Raglan 5 inch Lathe ----- Castors and Levelling Feet

[Meldonmech]

The lathe was partially dismantled to enable it be carried in an estate car. Two journeys later it arrived at my home. I hired an engine crane to unload, and transfer the beast into the workshop. I stripped and cleaned all components then , then filled paint chips and rubbed down. Got the paint matched and hand painted the machine. The lathe was to be sited against the workshop wall, but the machine was designed to have swarf removed from the back. I needed to be able to move the lathe on my own so decided to fit casters.
                                                         The base channel girders were too narrow so they were widened using angle.

                                                                                  David

[Meldonmech]

Pads for the leveling feet were cut from flooring grade chipboard, a concave location was turned in each pad to locate the spherical shaped head turned on the leveling screws. The screws were  fitted and the lathe leveled.

                                                                David

[ScroungerLee]

Just a quick thought, if your floor gets damp the chipboard will swell throwing off the leveling.

Lee

[PekkaNF]

How about ice hockey puck? Is't that prefered material for this kind of project and everyone (here) has few lying around.

Pekka

[Meldonmech]

Hi Guys,

               You are quite right Lee, I had that nasty experience when the washing machine leaked and ruined a number of my kitchen units. Luckily the insurance covered it. I am fortunate however with my workshop as it is housed in my centrally heated conservatory, which is warm and dry, which lessens the risk of dampness.
                                                                                               The puck idea would be fine Pekka, are they cast iron? ca'nt say I have ever seen any scrap or redundant ones at boot sales. I did look at some weight lifting weights of a suitable size in cast iron, but the slots put me off.

                                                        Regards David

[PekkaNF]

Hello,

I have used some machine feets, can buy them from industrial sypply shop. On band saw I used two hard plastic wheels on rear and rubber mounts on front. Have to take some pictures.

Lastest - somewhat untested idea is hokecypuck. Friends use it as a jacking pad and soft pad for hammering etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hockey_puck

"The black rubber of the puck is made up of a mix of natural rubber, antioxidants, bonding materials and other chemicals to achieve a balance of hardness and resilience."

Sounds like it would work out good, but it will not last forever.

Pekka

[loply]

You really want rigid feet. I would probably shy away from rubber. Metal is more rigid.

I don't think you need to dampen the concrete floor from the vibrations of the lathe.

[Meldonmech]

Hi Guys
                Thanks for the comments. Found the video very interesting.

                                                                  Regards David

[PekkaNF]

The subject of machine feet is pretty complex as a whole..."it all depends...". And I'm not pretending to understand it to any great degrees. Specially vibration dampening seems to be science of it's own. I have been helping long time ago to measure machines to see where excitation is made and what parts are merely sympathetic. Then back to drawing board to decrease excitation to dampen the elements that march along.

On hobby domain, I see mainly next purposes for feet:

1) Leveling
2) To facilitate moving of machines (ever tried to lift a machine that has foot firmly lying on the floor with no place to pry)
3) prevent machine from moving by itself
4) Stabilization. Some machine footing is pretty narrow and some sort of bolt down would be a good idea.

Then whatever reason is chosen it should not put undue load on the machine or twist the body of the machine.

I have about 1,5 metric tone knee format milling machine and the foot if it is so rigid that any kind feet that will allow leveling it would be fine. I used commercial steel feet with a rubber insert middle. Purely for leveling. There is very little danger of twisting that machine out of alignment.

I have also pretty strong revolver lathe (-revolver parts) and it has two columns. That probably would twist very easily on it's own weight. Fairly rigid feet might be the starting point here.

Then I have one bench lathe, that is on the bench and bench is on the rubber engine mounts that are used to level the bench. I'm pretty sure the lathe bed would twist the bench and not that much other way out.

In principle I am not big fan of bolting together immovably very different structures that have nearly same stiffness. Which will win tug of wars?

Random thoughts I admit,
Pekka

[Meldonmech]

Hi Pekka,
              I have come to the same conclusions, some of my machines are mounted on industrial adjustable pads, of the steel and rubber/cork composition, and others on the green, water resistant flooring grade chip board. Both have proved to be satisfactory. I have a 10inch Shaping Machine which is sited in my garage only levelled on temporary packing. It performs well on slow speeds but wants to walk around the workshop at higher speeds, I don't want to to drill the floor, so at the moment the problem remains unresolved.

                                                Cheers David