Planning out a few new additions to my shop and wondering if it makes sense to use leveling feet for them. Curious how many of you have bothered to add leveling feet to equipment in your shop, what type you've used, and how big an impact its had?
I'm of the view that all tools would be nice to have level, but save for some fairly specific examples, being a degree or two off perfect isn't gonna make a difference anyways? Plus, leveling feet under heavy equipment could be inconvenient or difficult to adjust, which may eventually lead to ignoring them, altogether defeating the point?
For instance is leveling feet on a lathe stand a good idea? I want a modular secondary stand for bed extensions and being able to level it across multiple parts seems like a good idea, but leveling feet will have a much smaller surface area than just having a 2 by frame the whole perimeter against the ground.
The issue I have with leveling feet is that they’re building in a weak spot since they tend to have threaded shaft of small diameter in the middle. Depending on the load, and if it shifts, that could bend. There are some larger, beefier type of levelers. Those are what I’d use if I was going to go about leveling things…
Ryan/// ~sigh~ I blew up another bowl. Moke told me "I made the inside bigger than the outside".
I made a mobile base for my 500 pound bandsaw to raise it up a bit. The casters are non-locking, but I have lever operated feet to stabilize it.
Very rigid.
I also have some Zambus roller/feet. These are for high loads and if you have a cart, you have a pair on one end and lift/tilt the cart like a wheel barrow. That puts the wheels on the ground for rolling and when you set it back down, the adjustable feet contact the floor and act as feet, keeping the wheels up and the cart solidly in place.
My shop is in a basement. No level floor, all my tools are on wheels. I made this leveler, it works very well. Mostly I just use shims to keep them from rocking. My drill press is shimmed to be level.
I want to do right, but not right now. Gillian Welch
My heavy Laguna lathe came with the threaded leveling feet but they are probably mostly to prevent rocking rather than leveling. It doesn't get moved much so once set they do not get adjusted. Jam nuts lock them in place.
--Nathan, TX. Hire the lazy man. He may not do as much work but that's because he will find a better way.
If your floor is not level, more contact area may just make rocking worse. For example, in Hairy's solution above, if there is a high point in the middle of the 4x4, the saw may teeter; however, with adjustable feet at the corners, you can adjust each corner independently and completely eliminate rocking.
--Nathan, TX. Hire the lazy man. He may not do as much work but that's because he will find a better way.
I mounted a pair of leveling feet on each front leg of my workbench. I don't use them to level the bench, but to keep it from rocking.
My bench has casters mounted on a flip up board so it sits on its legs. When I move it into position, it typically rocks. I find the leg that doesn't contact the floor and spin the threaded bolt on the leveler so the pad makes contact.
Ron, do you think the exterior leveling feet like the ones you use are better than threaded inserts into the posts themselves?
I’d prefer to go directly in the post as opposed to an exterior addition, BUT it seems like you can throw an Allen head in a drill and use that the level out a heavy workbench far easier?
Bugout_Boy, for ultimate strength, I would think a threaded insert would be better. In my case, ease of adjusting the foot was my primary concern. I need to adjust it by a small fraction of an inch, just enough to make contact with the floor, and the outboard leveler makes that easy.
I have the screw-in type on the stands for a couple of the "portable" machines, but they are not particularly heavy.
My new workbench has a wedge under one leg, due to the floor being about 1/8" out of level (the bench feet are dead level). since it is not moved it is not an issue.
You usually only have to adjust one of the feet to eliminate rocking. In Ron's example, it looks like he has just one leveler and that may be all that is needed, unless the floor is really unlevel. It is not really supporting that much weight so those side mounted levelers might be a good idea for ease of use, if you frequently move it around and have to adjust it every time you do. Same thing with Carey's example. Sliding a wedge under one of the legs will usually stop the wobbling. Sugar packets or folded paper napkins always work on restaurant tables. 😀
--Nathan, TX. Hire the lazy man. He may not do as much work but that's because he will find a better way.
Lazyman, I actually have two levelers, one on each front leg. (My description above was not particularly clear.) Like you said, I typically have to adjust only the one on the “short” leg in the bench’s new location.
I got.lucky with my garage (shop) floor as it's fairly flat with only a little pitch towards the overhead doors. I used plastic shims under the base of my table saw to get it dead level and the attached side table does use threaded feet. I used the same shims for my lathe and big bandsaw. The 14" bandsaw, drill presses, planers, edge sander, jointer, RAS & disc/belt sander I let sit as they will. Most are oriented so the work is being pushed down the very slight incline (2.5"/20').
