# Some days, It Just Doesn't Pay...



## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

About a month back, I decided to permanently exile my car to the driveway and sacrifice my half of the garage to a workshop. To that end I bought a 3' x 6' heavy duty steel workbench. Once that was up, I bought some heavy duty casters (rated for 325 lbs each) for said bench and got them mounted. After that, I bought a 3' x 8' x 1-1/2" thick laminated maple butcher block top for it. The idea is to move my bench-top milling machine and my lathe onto this bench. Atop that, I attached a 3' x 8' x 1/8 piece of lexan - primarily to keep the lubricants used while milling and/or turning from getting into the wooden bench top.

Last Saturday everything was ready to go and I wanted to move the milling machine from its then-current location mounted atop a roll-away tool cart. I rigged a hoist to the garage rafters using a towing strap, and rigged the hoist to the milling machine with some eyebolts in the base and a few more straps.










I lifted the milling machine and rolled the cart out from under it, leaving it hanging in place. So far, so good.

I then went to roll the workbench under the milling machine so I could lower the machine onto the bench. Suddenly and without warning, the bench lists about 20 degrees to starboard and the butcher block top - all 175 lbs of it - went sliding off onto the floor along with everything then on top of the bench. The top hit the suspended milling machine on its way down, setting that 350 lb puppy swinging like Big Ben's pendulum. All the while, I was leaping backwards screaming my old battle cry, "LOOK OUT TOES!!!!!"

Once the dust settled and things, for the most part, had stopped moving, I stabilized the swinging milling machine and accessed the damage with head shaking, a few choice, "WTF???"s and other appropriate verbage, then went about trying to discern what the **** had just happened.










The culprit... that flap which the caster is bolted through used to fold under 90 degrees. It's part of a sheet metal leg extension that allows one to adjust the bench height. Both casters on one long side had given way. Actually, the leg flap had given way, not the caster, but because the mounting stud on a swivel caster is offset from the wheel center, it's my educated guess that the caster gave way because of insufficiently rigid mounting. Brilliant deduction, what?

With a combination of a hydraulic and scissors jack, I jacked up each end of the bench one at a time, removed the leg extender, removed the casters and re-bent the flap, and made a 1 x 4 piece of wood to reinforce the legs. The casters now mount through a hole in the 1 x 4 and so whuld have to break that piece of wood for this to happen again.










Once the bench was repaired, I had to figure out a way to get that 3' x 8' 175 lb butcher block top back onto the workbench - all by myself. I ended up getting under it and lifting one end until it was leaning vertically against the garage door, then rolling the bench into place and leaning the top down onto the bench. I was then able to lift the other end and slide the damn thing back into place. I could have used the hoist, but the milling machine was still hanging from it, so I used my back instead.

All this started on Saturday morning. It wasn't until late Sunday afternoon that I had the milling machine bolted into place on its new home and things semi-sorta picked up - at which point I collapsed on the couch and thought, "Not bad for a geezer." hehehe




























Next I plan to build a clear lexan enclosure around the milling machine to contain chips and lubricant. Then I have to move the lathe.


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## kormsen (Oct 27, 2009)

modern stuff... everything made as flimsy as possible. 

your adventure leaves one question open. why for pete's sake did you put these wheels back in place?


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

I am glad to hear that you did not hurt yourself. You are lucky that you did not bring the roof down on your head.

I see you have discovered JJ law of Physics. And I have used it many times. ( since I discovered it.) To get 10 Lbs of Poop in a 5 LB bag you need to put some of it on wheels.









The JJ's Law of Physics sort of gets you around the idea that No two objects can occupy the same space. 

JJ


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

why for pete's sake did you put these wheels back in place?For the exact same reason I put them on in the first place... because it's still a garage and I may need to occasionally wheel it out of the way, an impossibility without casters because of the sheer weight. Besides, it wasn't the fault of the casters so much as poor engineering of the bench feet - a problem I've now corrected.  

JJ - you got it bud!


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

Dwight like everyone else, it's good to know you're ok. 

In the future, you should put a 8 foot 4x4 up on top the rafters to hang your hoist from. 

That way if you hang the hoist in the middle of the 4x4, the load will be spread over at least 4 rafters and maybe 5.


