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Thread: Leveling feet for my workbench

  1. #16
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Lawrenceburg, Tenn.
    Posts
    1,133
    I guess that I must have had the heaviest duty of any of the leveling feet that I see on this thread. I cut hex mortises into the 4x4 legs of my bench, to recess the nut from a 1 1/4" bolt. The nuts were then epoxied into the mortises, and now when I wheel the bench out onto the driveway, I can make it rock solid with a crescent wrench.

    Sorry I don't have any photos.

    Doc

  2. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Peter Quinn View Post
    I got some heavy duty machine levelers with a 3" base, 5/8" hardened screw posts rated at #5000/foot from McMaster Carr for something like $8/foot. I had a welder attach threaded rod connectors (like very long nuts), about 2 1/2" long to some 3"X3"X3/8" steel plates. The corners of the steel squares are drilled with 1/4" holes to accept 1/4" lags. With a forsner I drilled 3" deep holes on center into the end grain of my bench legs to accept the long bolts. Looks much like Hanks picture earlier in this post.

    This bench with these feet could stop a charging rhino. My slab is way to far out for shims or wedges, and now my sliding miter bench/shaper/RAS all sit in one plane and act as infeed/outfeed for each other.

    I did the exact same thing with 3" diameter feet.although in my case, welding regular nuts to 1/8" inch plates attached to 4x4 legs with #8 wood was sufficient . Peter, was that the material available? 3/8" plate! 1/4 lags! we need to see this monster bench. or you just decided to go all tool man tayler on us.

  3. Thanks for pointing out that wedges can be the way to go and have some advantages. I had locked into thinking that I needed adjustable feet but I'm only building a 2X4 bench from a kit. The legs and screws are supplied. It seems to me that it will be sturdy but a guy at the local Woodcraft said it would not be as soon as I mentioned my bench project. I live in an apartment and have a small but nice little closed off pantry area to do some scroll saw and hand tool work.

    BTW: I just learned of the shooting board tecnique for hand planes and I hope my bench will be solid enough for this kind of thing on a small scale.
    Last edited by Bill W Jenkins; 08-12-2012 at 12:54 AM.

  4. #19
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    san clemente, ca
    Posts
    166

    Have to agree with Brian...

    unless your workbecnch is grossly out of level, a wedge under the shortest leg has always worked for me. I am much more concerned that the bench is FLAT and not twisted; level doesn't make a whole lot of difference as long as the bench is solidly on the floor.

    Just my $0.02.
    Doug

  5. #20
    Join Date
    May 2012
    Location
    Southwest
    Posts
    88
    I also buy leveling pads from this same company in Signal Hill, Calif. Very nice people to buy from, though their web page is confusing.

    I've used their 1/2" 13 tpi pads for several projects, including new legs for my Unisaw and the mobile base of a bandsaw.

    Home Depot has made them very simple to use as they sell a rod connector with the exact same thread for around $1.50 ea. Each of these rod connectors is 1.75" long, so they can be cut in half and still do a pretty good job of stabilizing a pad. (You will probably have to run a tap through them after the cut, but you know that.) They're galvanized, but I'm used to welding galvanized steel.

    For the Unisaw legs, I simply cut a square of sheet steel the right dimensions to fit in the 2" metal tubing, then drilled a 0.5" hole in the middle of the 2x2 sheet. Then I held the threaded rod connector in place with a short bolt while I welded it to the plate on the back side. The assembly was then welded on the end of the tubing. I also used the pads/connector to make a new support plate for the HTC mobile base that supported the new legs better. (4 pads)

    I've also welded these to the sides of other mobile bases so that I can raise the equipment off the ground while I use it. I can raise and lower the pads in seconds with my little Makita impact driver. (4 pads)

    I've never imbedded these in wooden legs, but it would be easy enough to do. I'd still use the sheet steel plate for strength.
    Attached Images Attached Images

  6. #21
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    West Lafayette, IN
    Posts
    6,529
    Quote Originally Posted by Roy Wall View Post
    little or no holding power.....or else it will not hold.
    Could you or someone else elaborate on this a little bit more? I understand the long grain could pull out, but really how much of difference will it make? A glued joint with no holding power seems a little bit of an exaggeration to me, but I'd be curious to hear some more input on this.

  7. #22
    +1 as they say on the wedge. I have the most uneven floor that could be called a floor and used beefy lag screws as leveling feet on an old bench. Wedges/shims work better on the new bench. If you move it a lot, the feet will be an incredible hassle. If you move it never, the wedge is still the best option.

  8. #23
    I built the French style bench from the Schwartz book. It is really heavy, and when I stood it up, had a slight wobble, so I used a shim shingle to level it. Just the thin end was all it took, and the thing hasn't moved since. Really nice to have a heavy bench that doesn't move when you do work on it.

  9. #24
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    Scarborough(part of Toronto|) Ontario
    Posts
    306
    I just cut one leg shorter and put a leveler on it, same principal as the wedge. I designed and built my own bench lift and posted it on another forum a long time ago: http://www.bt3central.com/showthread...ight=benchlift
    It also earned me $100. from FWW for their Method of Work section.
    All still working fine.

    Tim

  10. #25
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    Virginia
    Posts
    3,178
    Quote Originally Posted by Matt Day View Post
    Could you or someone else elaborate on this a little bit more? I understand the long grain could pull out, but really how much of difference will it make? A glued joint with no holding power seems a little bit of an exaggeration to me, but I'd be curious to hear some more input on this.
    Matt,

    I'm not Roy, but I believe he meant, correctly, that since the slot mortises in the base piece run across the grain, most of the gluing surface of those mortise and tenon joints will be the end grain of the mortises against the long (or side) grain of the tenons, not the best interface for glue adhesion. That orientation would work for knock down joints since you'd just be locating the parts, but for the strongest, longest-lasting glue joints it should be long grain contacting long grain; end grain just isn't the best surface for glue joints.

    Additionally, that piece in between the two mortises might be a bit fragile since the grain is very short.

  11. #26
    great leg leveler ideas

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