Leveling a table...adjust or not to adjust, that is the question

[sbarton22]

I'm getting ready to start a few projects, the first of which, is a new base for my assembly table.

Right now, my shop is in my basement. I'm sure the floor is not level or flat. So, knowing that going in, how should I approach how the table meets the ground? Also, lets assume I'm going to build it true and square so any imperfection (of scale) on the floor might cause my table to rock, and we can't have that now, can we?

I'm also building a trestle table, and again, I don't know that its final resting place will be level.

Do any of you worry about this? Do you plan for adjustable feet? Any ideas or quips from experience would be GREATLY appreciated.

[Beechwood Chip]

My shop floor is sloped towards the drain. Everything gets leveling feet. I think they are pretty standard on floor standing power tools, so why not for shop furniture?

[rmac]

You definitely want leveling feet on your shop furniture. Rockler sells some pretty good ones. They're kind of expensive though, and if I remember right you need a metric allen wrench to adjust them.

I got by for a lot less money by gluing a block of wood behind my toe kicks everywhere I wanted a foot. Then I drilled a hole and embedded a nut in each block to accommodate a carriage bolt. I potted the nuts in J-B Weld to make sure they would stay put. It's easy to adjust the carriage bolts with a Crescent wrench.

If the trestle table is going on carpet, you probably don't need to worry because the table will sink down into the carpet and be sort of self leveling. On a hard surface, though, you might have a problem. There you might consider attaching small squares of carpet to the underside of the table's legs to give the same self-leveling effect. I did that with this table and it's worked out well on a somewhat uneven hardwood floor. I put circles of thick felt on the bottoms of the chair legs in that set for the same reason.

-- Russ

[wilburpan]

For my workbench, I made the legs all the same length. Then I cut some wedges and used them under the legs to level the workbench.

[sbarton22]

These are all great ideas.I wan't sure if doing something like the carriage bolt would cause the table to slide, but adding carpet squares would be a nice touch.

Ok, adjustable legs it is.

Thanks!

[Beechwood Chip]

I'd use two nuts ( a floating nut below the captured nut) so that I could lock them together to keep the screw from turning.

[flairwoodworks]

For shop stuff, levelling feet are a necessity. Either that or use shims/wedges to keep them from rocking. Be careful selecting levelling feet as if there is not enough support for the threaded post, it can cause unwanted movement (think racking).

[outofstepper]

Though everyone has made some very good points / suggestions, I'd just like

to add a different opinion here -- just for the heck of it.

Technically, your workbench or assembly table need only be flat on the top,

not necessarily level. I mean, your pencils don't roll off do they?

That might be a little much.

The only time a level top is handy is if you use a level to check your work.

Meaning, if you're building an end table or something.. and its up on your assembly

table or workbench, and you want to check the top of the end table with a level..

or check the legs are plumb, that'll only work if your work-table is level.

If you don't use a level in building, a level top is not essential.

Again, unless youre chasing your coffee cup down the table, you should be fine.

More often than not, leveling feet (or, adjustable feet, rather) are used to keep

your table from rocking on uneven floor.

just my 2c,

-Tony

[wilburpan]

The only time a level top is handy is if you use a level to check your work.

If you are doing work with hand tools, having a level top and plumb sides on your workbench is very useful. Imagine chopping a mortise or using a paring chisel to clean up a mortise. You need to get the sides and end of the mortise square to the face of the board, and if your workbench is out of level, you won't be able to use your innate sense of balance to tell if your chisel is vertical or not. The same thing goes for making saw cuts for joinery like dovetails or tenons. You rely on a level workbench to help you determine if your saw cuts are vertical.

[sbarton22]

@ Outofstepper...Although I agree that it probably doesn't need to be uber level, I have a bad feeling that if I don't design it to be level, the very next second I will need it to be so.

My original concern really is about the imperfection of the floor and the whole thing rocking. I figure that once you can adjust it, you might as well go for broke and make it level.

I've come up with an adjustable foot, it is a linear foot with 2 points of contact with the floor and 2 points of adjustment. It is based on the sketch rmac provided above. However, in my case, the contact on the floor is going to be wood and much wider. It is more like a runner on a sled (only upside down...imagine the base of a trestle table) than an actual feet. The adjustment happens above the foot itself.

Once I actually build it I'll take photos and post.

[Ran]

Though everyone has made some very good points / suggestions, I'd just like

to add a different opinion here -- just for the heck of it.

Technically, your workbench or assembly table need only be flat on the top,

not necessarily level. I mean, your pencils don't roll off do they?

That might be a little much.

The only time a level top is handy is if you use a level to check your work.

Meaning, if you're building an end table or something.. and its up on your assembly

table or workbench, and you want to check the top of the end table with a level..

or check the legs are plumb, that'll only work if your work-table is level.

If you don't use a level in building, a level top is not essential.

Again, unless youre chasing your coffee cup down the table, you should be fine.

More often than not, leveling feet (or, adjustable feet, rather) are used to keep

your table from rocking on uneven floor.

just my 2c,

-Tony

I agree, Tony. I've made a ton of furniture using a dead flat surface that wasn't 'necessarily' perfectly level. As you allude to, you don't want the pencil rolling off the table, but level perfection is not necessary for everything, IMO. When I roll out my planer, for example, I don't check it for level before I start dimensioning stock.

[wilburpan]

Here's a video from Popular Woodworking showing a technique to ensure that the feet of a chair, table, stool, etc., are all in the same plane, which is important if you don't want the top of your dresser to be out of level. It depends on your workbench or assembly table to be level.

[AMarshall]

Just to pile onto some previous comments, I don't ever check whether my bench or tools are level. But I sure do want them flat, and this is where adjusting feet come in handy. I guess if you are going to keep something in the same spot you could go the extra step to level it. But if you are moving things around all the time like me, all you need to know is that the top is not sagging because the floor is not flat.

I have also had good luck with the tripod theory. Several of my mobile cabinets have three feet so that no matter where I put them on my wavy floor, they are guaranteed not to wobble. I have even seen mobile bases for tablesaws that have three points of contact for the same reason.

[sbarton22]

3 points of contact....yeah, good stuff!!

[bgrella]

I used this technique on my outfeed table. Worked great.