I want to do an epoxy floor in the shop. Where to put all the machinery?

I have a Hardinge HLV lathe and a manual mill (Abene VHF-3). Would it be ok to rent a storage unit (pods or similar) and temporarily put the machinery in there? I'm concerned about max floor load (they don't provide any specs for that). What do people do in such situation?

just curious, how are you cleaning the floor? Are you having it scraped with carbide cutters, or just cleaning it. I can tell you it probably won't last just cleaning it. There's probably too much oil in the concrete. They rent rotary scrapers that will remove the top layer of concrete. It has a better chance of working.

Also most of the pro's get a better epoxy than you can get...

just curious what your plans are.

woodchuckNJ said:

just curious, how are you cleaning the floor? Are you having it scraped with carbide cutters, or just cleaning it. I can tell you it probably won't last just cleaning it. There's probably too much oil in the concrete. They rent rotary scrapers that will remove the top layer of concrete. It has a better chance of working.

Also most of the pro's get a better epoxy than you can get...

just curious what your plans are.

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I haven't hired a floor contractor yet, but I assume they should grind away the top layer of concrete before applying the epoxy. I really like the way they do it on "Concrete Floor Solutions Inc." channel on YouTube (not an advertisement, it's just a good channel).

I'm not DIY'ing it this time. I did acid etching and painting 5 years ago with BEHR garage floor paint. It held up surprisingly well for the paint and entire thing costed me only a couple hundred bucks.

I don't think POD floors are going to be stout enough for machinery, how about just renting a 20ft shipping container?

Frigzy said:

I have a Hardinge HLV lathe and a manual mill (Abene VHF-3). Would it be ok to rent a storage unit (pods or similar) and temporarily put the machinery in there? I'm concerned about max floor load (they don't provide any specs for that). What do people do in such situation?

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Those tools are NOT heavy point loads. Any of the many ground level slab units here (I rent one myself) and SPECIFICALLY chosen as ground-level and direct vehicle access, you can JFDI.

I say again "ground level" and direct vehicle access. They are in demand for convenience, go fast, so you may have to shop, drive further, and pay at least a modest premium. Place I am in is 100% ground-level drive up roll-up doors... but was nearly FULLY BOOKED accordingly.

Well worth it as to MOVING the goods!

FWIW-not-much, What has killed more floors, above ground and catastrophically now and then, believe it or not ... is stored PAPER records.

One sheet at a time? Yah. Light enough?

But man does it ever ADD UP! And then they get WET?


As to the epoxy job itself?

Have you cranked-in ALL the costs and the "payback" for them for such realistic gain as it MIGHT give you... over the periodic renewal of the simpler paint, do-able in increments with far less "impact", each?

I did the whole deep, repeated acid etch, pro epoxy route and couldn’t be happier. In a moderate use shop like mine it’s perfect. Makes shop brighter and no concrete dust getting everywhere. Just starting to get wear after 16 years.

Best to get all tools well away from HCL acid etch- ie outside.

L7

lucky7 said:

I did the whole deep, repeated acid etch, pro epoxy route and couldn’t be happier. In a moderate use shop like mine it’s perfect. Makes shop brighter and no concrete dust getting everywhere. Just starting to get wear after 16 years.

Best to get all tools well away from HCL acid etch- ie outside.

L7

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Not just tools. And next COUNTY might be safer?

Showing-off my Mil-trained concrete expertise and forgetting my Uni-trained Chemistry got enough hydronium ions off all that Muriatic acid etch turnt loose to rust a whole LOT more than just what was in eyeshot!

It even got at metal electrical boxes, greenway, and sheet-steel wall studs! IN the wall!

Keep a eye on your concrete floor- if it gets darker when it rains or when it gets very hot you may have a high water table and be drawing up moisture from below the slab. If you have this issue it will push up the epoxy over time. I had a shop where the prior occupant was a interior contractor and he put down epoxy by grinding the floor first. Only lasted a few years before the moisture coming from below caused it to pop off in large pieces.

Ive had the Epoxi diy type, bad results cleaned that off etched and painted , good results lasted about 8-10 rears and could just clean and recoat.
Added a clear over some of the recoat and it seems to be extending the new look substantially. But my favorite by far at my home shop i ground and polished a 50 year old cement floor and it is the best no chipping scratching, looks great and cleans super easy. And you want it to look good for a open house just put a coat of mop and glow or any other type of quick finish and it really shines , wears off quick but still looks good from the polished crete.


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My machines only up to 15,000 pounds.
When we had a epoxy floor poured we left the machines and put them up on 4x4 under the feet and a ball bearing for a sort of point contact.
When done lift, remove 4x4 pad, smack the ball, re-level.
Cleaning under the machines before the pour a real pain and time eater so outside into the parking lot with tarps may have been easier.

