Level work table (How to?)

[webpp]

Hello guys,

I would like to know how you guys set up your working area such as the MFT or your miter saw or your table saw to be level?

I do my woodworking in my garage which is slightly sloped toward the drain. All my tools are portable and I move it often from place to place for different tasks. I was wondering what is the best effective way to ensure that when setting up your miter saw or table saw or the MFT table that it is perfectly level and at 0 degrees so that all your cuts are 90 degrees and plum.

An idea: putting four bubble level on each corner of the table to level it, is that the best way?

 

[Birdhunter]

I don’t see the perfectly level or not affecting cuts on any of the tools you mention. As long as the bed of the tool is flat and the fence at true 90 degrees, it seems as the tool being leveled is not an issue. What am I missing?

 

[bertv]

Work surfaces do not need to be level to the ground, although it adds some comfort to working on them. Usually you reference of the surface that holds the material. Eg when you do a bevel cut on a tablesaw you could use one of those nifty digital angle gauges, put it on the table, zero it and than put it on the blade and adjust that to the desired angle. Or use a protractor, you get the drift…

Once you try to get movable stuff level, it will drive you nuts in the end…

(Edit: Birdhunter posted before I hit the Post button. Essentially what I tried to covey.)

 

[Dick Mahany]

I don't level my MFT at all.  Never found the need to.  Same with my cabinet saw when I used to have it.  It was on a mobile base and often at different places on my sloped floor garage and cuts were never affected by out of level.  When I needed to set an accurate angle, I just used my Beall Tilt Block to zero out the table where ever it sat, and to set the angle from there.

 

[Gregor]

I agree, it dosn't need to be level (within reason, in case the slope of the floor is to high then it wouldn't be fun as your stuff would glide off your tables). The worktables just should be flat in themselves and in case you have several of them that you combined (like using an MFT as an in/outfeed for a CMS or as support for a Kapex) their surfaces should just be on one plane.

So should the garage floor (or whatever you have below you) be slightly sloped but straight in itself (not wobbly) you shouldn't have a problem.

 

[peter halle]

Level - to the horizon so to speak - is not necessary in my world.  BUT having work surfaces in the same plane can importantly come into play when you have multiple "horizontal" surfaces.  Make sure things slide without catching.

Peter

 

[Holmz]

I have some car scales and that requires a level floor.
So I used parked the car in a spot and marked the spots.
Then used a laser level to make shims for each scale.
(I used an assembly of sheets of news paper)

If you tools moved to known locations then you could have pre-made shims at the ready.

 

[Bob D.]

I like my bench tops to be level or close to it. In my basement shop the floor
is not level. When I first set up my MFT there I used the adjuster on the fourth
leg to make it stable but it was no where near level, and that was the fault of
the floor not the MFT of course. I lived with it for a bit but after a time I couldn't
stand it any more so I made some small pads from 3/4" thick 2" wood squares
and a 1-1/4" Forstner bit to drill a shallow depression for the tip of the leg to
rest in. I adjusted the hole depth for each of the three fixed legs as needed to
get the MFT top level, and used the adjuster on the fourth leg to stabilize it all.

The wood seems to grip the rough concrete floor as well as the MFT legs did and
it doesn't slide around in use when hand planning or similar operations. Solved
my problem but probably won't work for anyone else.

 

[antss]

I fall into both camps.

I like most of my surfaces in the same plane like Peter.  Bandsaw table uses the jointer table as an outfeed ect...

But I do like my workbench to be level simply as reference if nothing else.