I like levelish and if it's really off level it could be good training for zero grav.
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I like levelish and if it's really off level it could be good training for zero grav.
My machines are only as level as the concrete floor in my shop. Never even considered putting a level on any of them. None of them "walk" around when running, though.
So my pencils & marking knives don't roll off. :)
The main reason is because a lot of woodworkers are really, really, really obsessive (I was going to say "anal-retentive" but was pretty sure that violated the TOS) about such things.
Seriously. Oh, and because then its easier to support stock.
"My t/s , router table , work bench and planer are level and set at the same height , in a small shop there are times when one object serves as the outfeed surface for another."
(Still don't know how to do that bubble thing for quoting someone else's wisdom or logic.)
I level them pretty close for a variety of reasons but mostly because I'm particular - it's not quite right if it's not level.
But only within reason. My jointer is on a busted mobile base so that the only way that it works is when it's not level. It's too much of a hassle to swap out the base so I'm cool with it :)
Being that pretty much all my tools are on wheels and are moved around at least a bit while they are being used there is no leveling for me.
The only things that I've leveled on the shop is the widebelt, it's out feed table, and the panel saw. Everything else is just sitting on the floor. The out feed tables on table saws are shimmed so they plane out with the saw, but I if they are level it's just coincidence. Everything else is shimmed so they don't rock.
My shop is an attached 2 car garage. I'd guess my floor slopes about 3" to 4" in about 20'. I level my machines and bolt them down. I have a construction background and stationary equipment is generally required to be leveled and bolted down. Pretty much always.
Besides I just like the machines square to the shop, level and bolted down.
PHM
What's this 'level' term I keep hearing about?
I'm with you Adam and Eric. As long as it ain't rockin' or rollin', "ish" works for me.
+1. Late to this thread, and I'm surprised John is the only one who has made this point. Our big machines have heavy components of disparate sizes and weights that are not uniformly distributed around the machine's center of mass. Engineers design large woodworking bench machines to sit level to the ground plane, and if they don't, stress is induced in the wrong places and can cause bushings, bearing and belts to wear prematurely, and cast iron to deform. I do agree with others that whether the top "working surface" of a machine is perfectly level to the ground plane may not be critical to producing good work. And, for that matter, the working surface can sometimes be made level to the ground even though the rest of the machine is not. But it is a good place to start in recreating in our shops the correct alignment and equilibrium within the machine that it is designed to have. And sometimes our work is affected, as John notes. The lathe is a good example. If all four feet are not adjusted to be in the same plane, it can easily twist the cast iron or steel bed ways just enough to throw the headstock and tailstock centers out of alignment. In a heavy table saw, twist induced over time in the cast iron top and wings can affect precise cuts.
There may be more to this “level” than you realize. I have long experience with installing machines and process equipment. The machine was assembled at the factory on a flat, level, reference surface. Then it’s dropped on an uneven garage floor on a mobile base. We read in these discussion forums about the person that then gets out a straight edge and finds, for example, that the out feed table on the new jointer/planer is out of alignment by 6 thou. Then there is a rant that the machine is no good, the company won’t come out and fix it and then it’s taken apart and the new owner spends months trying to fix this 6 thou. I recall one post I read where the machine was never used – the owner gave up. Never even put wood through it. But maybe, and I agree all machines are different, if a wedge was put under one leg and tapped with a hammer a couple of times that 6 thou thing would disappear. “Level” doesn’t just mean the table looks good with a level on it. At the factory, on the assembly table there’s 25% of the machines weight on each leg. But on your garage floor perhaps 80% of the weight is on two diagonal legs and the rest on the other 2.
I have an old Rockwell Contractor's saw. It sat on various concrete floors for many years the weren't level, although always firmly planted. I never thought much of it until I tried to bring it into alignment with an out feed table, which is dead flat and level. Using some big leveling feet I got it level only to find that one of the feet floated. The frame was racked, probably from being reassembled on a not level surface several years ago when I rebuilt it. I guess it does matter for some machines.