base (heavy-duty, welded Art Steel legal size file cabinet):

Mini-Mill Height.jpg

The 2x4 base allowed for easier leveling.
 
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