Pourable Machinery Chocks

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Pourable Machinery Chocks

This topic has 6 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 16 November 2009 at 15:22 by charadam.

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15 November 2009 at 19:11 #4840
ChrisH
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@chrish
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15 November 2009 at 19:11 #45111
ChrisH
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@chrish
Having got my lathe at last into the workshop I now have to level it. The workshop floor is fairly smooth, but it does have a slight slope both longitudinally and transversely.

There are no points on the bedplate where I could fix adjustable feet to level up the machine. So I either make up some steel chocks at considerable effort and time, or I could level the lathe up on say wedges and then pour in a pourable chocking compound, which will be an epoxy of some sort. Now there are these products available but I guess they are an arm and a leg as they are designed for marine engines and the like, i.e., professional applications.

Has anyone had any experience of pourable chocks and where an ‘inexpensive’ product could be obtained, and was it any good?

My current thoughts are on the line of mixing up some SP or West epoxy resin and adding a load of granite dust/mini-chippings to give it the strength, as being a relatively cheap solution. Any thoughts on this?

Chris
15 November 2009 at 19:33 #45115
mgj
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@mgj
Ordinary builders self leveling compound. Cheap as chips.

Make up a box the size of the lathe cabinet – level it as accurately as you can with a spirit level across both diagonals. Coat floor with Evostik. fill box with self levelling compound.

Finally mount lathe to floor and then shim in the usual way.

It won’t produce a level to engineering limits, but it does keep the shimming to a minimum.

The other way that worked well on a very uneven floor was to buy from Fords carpets on the Lynx estate a very hard rubber lino type tile/mat. Cut that up. Its supposed to be incompressible, but it will squeeze a bit, so one can tighten down to a level with rawlbolts. Thats worked well under the big mill, and provides good damping, so that was a success. £5!. (May have a spare one left if you want).

Or, go to DHS tool on the Lynx estate and buy a square of that mounting compound for machine tools. Its like a very dense cork type mat. Again, you can cut it up, and it will provide damping, and its squeezable under bolting pressure..
15 November 2009 at 19:37 #45117
JasonB
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@jasonb
Once its chocked & wedged level make some form of retaining box around the base and pour in a pure cement/water mixture, used on steel framed building so should be OK on a lathe and not expensive.

A self leveling compound would also work.

Jason
15 November 2009 at 21:09 #45121
mgj
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@mgj
But you still need the matting to provide damping – unless you are mounting on a very solid wooden surface. High density cork mats are also good, if you can find them these days..

If the whole floor has a slope, then I’d have thought self levelling compound over the whole floor would be the answer. I think it costs about the same as cement so its not hideously expensive, and its possibly less hassle than trying ot “suspend” a lathe in space, before not getting any mix well under the base.

Edited By meyrick griffith-jones on 15/11/2009 21:10:30
16 November 2009 at 10:23 #45137
ChrisH
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@chrish
Thanks for the replies. That’s the beauty of this forum, other people’s thoughts take you in a direction you’d not considered.

I’ve used self-levelling compound and that would be strong enough to support the weight, and I guess a pure cement/water mix would too, although in steel framed buildings that I have been involved with the steel frames were levelled up on adjustable anchor bolts and and then the underside just filled with mortar.

I have some cement at home so I will make up a little batch and see how hard it sets, pretty hard I guess judging from old part-used bags gone hard years ago.

My lathe weighs a ton and just sits on a floor – there are no holes to bolt it down with anchor bolts, although anchor bolts and brackets could be arranged – but I don’t think they would be of much use, the lathe seems so heavy it wouldn’t be going anywhere in use I’m sure.

ChrisH
16 November 2009 at 15:22 #45159
charadam
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@charadam
I used 3 of these to level my Chipmaster:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VIBRACHOC-ANTI-VIBRATION-MOUNTS-MACHINE-TOOL-COMPRESSOR_W0QQitemZ140360189215QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_3?hash=item20ae1e851f

Got mine from Ebay for about a fiver.
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