spreading the love..from a Mazak

[Zamfir]

Ok,

So, I have a Mazak quick turn 20 coming to live in my garage in a couple weeks.

It weighs around 12000 lbs. Yeah, I did not add a zero by accident.
The spot in my garage it will sit would cause it to span 4 different slabs and not in a good way.. all on the edges and or corners.

Making or buying some skates to move it into place. I have a mill and welder.

Yup, only 4" concrete. So, I am thinking of creative ways of keeping it happy and not break my garage floor all over the place.

Here are my current thoughts.

big pieces of 1/2" steel under each foot to spread out the weight.
or
I cut 18x18 inch-ish squares in my current floor, dig down about 36" and dig outward at the bottom and pour footers for each foot.

you see where my head is at.. Any suggestions or experiences here to share?

Going to be an exciting May here.. lol.


Thanks!
Eric

 

[Tony Wells]

Monolithic slab only for foundation. 5 bag mix, plenty of rebar. 12" thick min. 30% larger than footprint. Expansion joints all around.

 

[Zamfir]

Monolithic slab only for foundation. 5 bag mix, plenty of rebar. 12" thick min. 30% larger than footprint. Expansion joints all around.

I Know ideally that is what I should have. No way it can happen in this timeframe. I wish it could.

 

[FOMOGO]

If the substrate is good, I think you will be fine with what you have. The plates certainly won't hurt. Mike

 

[Glenn Brooks]

A 12" square steel plate = 144sq inches. So with 4 plates you will be supporting about 3000 # on each plate for a surface loading of around 22#/square inch. Very light loading. I wouldn't worry at all about the foundation slab at this level of loading. You could probably play with the math and determine that with adjusting pads having around 4 sq inches surface area, perhaps you don't even need the steel plates. (750lb/sq inch loading).

That's about what the average size pick up loads on your garage floor.

If you opt for the steel plates, likely 1/4" to 3/8" plate would be more than adequate to support the weight. And a lot cheaper than 1/2".

Glenn.

 

[brino]

Hi Eric,

This is the milling machine I have in my garage:
http://hobby-machinist.com/members/brino.28808/
Cincinnati tells me it's 11,000lbs with the vertical head installed.

Back when I got it I was worried too. But I did the math (like Glenn shows above).
Sure it's heavy, but with the size of the base of the machine I determined the load was not unreasonable.
However, I do NOT have it near an edge or corner of a slab.

The one suggestion I do have is to forget the machinery skates for this; put it on heavy plates and use pipes or even solid bar rollers under that. That will spread the load better and not punch any holes thru the slab with the skates.

Yours will be different; yours has feet mine is a solid flat base, but here's what I did....maybe it will give some ideas:

When it was delivered I had the crane place it on pipes upon a sheet of 3/4" plywood just outside the garage door. I had previous raked up the gravel to make the top of the sheet the same as the floor height. Keep the pull point very low! With that and a come-along and good anchor (my pickup truck on the patio with a chain thru the back door) I was able to pull it into the garage. Slow, methodical and keep moving pipes to the front, don't let the front tip down until it's fully on the slab.

Once on the slab I slowly pulled without replacing the pipes until the machine base was flat on the slab. Then I wrapped a chain around the base and (again slowly!) spun it exactly into position.

Note however: I am NOT a mechanical engineer, rigger, machine installer. I'm just saying what worked for me. Use at your own risk.

What ever you do please be careful!
(.......and get us a bunch of pictures, too!)

-brino

 

[Zamfir]

Thanks for the input!

I was thinking maybe to help out the multiple slab issue, I could get 3 lengths of 6 foot by 8" 1/4 thick steel and lay them from foot to foot along the width. That could spread the load even more and help bridge between slabs?
Since the machine is 5 foot wide 6 foot would give a nice overlap.

I never thought I would be getting anything of this size let alone so soon. Shoot, it will sit for a while until I can afford a 20hp phase perfect. All of this was in the plans in a year or so but for the price on a known good working machine from a friend..I just gotta figure out a way to make it work. I will never come close to needing all this thing could give nor will I ever see a price point like this. ohh man. Can not stop thinking on it.

Ohh I will get pictures..

 

[Zamfir]

Here it is during its last move.

 

[Metal]

I would cut a 1/4" or so slot about a foot out from where the machine will sit

If it /does/ start to crack the concrete, it will be easy to detect and the crack will follow the slot (like a sidewalk) rather than ruin the entire garage pad

 

[Zamfir]

The festivities start tomorrow with a 6 hr drive up to meet the lathe and get 1/2 a day to train on it under power. Then Monday it will follow me home.
I rearranged my shop layout and changed where the lathe will live. Now it will only be on 2 pads and right in the center of them both. That makes me feel a little better!

After cruzing through the web me and my friend whipped this toe jack together using 1/2" steel plate and a 10 ton bottle jack. She ain't pretty but I think she has just the right amount of character and beef. It lifted my Blazer without a grunt. Tomorrow will be the real test.