Hi - and thank you all in advance for any advice. I've been a hobby woodworker for a while, and have always seemed to need metal odds and ends that I thought I should be able to make myself. I used a community metal shop for a while, but my hours and theirs were seldom in sync. I stumbled on the opportunity to purchase a near complete small metal shop - 9x20 lathe, X2 mill, small bandsaw, a bunch of stock, tools, and indicators - and am starting to set things up in my basement, in a room separate from the woodshop.
The part of the basement that I'll use is currently carpeted - a Berber with 3/8" padding on a cement floor. I found some heavy duty metal cabinet bases and a 1 3/4" wood bench top. I was hoping this would be stable on the carpet - a dresser with a TV and an old kitchen cabinet full of junk seem pretty solid. This bench, however, seems to move a little, at least without the weight of the lathe and mill. I don't know if adding the tools will allow the bench to "sink in", or if that is wishful thinking. I am reluctant to pull up the carpet (not sure how long we'll live here, and hate to give up the "finished basement"). I thought of cutting 2" or 3" holes in the carpet under the cabinet levelers, or of making some 3x3" metal plates with a few (3) 1/4" x 1" long slightly pointed screws poking through the carpet to the cement floor. I realize I'll also need some runners or other means of protecting the exposed carpet.
Any thoughts or suggestions?
Thanks!
David
The part of the basement that I'll use is currently carpeted - a Berber with 3/8" padding on a cement floor. I found some heavy duty metal cabinet bases and a 1 3/4" wood bench top. I was hoping this would be stable on the carpet - a dresser with a TV and an old kitchen cabinet full of junk seem pretty solid. This bench, however, seems to move a little, at least without the weight of the lathe and mill. I don't know if adding the tools will allow the bench to "sink in", or if that is wishful thinking. I am reluctant to pull up the carpet (not sure how long we'll live here, and hate to give up the "finished basement"). I thought of cutting 2" or 3" holes in the carpet under the cabinet levelers, or of making some 3x3" metal plates with a few (3) 1/4" x 1" long slightly pointed screws poking through the carpet to the cement floor. I realize I'll also need some runners or other means of protecting the exposed carpet.
Any thoughts or suggestions?
Thanks!
David