Patio blocks for mill blocking?

[wbrent]

I bought a Norwood Lm29. It's all set up on 6x6 blocking but I plan to move it. Are 2x2 square patio blocks appropriate to put a mill on. There will be a layer of crushed rock underneath. Thoughts?

[Bruno of NH]

To thin in my opion.

[Dave Shepard]

I agree. They also have no wire or rebar in them. You could make some 2'x2'x6" forms and get bags of gravel mix and make your own. Put some small rebar in them. If you form them in place on the stone, you won't have to relevel them. Welcome to the Forum!

[thecfarm]

I bought them round ones,I think 6 inchs thick,maybe a foot and a half across. Can't really remember for sure,but they are still holding the mill up for more than 10 years.

[Skipper11A]

I bought them round ones,I think 6 inchs thick,maybe a foot and a half across. Can't really remember for sure,but they are still holding the mill up for more than 10 years.

TheCfarm says his pavers are 6" thick.  I don't know where you'd find those.  I think you'd be better off just milling some logs into 6"x6" cants and using those to setup under your mill.  It's a good use for otherwise useless logs.  You also need to be sure and drive screws through the feet into the timbers supporting your mill so that they don't move when you drop a big log on your deck.

[carykong]

Wood absorbs vibration better

[Lko67]

Agree with others they will break know from experience. I use 3x10 pieces of wood with one inch framing pad on top to keep sliding to minimum

[btulloh]

Roger that on the wood.  One way is to use 6x6 PT sleepers and then run 6x6's long ways on top of the sleepers.  Think railroad track.  Or you can just set the rails right on the sleepers.  Depends on how high you want your mill bed.

[esteadle]

I looked at the LM29 on Norwoods site and it looks like it has a total of 8 supports touch the ground. 

Normally, I'd agree with everyone else that wood is the right thing to use as blocking underneath your posts, but I think you might be able to get away with pavers if you really had to. 

Pavers are just aggregate held together with cement, so they will crack, split or crush under any oblique load. But as long as you have a good base underneath, I think you'll be OK, and you said you were planning to set those on gravel. I'd wiggle them around a lot to get them flat and settled before setting the mill though. 

Keep in mind that when you place a heavy load on relatively small point, it concentrates all that weight right there, it will act with a lot of force. Since there are a total of 8 posts to take this load, the weight is divided by those. One thing about the LM29 though is that the head looks like it can come well back beyond the front post. That will end up putting most of the weight of the head, plus a good fraction of the bed over those front 2 posts. So you might want to spend extra time setting those particular supports on the ground to be sure they won't move or "sink" into the ground. The more area you spread the load over, the more support you get from the ground below. 

Best of luck... 

Eric

[DelawhereJoe]

Why not just get some +1/4" plate steel and cut up a horse stall mat or some old rubber truck mud flaps for the vibrations. It would be easier to move then concrete, not crack like concrete and last longer then wood. You can always bolt it all together if it ever tries to move off the pads.

[thecfarm]

I bought mine from a local lumber yard. I have never had to relevel the mill in all the years I had it. So I suppose they are still there under the supports?? I am not a big time sawyer. Just for me,but it's out in the weather all these years.