On Sat, 11 Mar 2006 23:32:47 -0500, David Utidjian
wrote:

Rich Goldner wrote:
I did exactly as you have described with redheads. One nut to anchor to the
floor and another to level the lathe. My lathe was a 12 X 36 chinese import
(good lathe BTW). The only reason I anchored it to the floor was because the
two pedestals that made up the base were rather narrow and I was worried
about tipping the lathe over while using it. If not for that, I would not
have anchored it to the floor. In the end it worked out ok, however, I would
not use redheads again as they did not all (I used eight of them) bite into
the concrete enough to anchor well.

Interesting. Thanks for sharing that experience with me. I am also
concerned about the integrity of the redheads. Seems that they require
an accurate hole be drilled (not too large) and also good quality and
condition concrete floor. I am not sure about the quality of my floor...
only its age.

BTW, I used a 6" Starret precision level to level it. It was a bitch to do.

I can imagine it was... what with eight things to adjust! A lot of deep
knee bends. ;-)

-DU-...etc...


Dave, Ive propably put in a thousand redheads to hold barfeeders,
shears, etc etc..and have yet to have one come loose. Ive seen em
sheared off and saw one strip the nut off when they parked a fork lift
under the traveling back gauge of a 1/2" shear and hit the go button.

Always use one bigger than you think you will need. Always drill the
proper sized hole. Go all the way through or at least 4" in a footing.
Always install a big flat washer, a lock washer then the nut and
tighten it down snug.

Yes..they do require a decent concrete floor. But if you are putting a
lathe on a crumbling floor..dont bother using that fancy Starrett
level..cause that floor is gonna be heaving all the time.

Gunner



"A prudent man foresees the difficulties ahead and prepares for them;
the simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences."
- Proverbs 22:3