Ha, yes I did mean 30mm as the thickness, although Rob and Don would probably like it if it were 30cm thick. As for having more brackets, there is no place to anchor them securely. The over all foot print of the base is 12 inches square, being the inch thick (30mm), there is no flex or bending. The base sits on top of the 3/4 inch 7 ply plywood that’s anchored into three studs, spreading the load of the mill. The brackets are steel held in place with GRK structural screws, into the studs. My rolling mill is relatively small in comparison to Andrew Berry’s, so it’s not as heavy. And for the space, anything larger, and I wouldn’t be able to get into the room.
In my last store shop, I had two mills on opposite ends of a beam that was 9” by 5.5” by about 6’. I’ve carried that beam around through three different locations. In fact it’s taking up space in my garage. There is no advantage that I have noticed between having that big beam supporting the mill vs. my well supported wall mounting. When I lean into the mill, it doesn’t move.
I have always built using the rule that, when a 1X2 will work, use a 2X4. As a result, I over engineer almost everything I build. Your installation looks fine. It really depends on how you use your mil and how the brackets are anchored to the wall. My comments was more for the idea of using a shelf rather than a separate stand. I think that it is a great idea if you have limited space and a wall to mount the shelf on. Thanks for sharing it…Rob
One way to get a bench to stay put is a jack screw from the bench top to the ceiling. I’ve used a foot square piece of plywood to protect the ceiling, combined with a drywall panel jack. I only did temporary setups though.
I don’t know why Ted isn’t a fan for that stand to function with a rolling mill. But I must agree that I would not use it for one either. That crank at the top of it’s swing will develop a lot of leverage against the four bolt flange on the floor. I could see a 50 pound rolling mill rocking back and forth with each turn of the crank and with the help of leverage pulling loose from the floor. A shear and a grinder are pretty static and should be stabile but a manually operated rolling mill is a leverage machine.
I would be less worried if the rolling mill on that stand was an electric powered mill.
I have several rolling mills, as im a commercial production company.
my first one was a Durston, purchased in 1972, , which i motorised,
as I needed long lengths of material. I did this as I found a machine
base the right height and strength.
Used it only the other day to make some material also from 36 tho to 25
tho which I then blanked out with one of my fly presses.
I also aquired another complete with its stand from the Birmingham
jewellery quarterand this had a proper stand in cast iron . the shape of
this was like the Eifel tower bottom half, made probably around 1900.
ie 4 splayed legs giving a base some 2ft 6 by 2ft 6. This was also
powered, as I needed 2500 off bronze sheet some 2in by 3in for a minted
plaque order. The material was not enough for this order, so I rolled
it down from 36 tho down to 28 tho to get the length needed.
The Pepe stand will injure you when you put a lot of power in the
handle. The leverage of this will pull the fixing out of the floor,
even with heavy duty expanding bolts. We call them rag bolts.
This design was made by someone who was not an engineer.
, and Pepe will get a lawsuit for damages for when the accident happens.
Dont have anything to do with it.
I have a Durston D158 mill. It sits on a Durston rolling mill stand and has for twenty years or so. It is bolted into my concrete floor with 4 lag bolts (bolted into lag shields drilled into the concrete).
That mill gets a reel workout and has never budged. 4 bolts…
A wall mounted stand is solid and stable but does not have the advantage of being moveable. I made my own stand using 2 X 8 pine boards, doubling them up and using lag bolts to screw them together. lag bolts need washers also… the base was built out also by doubling up 2 X 8 pine boards…the weight of that much wood gives it stability… it’s very heavy but still moveable…attaching the mill to the top boards was by drilling holes thru the boards and using bolts with washers…even though it sits on a tile floor, it hasn’t slipped at all. I also attached a heavy duty vise with a small anvil surface to the stand…most of the wood that I used was left over from a home remodelling project, so putting it together was of minimal cost…
As for having more brackets, there is no place to anchor them securely. The over all foot print of the base is 12 inches square, being the inch thick (30mm), there is no flex or bending. The base sits on top of the 3/4 inch 7 ply plywood that’s anchored into three studs, spreading the load of the mill. The brackets are steel held in place with GRK structural screws, into the studs. My rolling mill is relatively small in comparison to Andrew Berry’s, so it’s not as heavy. And for the space, anything larger, and I wouldn’t be able to get into the room.