On Sun, 25 Jan 2004 10:31:20 -0800, Jon Anderson wrote:
Do you have a pallet jack and room to use it in the shop?
One of my customers mounted a BP sized mill on a steel pallet they had
fabricated locally. Mill was bolted firm to the pallet, pallet had
leveling pads just outboard from the side of the mill base.
Pallet as I recall (they have since sold the machine so I can't go look
or take pics) was two 3/8 steel plates with short lengths of 4" square
tubing spacing them apart enough to allow a pallet jack to pick it from
either the front, back, or sides.
Very nice and stable setup, but not everyone has a pallet jack or
forklift handy...

Excellent idea! My mill is sitting on a wooden pallet for that very reason.
But wood isn't very dimensionally stable. I was going to weld up a duplicate
pallet in metal to replace it. The idea of building it so a pallet jack can
go under it from any direction is something I hadn't considered. I'm not
sure it is *necessary* in my situation, but it could be handier in a differently
arranged shop, and not that much more trouble to fabricate.

BTW, I put another of my machines on wheels, and didn't like it as a
permanent solution. The machine wanted to "walk" when working unless
I added levelers to lift it off the wheels. A simple set it down and pick it
up pallet arrangement seems better. With the machine bolted down to
the pallet, the pallet just forms a larger and more stable base for the
machine, yet it is easily portable when required.

Gary