New Leveling Base For Mill...

[Ray C]

... Been wanting to raise the mill a few inches to make life easier on my back. Also, we had a 6.x earthquake a couple years ago and it moved an inch and I never got around to taking care of that. The gantry was out to work on the lathe so, the mill will finally be addressed.

This was all made from drops in the shop. Had to weld some odd pieces together to make side beams long enough. The idea was to make something that would be solid yet, have a little twisting flex to allow the corner screw jacks to level the bed perfectly. The problem with a super rigid frame is that you can't get things perfectly level when there are 4 contact points on the ground. We'll see if this does the trick.

It just needs a couple holes drilled and a paint job. I re-discovered 6013 welding rod in the process of this. Ran out of my usual stuff that's all I had laying around (where did it all go? I had 150lbs last fall). I like it -will probably stock-up on more. Normally, I like 6011 for root pass and follow-up with 7018 but the 6013 seemed to split the difference nicely. Since this is non-critical and not for a customer, I felt OK experimenting a little.



Ray

 

[OlCatBob]

Ray,
Nice work on the leveling base, I like it. Just wanted to suggest that you buy a couple pounds of 7024 while you're buying rods, I think you might really like them.
Bob

 

[Ray C]

Hey Bob, does that 7024 penetrate? I've never tried it. I always bevel pretty good then buzz it with 6011 because it gets all the way down in there. Top coat is 7018 on the widest part of the bevel for a lot of surface area contact. Even when I run it hot and slow, it doesn't penetrate. Beautiful stuff though... I really felt the 6013 was giving decent penetration and an even cap.

Ray,
Nice work on the leveling base, I like it. Just wanted to suggest that you buy a couple pounds of 7024 while you're buying rods, I think you might really like them.
Bob

 

[stevecmo]

Ray,

That base looks like it will work great.

I'm in the painting stage of rebuilding my Rockwell mill, which is about the same size as you PM45 I think - weighs about 800-850#. When I rebuilt my Logan lathe I used adjustable hockey puck feet and they work great. I'm considering doing the same on the mill and just wondered if you'd considered it or had any thoughts.

Thanks in advance.

Steve

 

[Ray C]

Yeah, I remember seeing your hockey pucks. I think another guy in Canada did the same thing.. I think that's a great idea. Did you checkout my posts about YALB Yet Another Lathe Bench? Anyhow I ended-up putting the legs down atop 4x4 metal plates with a piece of 1/4" thick hard neoprene between the floor and plate. It's pretty much the equivalent of your hockey puck setup (which I really do think is a cool idea). Working good so far... and I'll do the same with this setup.

Ray

Ray,

That base looks like it will work great.

I'm in the painting stage of rebuilding my Rockwell mill, which is about the same size as you PM45 I think - weighs about 800-850#. When I rebuilt my Logan lathe I used adjustable hockey puck feet and they work great. I'm considering doing the same on the mill and just wondered if you'd considered it or had any thoughts.

Thanks in advance.

Steve

 

[GaryK]

Looks great Ray.

How many inches you figure you'll raise it? 5.5" worked good for me.

Gary

 

[darkzero]

Looks great Ray.

How many inches you figure you'll raise it? 5.5" worked good for me.

Gary

Gary,

How tall is you base without the riser? Just wondering if there is a height difference from the original base.

 

[GK1918]

for Shawn, motor mounts, body mounts, sway bar bushings, spring bushings way better than oem
bullit proof.

 

[Ray C]

Yes, about that much for just the leveling base and I plan to toss a piece of 3/4" plywood atop it.

Even when I sit at a chair to operate the mill, I have to hunch over a bit. This should help.


Ray

Looks great Ray.

How many inches you figure you'll raise it? 5.5" worked good for me.

Gary

 

[GaryK]

Gary,

How tall is you base without the riser? Just wondering if there is a height difference from the original base.

It's 24.75". What about the steel one? How tall is it?

Gary