When doing this type floor address just how slick you want the surface to end up.
Car showroom glass type is nice and pretty but a bit slippery for a machine shop. Go too course and it is a pain to mop and clean.
Initial for us was way to rough and we called the people who did it and told them they would not get paid for this so some added clear was done.
My coating is about 1/8 thick and so way much better than painting the shop floor every one or two years which we used to do.

A strip is advised. Mechanical or chemical.
There was the Flaky Jake and now so many others. A floor polisher with carbide inserts often called a floor grinder. Low surface footage, huge abuse as rock cutters.
Guess who did the carbide grade work and supplied these to the OEM.
Truth be told the guy who did most of the development now works for Sandvik and not doing floor cleaning anymore.
Worse is that that grade composition that did test the best is no longer being made as of end of last year.
Bob

CarbideBob said:

Worse is that that grade composition that did test the best is no longer being made as of end of last year.

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There's an opportunity for ya, Mr Bob .... I know a girl what speaks standard chinese

Thank you for your input, gentlemen!

Unfortunately, I'm still not sure what to do. Putting aside all the floor-epoxying-and-etching specifics, what to do with the machinery? Shipping container is too large - there is no way I can fit it on the driveway and even if I could, getting that container in and out seems like a very sophisticated endeavor. I don't want to just take the machines outside and leave them there under a tarp. We are getting quite a bit of criminal activity around here - everything what's not secured is going to be vandalized in no time. Driving the machines to a ground-level self storage facility is going to cost more than the machines themselves given the local riggers appetite. I'm completely lost

See if one of your local riggers will store the machines for you. Some have no facilities for it, others do. You might get a decent price (compared to self-storage plus two separate rigging jobs) if you negotiate a remove-store-return package.

The riggers I used when I was equipping my shop charged about $180/hr IIRC. I had a couple of pieces of equipment shipped directly to them and stored until my shop was ready to take delivery (few weeks). They did not charge me a dime for storage. How nice was that?

If a local rigger won't store it, ask local crane and heavy equipment rental places. They generally have secured lots and easy access for hauling.

If you have less than an ocean container then buy or rent a smaller enclosed trailer. Use it as a storage container until floor is done. Then sell or return the trailer. If high crime area take off the wheels and put the frame on blocks. That is probably something you should do anyway if you add much more weight than trailer is rated for.

A manufacturing plant I worked at in 1997 did the floors in epoxy grout. Pretty much shot peen the floor to remove about 1/8 -3/16 of the concrete surface to get below the oil soaked surface. They did the floor in three sections, one section at a time. Moved all of the machines out of the first section over into areas of the shop to get them out of the way. Onced laid, made them wait a week before moving machines back in place. The only stuff that got put outside was the junked machines and tons of obsolete tooling. Later put into the dumpsters.

If you have room to move equipment into half the building, do that floor first, them move the equipment over to the finished floor and do the other half. That way you don't have to put anything outside.

Last place I worked at, the new warehouse had a coating laid that was some kind of polyurethane/ linseed oil. Not sure of its actual ingredients but something close to this. Funny thing about it, it chemicals were purchased from our local Lowe's box store. Was around $15K for 15K sq ft warehouse in 2012.

Frigzy said:

Thank you for your input, gentlemen!

Unfortunately, I'm still not sure what to do. Putting aside all the floor-epoxying-and-etching specifics, what to do with the machinery? Shipping container is too large - there is no way I can fit it on the driveway and even if I could, getting that container in and out seems like a very sophisticated endeavor. I don't want to just take the machines outside and leave them there under a tarp. We are getting quite a bit of criminal activity around here - everything what's not secured is going to be vandalized in no time. Driving the machines to a ground-level self storage facility is going to cost more than the machines themselves given the local riggers appetite. I'm completely lost

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High crime rate? Have you considered just moving?

Mobile Mini storage has containers as short as 10ft, 15's and 20's too, they deliver, no idea what they charge.
Standard Width Containers | Shipping & Storage Containers | Mobile Mini

Why not push everything to 1 side of shop, do half the floor, wait a few days and swap sides? I'm currently working on painting in my shop, too much to move outside, so I've broken it into thirds and going that route.

FWIW, I recently repainted the floor in my flex space (with the same Sherwin Williams Urethane ArmorSeal Rexthane that was already on the floor from 7 years ago). We moved machines such that 1/4 the floor was painted at a time...i.e. paint 1/4, let dry, moved machines to newly painted area leaving another 1/4 space to paint, rise and repeat.. Of course this wouldn't do if you need to acid wash never painted concrete as the acid fumes would probably rust the iron.