How do you deal with a uneven floor?

[Silas Smith]

Another rookie question. I have the absolute worst garage floor in the world. I can never seem to get my floor standing tools level without shimming the legs or something. My problem is that I am trying to make my workbench the same height as my table saw so I can use it as an outfeed table at the same time. I don't have room for both and I would like the flexibility of being able to move the saw and bench around. I can cut the height of the legs so that they work in one area of the garage, but if I move the saw and bench, everything is misaligned. What can I do short of putting a new floor in the garage to help with this?

[Bill Grumbine]

I beg your pardon Silas, but I have the worst garage floor in the world! The people who poured it were obviously drunk, or left it as it came out of the mixer. When I went to level my unisaw table, I had to saw over an inch off the legs to get it down to the point where I could screw the leveling feet in!

You have a few options to try. First, you can make everything stationary, which is probably not a good option. Second, if you have to move stuff from time to time, but you keep it where it is for most of your work, you can level it, and then paint squares or whatever around the legs so that you can put it right back where it was for a minimum of fuss. Finally, you can put adjustable legs on everything, but that is probably not a good idea anywhere.

I now have a Mini Max combo machine. It weighs 1500+ lbs, but it comes on wheels so I can move it around. I have all sorts of trouble moving it because my floor is so uneven that even when the wheels are extended, the legs of the machine still hit high spots on the floor. Someday I may have someone in to level the floor, but I stand a better chance of building a new shop first!

Good luck with your problem, and I hope this helps you out some.

Bill

[Al Lupone]

Considering my garage floor is in a 130 year old detached carriage house & is only 1" thick cracked concrete, I can probably take the honors. Going through the same problem. Just finished making a torsion box base. 90" x 28". At the corners, I put the cabinet lift leveling brackets from Woodcraft. Just inboard from those on the long dimension I mounted casters. Haven't loaded it up yet, but I THINK it will work.


Al