Newbie- IH mill base side bolts

[sashat]

I received my IH mill last Friday. It still sits on the pallet while I am trying to figure out how to put it on the stand. I have 2 tons Harbor Freight foldable crane which I am going to use to lift mill or its parts one by one. There are four big bolts on IH base sides. They are about 0.78 inch OD and thread looks like 10 TPI ACME. What are these bolts for? I checked some old pictures on this forum and I don’t see such bolts or even holes onsides of old IH mills. Are they designed to provide a single point lift using a balanced bar similar to auto engine lift bars or tormach lift bar?

Aleksandr

[sashat]

I don't like my very first post to this forum, thus clarifying things before anybody replied . It is not an ACME thread, it just looks like one: coarse, trapezoidal, and it is most likely metric. Question remains: are they for attaching lifting eyes ot hooks?

SashaT

[IHCNC]

Hi Sashat;
Here is the answer to your question about the side bolts on IH Mills. The bolts are part of the factory assembly procedure. We use to take them out before shipping, but we now have hundreds of them and really have no use for them. So instead of throwing them away we leave them on the mill and maybe the customer can use them for something. We sent you an email on how you might pick up the mill. Thanks for the post. I'm sure it answers a question for a lot of IH owners.

[altaic]

I was thinking of using those bolts to vibration mount my mill, i.e. put a large urethane bushing on each of them and mount the bushing to my stand. Bushings like these are easy and cheap to obtain; aftermarket automotive companies produce zillions of them which are capable of handling the weight of these mills; I could probably walk into my local pep boys or auto zone and get a set for less than $20, mounts included.

The questions is, are those bolts load bearing?

[EvanVH]

Originally Posted by altaic The questions is, are those bolts load bearing?

Yes they are.





Evan

[altaic]

Originally Posted by EvanVH Yes they are. Evan

No offense, but without more information (how you've used the bolts, or how you otherwise know they are load bearing), I'm skeptical about trying something out that could destroy my mill.

[EvanVH]

Originally Posted by altaic No offense, but without more information (how you've used the bolts, or how you otherwise know they are load bearing), I'm skeptical about trying something out that could destroy my mill.

Call Gene and ask him.




Evan

[BobWarfield]

The bolts are threaded into the cast iron base very similarly to the holes used for leveling mounts. Just as much meat for either.

Personally, I'd use the vertical holes rather than the horizontal. I can't see any advantage to the latter and you're asking for gravity to work against you keeping the machine level with horizontal bolts that may deflect under the weight.

An old IH tip: Hockey pucks make great leveling feet with some vibration isolation.

Cheers,

BW

[Kipper]

Originally Posted by altaic No offense, but without more information (how you've used the bolts, or how you otherwise know they are load bearing), I'm skeptical about trying something out that could destroy my mill.

Originally Posted by EvanVH Call Gene and ask him. Evan

Made me laugh...Time for bed....pmsl.....titter.....ZzZz

[altaic]

Originally Posted by BobWarfield The bolts are threaded into the cast iron base very similarly to the holes used for leveling mounts. Just as much meat for either. Personally, I'd use the vertical holes rather than the horizontal. I can't see any advantage to the latter and you're asking for gravity to work against you keeping the machine level with horizontal bolts that may deflect under the weight. An old IH tip: Hockey pucks make great leveling feet with some vibration isolation. Cheers, BW

Yeah hockey pucks work great, and you can't beat it at $0.99 each from a local shop. I use them on all my tools, benches, and cabinets that don't have casters.

Actually, Gene PMed me that the mill should be hard-mounted to the stand or bench, possibly with isolators between the stand and the floor. I don't see a difference between that and isolating the machine from the stand, but he made it very clear that isolating bushings should not be used to mount the mill.

The reason I was thinking of using the side bolts is that the contact area at the bottom of the base is pretty thin and I wasn't sure if it would sort of cut through a hockey puck. You mentioned holes for leveling mounts, but I'm not really sure what you mean-- are you talking about the bottom of the stand or on the mill? The hole at each corner of my mill goes through a thin section at the top of the base, with the bolt passing through the opening in the base and then into the stand. But when I think of leveling mount holes, I imagine threaded holes at the lowest point of something.

[altaic]

I came across some pics of these bolts in use on a smaller RF45 style mill while browsing a Japanese fellow's site. His uses eye-bolts instead, but I'm guessing ours have the same purpose. Wish I'd known about that when I installed my mill.

[sharpshooter90]

Originally Posted by altaic I came across some pics of these bolts in use on a smaller RF45 style mill while browsing a Japanese fellow's site. His uses eye-bolts instead, but I'm guessing ours have the same purpose. Wish I'd known about that when I installed my mill.

Excuse me for asking the obvious, but after you opened the crate and saw those 4 bolts, within 30 seconds didn't you say to yourself " Hey- I can hook my chains there!"