(01-17-2016, 01:05 PM)Sunset Machine Wrote: Look at those skinny bolts on the pads. Thousands of pounds wobbling around on them. The thing to do is imagine a more extreme situation. What if the bolts were a foot tall? What if the bolts were zero? Which is more solid?

I agree with everything you are saying. That is why I have a different plan for the mill.

However, for the surface grinder the following reality items came into play: (a) it is considerably less than a thousand pounds, (b) finite space limitations require that it be relatively easy to move [hence the casters and adjustable pads rather than it sitting on and\or bolted to the floor] and © in the foot tall - zero tall bolt length continuum I am in the 2.5 inch neighborhood. I suspect the elasticity of the rubber pads are more of an issue than the elasticity of the bolts.

If the loosey-goosey mounting becomes a significant issue in my ability to get reasonable results from the surface grinder I will simply stop using it and\or trying to build things that require surface grinding. After all I'm doing all of this for fun, not as my pay-the-bills day job, so it is discretionary.