Would YOU put a small mill and lathe on casters?

consider this point naysayers....
almost every naval vessel over 100 feet in length, will undoubtedly have a fully functional machine shop on board.
the machines are never level when underway.

can anyone tell me how the navy machinists can make just as accurate part when underway, as you can on your perfectly leveled lathe or mill to .0005"????

the naval machining must be magic, or, possibly too much emphasis is put onto esoteric gymnastics.

the latter appears true, in my pee brain

It is not the "level" of the machine that matters. The machine being "level" just makes certain setups easier. What IS important is the machine be solid and square. The machines in the shop on a navel vessel are mounted very solidly to the floor so that they have no twist or flex happening. This also keeps them from flying around in heavy seas. That is what is ultimately important. It is just easier to get it right at level than by other means. This just means that those sailors have to work a bit harder to get the machine initially set up, and may also have to work a bit harder to do setups for individual parts.

Erik, this will also apply to you. As long as your base is solid enough to not allow flexing you will have no problem with mobile machines. You will just have to work a bit harder to square up a part while doing a setup since using a level will not be an option. Yes it can be done. But mobile just means that it will not be level (because garage floors are never level) which does not really matter to the function of the machine.
 
Nice bicycle shop. Love that vertical tool rack -- very nice :encourage:

-frank
 
It is not the "level" of the machine that matters. The machine being "level" just makes certain setups easier. What IS important is the machine be solid and square. The machines in the shop on a navel vessel are mounted very solidly to the floor so that they have no twist or flex happening. This also keeps them from flying around in heavy seas. That is what is ultimately important. It is just easier to get it right at level than by other means. This just means that those sailors have to work a bit harder to get the machine initially set up, and may also have to work a bit harder to do setups for individual parts.

Erik, this will also apply to you. As long as your base is solid enough to not allow flexing you will have no problem with mobile machines. You will just have to work a bit harder to square up a part while doing a setup since using a level will not be an option. Yes it can be done. But mobile just means that it will not be level (because garage floors are never level) which does not really matter to the function of the machine.

I'm curious as to what setups are easier if the lathe is level?
 
I'm curious as to what setups are easier if the lathe is level?

Checking oil levels in the sight glass(s).
I sometimes use a level on my chuck jaws to index a part because it is faster than indicating the part.
These are just the first 2 off the top of my head.

I often use a level while setting things up on the milling machine just because it is faster than indicating it in with a dial indicator.
 
I've got to say that there's an awful lot of room in that work shop, especially on the walls and ceiling. I have less than half that space and have twice the amount of machinery. It really is worth starting with as blank a slate as possible - if you look at the set up as it is, all you will see is the set up as it is, not what it can be.
 
All those blue Park tools... mmm... Organized.
 
Nice bicycle shop. Love that vertical tool rack -- very nice :encourage:

-frank
My family let me have the whole garage for myself, but there were two large water heaters in it! The vertical tool racks cover these water heaters. They are pegboard mounted on 1" steel square tubing frames with locking casters.

Precision Matthews charged my credit card for 20% of the lathe/stand/tools order which is back ordered until December. My wife wasn't too pleased that I spent $4,000 without asking her.

I will post pictures of my locking caster/rigid solution which will hopefully be nearly 100% level.
 
mill on casters, no brainer, go for it!!! lathe on casters, no-go. It is extremely easy to set up lathe skates that can move your lathe when you need to - I built mine in a weekend.

Let me explain:

The mill is inherently self-stable.as long as it isn't rocking while you use it, such that you might pinch your toes, nothing changes in machine operation for a floor standing mill. Even a bench standing mill won't suffer much from having a slightly unstable bench. Yes, your base has to be stable enough so it won't tip over - we are all responsible adults here.

No for a lathe - I differ because not only is the base used to support and straighten the bed, but is a vital part of vibration dampening, which will show up in both cut quality and accuracy ( unless you make only parts that are very tiny -- OR make parts to wide open tolerances) I tend to think of accuracy in terms of tenths of a thousandth of an inch. It is harder to learn cut speeds and feed rates if you also have to take extra vibration into account. Both my lathes have a nut on the top and bottom of the contact area of the lathe in order to make the levelling feet solid. One of my mentors was a Naval Machinist - Ships with lathes have the lathes bolted to a floor that is usually over 1" thick steel: you could operate a lathe at a 45 degree angle and get great accuracy on those machines... all the support andvibration dampening goes to the bigger structure. (and they normally don't mcahine under way).

On lathe skates, If you have a welder, they can be whipped up quickly, and if you don't bolt together version are also good for lathes in the <2000 lbs category. My skates can handle up to a 5500 lb lathe with normal headstock weight distribution... Nice thing is that they can be made if/when you need to move the lathe.

My small lathe has a boltable pair of wheels to move it, and i just move the carriage toward the headstock and pick up the tailstock end and drive it around like a wheelbarrow.

For mobility on the mill, I made my base wide enough for my pallet jack, which can move anything in my shop except my big lathe.

I'll send you pictures if interested...
 
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I have the same problem - two lbs. of stuff in a one lb. space.

I have several machines mounted to a steel plate with riser blocks, enough to get a hand pallet truck under it. To work - I take the better half's car out of the garage, then use the pallet jack to wheel out the machine of the moment. when done, it all gets stuffed back in the corners. then put her car back.

This is FAR more sturdy than casters. less expensive, too. Anyway, that's my solution to this all too common problem.
 
To work - I take the better half's car out of the garage, then use the pallet jack to wheel out the machine of the moment. when done, it all gets stuffed back in the corners. then put her car back.

That would sure make it tough to run out for a quick resize of something.
It would probably make me save up jobs until some threshold was reached, then do all the mill jobs at once.
But you gotta do what you gotta do!
I would rather do that than not have some of the machines.
-brino
 
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