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

It wasn't until late Sunday afternoon that I had the milling machine bolted into place on its new home[/i] and things semi-sorta picked up
Dwight

Sorry to hear of the troubles, but glad to hear that you escaped injury.









I do hope that the portion of your above statement, which I've highlighted, also means that the milling machine, butcher block top & Lexan are securely bolted to the top of the steel workbench frame. The truth is the butcher block top should have been independently bolted to the workbench frame originally, and the Lexan then secured to the wood.

It also worries me that you've got that much weight (i.e. milling machine & butcher block top, got to be about 500 lbs. or more) mounted that high on a workbench that's only 3 ft. in width. It seems to me that the setup is way too top-heavy and will be prone to tipping over easily when being moved, even if you had solid steel caster wheels instead of the rubber ones (which always seem to create an unstable platform because of the rubber compressing). I guess that some sort of out-riggers could be fashioned and attached to bottom of the legs at each end, but then you'd be creating a trip hazard when moving around the workbench.

I figure since the workbench and mill will usually be stored against the wall and then moved out when needed. That means that unless there is space at either end of the workbench so you can be standing off to its side when moving it away from the wall. Then you'll be standing in front of it pulling the bench toward you. Please be careful when moving it, cause if one of the caster wheels gets hung up on something and abruptly stops and the bench starts to tip you'll be directly in its path and there's no way you're going to be able to stop it from going over.


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

Randy - I hear what you're saying, but in our house each rafter is made from a a couple of 2x8s that are rigidly held together in a triangular truss arrangement. The fact is the the runners that support the roll-up garage door, while bolted to the wall, are on the other end held to one rafter truss by a metal strap, and that door isn't light. Also, these trusses span the garage and hold up the entire roof. It's actually a lot beefier than it may appear in the photo, and it had no problem supporting the milling machine with nary a creak and no sag whatsoever. It was just unnerving to see the machine swinging back and forth, but that's more my own paranoia than the actual structural engineering. 

Steve - we shall see, but the majority of the weight is in the bench and the top spread over a 3' x 6' area. The weight added by the machine is, for the most part, within an additional six inches of height (base and table) with the headstock and vertical arm adding a small percentage to the overall weight. In fact, I was surprised that when I lifted it via eyebolts into the base mounting holes, it wasn't very top heavy at all. The lathe also has a low center of gravity. However, I will be careful until I know exactly what I'm dealing with, and I move it from the ends, not the sides. 

You're right that I should have had the top secured in place, but I never expected this chain of events. Live and learn. The four bolts securing the milling machine now go through both the wooden top and the steel bench top below it, so it's all now held in place. I also cut some 33" angles at work to bolt to each end of the steel bench and secure the wooden top via three or four lag screws on each end. That should get installed this weekend as well.


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

You're right that I should have had the top secured in place, but I never expected this chain of events.
Yes sir, I fully understand, don't need to ask just how many times I've been standing there with that "WTF" expression on my face, let's just let it go that it's many more than I care to admit to.







And at times when I happen to reflect on it, I'm really amazed that I've actually lived as long as I have.


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## DTI356 (Jan 3, 2008)

Dwight, 

Glad to hear you didn't hurt yourself, or your equipment. 

But do us a favor.....next time set up a video camera so you can try for the $10,000 America's Funniest Videos award. 
I'm sure the look on your face would have been worth it


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## Paul Burch (Jan 2, 2008)

But I do see a refrigerator out there so you can crab a cold one when this happens.


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Some times one can learn from someones catasstrophy. 



JJ


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

Some times one can learn from someones catasstrophy. Or at least be highly amused by it. hehehe


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## NTCGRR (Jan 2, 2008)

WOOW, this is over my head.


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## Jerry McColgan (Feb 8, 2008)

Posted By Dwight Ennis on 01 Apr 2011 02:48 PM 

milling machine

lathe 

WTF???



Uhhhh Dwight...

These words usually do not go well together.









Glad to hear that you are OK.









Jerry


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

These words usually do not go well together.You haven't spent any time in _*my*_ shop Jerry. There, I routinely make scrap and it's a fairly common occurance.


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## Jerry McColgan (Feb 8, 2008)

My wife may have described the primary difference between your shop and mine.

Marilyn came out to the "shop" today for the first time in months. She looked around and asked "where do you sit? I answered "in the cupola."

The level of clutter in my shop has reached the point that the only space available is up.









Jerry


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