What's new
What's new

Base not flat - leveling feet attachment

Adrien

Aluminum
Joined
Jan 8, 2005
Location
Nashville
I have done some searching but have not seen this particular topic discussed. Sorry if I missed it.

I am moving my lathe and will be putting it on castors for a short roll. The issue I am facing is the area around the base mounting holes is not flat. On the tailstock side there is a sizable ridge (approx 0.15” tall and 0.75” wide) on one side of the hole. There is. Similar condition at 1 of the headstock holes too.

Is this normal?

Regardless I am contemplating my options.
1) angle grinder - this seems wrong in principle but addresses the root cause.
2) fashion a half-moon spacer - it would be aluminum and would never support the castor fully.

I am very interested in any thoughts or ideas you may have. Many of you have forgotten more than I will know about these machines (and good shop practices too).
 
Hard to tell without a picture, but what you describe is common with a lot of machine bases as the holes were not there to mount a single piece (like a caster) to, but are for lagging the base to a skid, and later to bolt it to the floor (if required). Even for a short move, I'd recommend bolting your casters to some lumber or a weldment and bolting that under the machine. Even if it raises the machine a couple more inchs, you can set the wheels further apart and it will be 10x more stable.

A lot of crashes happen because people miss that a caster wheel does not contact the ground directly under the mounting bolt, but swivels around the side, so the machine can get tipsy very quick.
 
A lot of crashes happen because people miss that a caster wheel does not contact the ground directly under the mounting bolt, but swivels around the side, so the machine can get tipsy very quick.

And they fold up REAL easy especially when rolling on an uneven floor. I've had a couple of casters fold up when they were overloaded, luckily without disaster. I'm about to double-up the ones under my HLV because of the fear of it going over as I put more weight on the cabinet.
 
Thanks for the words of caution.
Zambus

The lathe has been on the castors for a decade and I have always kept some close fitting blocks of wood under each end as a precaution. The move will be 15 feet or so over smooth concrete to a garage door where it will be lifted to a trailer and ultimately be stored in an shipping container until some other life decisions are made.

I will take some photos this weekend. As long as I am here, have any of you shipped a machine in a shipping container? At some point I may be moving from Connecticut to Tennessee. Ideally I could load the container once and have it trucked but I don’t know if that is practical. It be heavy (10EE, Bridgeport, European sliding table saw, cabinets, tooling, etc. I would guess 5 tons in all.
 
You need to tell us what model lathe you have. If it's a 10EE, what model (round-dial or square-dial). Serial number and build date are also helpful.

Cal
 
Thanks for the words of caution.
Zambus

The lathe has been on the castors for a decade and I have always kept some close fitting blocks of wood under each end as a precaution. The move will be 15 feet or so over smooth concrete to a garage door where it will be lifted to a trailer and ultimately be stored in an shipping container until some other life decisions are made.

I will take some photos this weekend. As long as I am here, have any of you shipped a machine in a shipping container? At some point I may be moving from Connecticut to Tennessee. Ideally I could load the container once and have it trucked but I don’t know if that is practical. It be heavy (10EE, Bridgeport, European sliding table saw, cabinets, tooling, etc. I would guess 5 tons in all.

We tried having some shipping containers relocated to our new shop a few years ago and couldn't find anyone who would take them unless they were empty, because they needed to drag them up onto a low-back truck and didn't want the liability of damages inside due to the incline. We would need a crane to load them onto a flatbed truck and it ended up cheaper to reload the contents into a semi trailer and then move the containers separately. They're cheap industrial storage, but unless you have a sizable crane on hand, they're not so handy for shipping.
 
We tried having some shipping containers relocated to our new shop a few years ago and couldn't find anyone who would take them unless they were empty, because they needed to drag them up onto a low-back truck and didn't want the liability of damages inside due to the incline. We would need a crane to load them onto a flatbed truck and it ended up cheaper to reload the contents into a semi trailer and then move the containers separately. They're cheap industrial storage, but unless you have a sizable crane on hand, they're not so handy for shipping.

Thanks. That makes sense.
 
First, castor is a type of bean, we use the oil from it for various things. Casters are what the lathe is on...

In your first post you say you will be mounting the lathe on casters, and that there is a problem doing so. Then in post #5 you say it has been on them for a decade. Which is it?
 
First, castor is a type of bean, we use the oil from it for various things. Casters are what the lathe is on...

In your first post you say you will be mounting the lathe on casters, and that there is a problem doing so. Then in post #5 you say it has been on them for a decade. Which is it?

Yes, caster. Thank you for the correction.

My language was not precise. The casters have been on the lathe for a decade but have been used for their integral leveling feet not for moving the lathe. For various reasons the lathe saw near zero use over the past decade and I rarely saw it (our primary home became a rental property and I retained the garage as a workshop). In preparing to move the lathe the caster mounting look askew which prompted some investigation (removed one caster) and ultimately this thread. I didn’t think the gory details were relevant to the question.
 
I
Proper caster for a lathe. View attachment 246613

Yes, I should fabricate or buy something like this. Unfortunately I would be left with my original question. Should I take an angle grinder to the base? These casters would not seat on the casting properly. I will get some photos tomorrow and that should help .

Thanks to all for taking the time to reply.
 
Rakort - those look like the skates I have from Northern Tool - did you just drill a hole through the bottom and use a bolt? - the bottom nut is intended to rest on the spacer?

yes they are northern tool skates. the "bolt" is actually a piece of threaded (fine) rod. the skate is drilled and tapped to accept the threaded rod. I leveled the lathe by facing the spacer accordingly. the nut does not rest on the spacer.
 
This may not help you but at least something to ponder. I am about 6' tall and I have Royal Machinery Mounts sitting on concrete paving stones. This gets the lathe up so that I don't bend down to work and allows the use of a pallet jack to move the machine if need be. One leg under the wider part of the base and the other more to the center. I have never had any sort of feeling of tip ever. Always rock solid.
 
Rakort - I see skates in my future. I will sleep better.
I am assuming if the lathe sits directly on the spacer that the two nuts are used as jam nuts and that you have left a little clearance so the skates can be turned. Is that correct?
 








 
Back
Top