Avadon Posted May 10, 2009 Share Posted May 10, 2009 How do I go about leveling a steel anvil stand. I am nearing the final stages of construction on my 3 legged anvil stand. The last thing to weld on is the feet, but they have to be welded on precisely so the table top of the stand is dead level. Suggestions? The floor in my shop is way far from level and so is my welding table. The only thing I could think of is getting some really thick plywood and trying to set that down somewhere and shim it so it's more or less level. This way i'm working with a level surface and then I can weld the feet by using a level ontop of the table surface, and also by measuring from the ply wood to the top of the stand in several places. What do you all think? Is this a good way or is there something better? :confused: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmy seale Posted May 10, 2009 Share Posted May 10, 2009 maybe trim outher legs to level, or, find the right thickness of steel for feet to level,or, weld on feet then shim up. bout all i can think of, best of luck, jimmy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted May 10, 2009 Share Posted May 10, 2009 Build the anvil stand plumb, level, square, and straight. It will then fit anywhere you place it. If the location is out of level, adjust the location, for shim under the leg of the anvil stand. Otherwise the anvil stand will only work in ONLY ONE location as it is now custom designed for just that location. Think of it as putting an extra thick sole on only your left shoe to help you as you walk around the side of a mountain. Works great as long as you always walk in the same direction around the mountain, but on flat ground or walking back, it will throw you out of balance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Browne Posted May 10, 2009 Share Posted May 10, 2009 All said above. Just make it level and shim it would be my choice as well. I have gone down the "custom" bits 'n pieces too often to try it again, its a real PITA when you move things or even relocate within the same workshop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason L Posted May 11, 2009 Share Posted May 11, 2009 You could try welding some nuts on the bottoms of the legs and run bolts up through them so you can adjust them for any terrain. You can also weld some plate on the bottom of the bolts so that the feet won't sink in the ground. Just a thought and it might not be the best idea but it's something I've been thinking about doing for mine unless there is something that I'm overlooking Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Browne Posted May 11, 2009 Share Posted May 11, 2009 If you go this way, make sure they are good HEAVY bolts as the thread will have to handle some really rough treatment. Otherwise, its a great idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avadon Posted May 11, 2009 Author Share Posted May 11, 2009 All great ideas i'm just in need of a level surface to work from. See, that is my initial problem. If I had a level surface this would be fairly easy. But the floor is slanted on several degrees so then i'd be try to match the slant of the floor with the slant of the stand which I think is a reciple for disaster. I guess i'm going to have to get something like a piece of plywood and shim it so it's nice and level.. then I can weld my feet on adjusting them in a way that I know i'm working from level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Browne Posted May 11, 2009 Share Posted May 11, 2009 Cut your pieces identically and they should be very close to level in the final product. Be careful with your cuts, angles and welds, check each one before going onto the next one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted May 11, 2009 Share Posted May 11, 2009 Nothing says unlevel like a dirt floor. Concrete floors are usually sloped to drain, so check. Make a work table on which to build the anvil stand that is level in all directions. Keep checking as the build progresses to be sure the table continues to remain level. As rmcpb said, identical parts should get you close. Check for level and square early and often during the build. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Che Guevara Posted May 11, 2009 Share Posted May 11, 2009 pour a floor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avadon Posted May 11, 2009 Author Share Posted May 11, 2009 Well I did find about a 1" piece of fairly dead straight ply. Shimmed it underneath till it took out the draining slope of the concrete floor. As long as I can get some good tacks while on the plywood, then I can lift up those feet and finish the welds. I feel much safer attaching feet on a level surface then trying to match an off level bubble to an off level bubble. Granted it may still be even but to me it just seems like it could be a recipe for disaster. (hope that made sense.) Anyway i'll know in a few hours if i'm cutting off my tack welds to redo it. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted May 11, 2009 Share Posted May 11, 2009 I've found a level anvil to be pretty unimportant compared to solid one. The eye and hand do marvelously well compensating for minor and many major differences like out of level. I'd suggest not getting hung up on getting it all plumb and level and get it solid instead. Frosty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avadon Posted May 12, 2009 Author Share Posted May 12, 2009 Thanks Frosty for the info, as well as everyone else. I got the feet welded on. The large piece of plywood shimmed to level with steel sheet metal helped give me a good surface to get some tacks on the feet where I could vouch for them being as level as I could get it. So I know that if the stand is on a perfectly level grade, that it's probably within a degree or two.. close enough for this blacksmith. Here are my feet, they are sorta rectangularish with a tab so I can anchor them if I like into the concrete.. which I probably will. I'm starting to get pretty decent at welding stringers.. Every seam has at least 3 passed on every part of the anvil so it seriously heavy duty. I was about to weld the last foot on and then something either frosty or glen or maybe it was someone else said jogged in my mind about not making it airtight. See the three legs are connected to a support channel in the center and the hole thing is hollow so I can fill it with sand soon. So I drilled a small hole to vent all the heat and gasses while I welded the final foot on, otherwise it would have been a pressure vessel inside all those beams. I don't know what danger that could have been without the little hole I drilled, but I wouldn't want to find out the hardway if it was something bad. My Tig welds have gotten pretty good. When I started with my Dynasty 200DX it had been years since I tig welded and it showed! lol But now i'm getting back into the swing of things. So now i'm moving onto anchoring the anvil and welding accessory attachments and the last odds and ends before I go and do the cleanup. How important is it to have a hole under the pritchel and hardy hole for "upsetting"? I'm not even sure what upsetting is let alone if i'll ever need to do it. I primarily want to do blade making and armour making. I think getting a hole under the pritchel or hardy would be a lot of work at this point. Maybe I can do without? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philip in china Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 Do you use vehicle spring steel? If you don, next time you are at the scrap yard, get a few of the big U shaped pieces of steel that they use to hold large stacks of truck leaf springs together. Don't use the whole length for forging.Save the ends. These have a very good fine, strong, long thread on them and some fairly monster extra long nuts and are excellent for making adjustable feet. If they stand the abuse of the back end of a 20 ton truck then they will stand anything you are going to throw at them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avadon Posted May 14, 2009 Author Share Posted May 14, 2009 Ahh yes. I have something very similar on my bandsaw. They are 3/8's hardened grade 8 machine leveling mounts/feet. I think I paid about $12 a piece for them. Each one supports 10,000lb lol.. the bandsaw only weighs 750#'s but I wanted to get the bigger size foot. The problem with using threaded leveling mounts on something like an anvil I think is that your relying on the threaded portion to take quite a bit of downward abuse and I don't think they were totally meant for that kind of use, but more for holding up a big and heavy machine with little vibration as they are all metal. The ones I used are like these MSC Item Detail but bigger thread size. If you go to msc industrial and type in the search machine mount their are hundreds to choose from. Many are shock mounts which probably would work well for an anvil. But I don't know if putting shock mounts or shock pads under anvil feet is a good idea? That actually might increase the rebound? Sounds like that material though is really good for forging with, wonder what grade of steel it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 Use fine thread and double nut them, there's nothing you can do on the anvil by hand that'll hurt them. Frosty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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