INSTALLATION OF MACHINE

TOOLS ON FOUNDATION
 The performance of a machine tool and its
service life depend to a considerable degree upon
its proper installation on the foundation.

 The foundation transmits uniformly, the load due

to the weight of the machine tool workpiece and
cutting forces, to a larger area of floor.
 For installation of most lathes, vertical turret
lathes, drill presses and other machines of
standard accuracy with a weight up to 1.5 or 2
tons (if its length l to height h ratio does not
exceed about 2), no special foundations are
required.

 As a rule, the foundation of such machine tools is

the concrete floor of the shop with a thickness
from 150 to 250 mm.

 If the shop has no concrete floor, separate

concrete slabs, up to 300 mm thick and 4 X 4 m2
in plan, can serve as foundations.
 Quite frequently, in installing special machine
tools, concrete strips 1.5 to 3 m wide and up to 6
m long or a continuous concrete strip 300 to 400
mm thick can be used as a foundation.
Special Foundations
 Special foundation are required in the
following case:
◼ When the machine tool bed is insufficiently rigid
◼ When the machine tool bed is long and assembled from
several sections.
◼ For machine tools weighing over 10 tons when the
concrete floor of the shop is not thick enough to bear
the load.
◼ When isolation of vibration is necessary.

Foundations blocks should extend not less than 100 mm

beyond the base of the machine tool.
Determination of the thickness
foundations – Method A
 The thickness of foundations block is determined
depending on length L of the foundation and the
type of machine tool:
H = K√L
 Factor K, depending on the type of machine
tool, K is:
◼ 0.2 for lathes (semi- and fully-automatic lathes
included) and for horizontal broaching
machines;
◼ 0.4 for grinding machines:
◼ 0.6 for gear cutting machines, vertical boring
mills (semi- and fully-automatic vertical lathes
included), vertical milling machines with
revolving tables, Horizontal and vertical milling
machines, and horizontal boring machines;
◼ 0.3 for planers and planer-type milling
machines.
❑ The thickness of concrete foundations within a
range of 0.6-1.4 m is used for radial drill presses,
shapers, slotters, and vertical broaching
machines;
❑ For precision machine tools this thickness is
increased by 20%.
❑ Foundations for machine tools weighing over 12
tons and also those for machine tools subject to
high dynamic loads (such as slotters, shapers,
etc.) are made of concrete reinforced with a steel
net which is laid under the upper surface of the
foundation at a depth of 20-30 mm.
❑ The net is made of round steel bars of 6-8 mm
diameter with a cell size of 150x150 mm.
Determination of the thickness
foundations – Method B
 The thickness of the foundation can also be
determined from the required weight of the
foundation as follows:
Gf = Kf Gmt

Where, Gmt is the weight of the machine tool

kf = empirical factor, taken from 0.6 to 1.5
for machine tools with a static load and 2 to 3
for those with a dynamic load.
 Knowing the weight Gf of the foundation, the
area of its base Ff and the specific weight of the
material, γf the height Hf of the foundation can
be calculated as follows:
Hf = Gf /(Ff γf)

The weight of the foundation should be checked to

satisfy the following conditions:
1. To prevent the soil from being squeezed at the
side of the foundation. The height Hf should
satisfy the following conditions:
Hf ≥ {[σz tan(450 – θ/2)]/γ} –{b [1-
tan(450 – θ/2)]/[2tan(450 – θ/2)]} m
 Where,
σz = pressure on the soil at the footing of the
foundation, Kgf/m2,
γ = specific weight of the soil, Kg/m3
θ = angle of repose of the soil, deg.
b = width of the soil, m

 The angle of repose of the soil, θ is the acute

angle which the line of the slope makes with the
horizontal surface at the base of the
embankment.
 Angle of repose, θ = 150 – 200 for moist soil and
θ ≤ 500 for dry soil.
The average value is  400.

2. Height of the foundation should be sufficient to

accommodate the foundation bolts (Fig. 1),
whose length, L should be:
L = (15-20) x d1, d1 being the minor
diameter of the bolt.
Foundation Bolt Design
3. To eliminate the action of foundation on each
other due to soil setting the angle φ between
the footing of adjacent foundation should be
less than the angle of repose of the soil (Fig.
2).
Foundation Design

Fig. 1 Dependence of foundation on adjacent

Foundation
Elastic vibration isolators
 Elastic vibration isolators and shock
mounts are widely used in the installation
of:
◼ high-precision machine tools susceptible to
vibration of the foundation base,
◼ Some general-purpose models and
◼ machine tools that have a dynamic action on
the surroundings.
 Installation of machine tools on vibration
isolators has the following advantages:
◼ lower installation time
◼ better quality of surface finish obtained on
precision machines, and
◼ noise in the shop is reduced.
◼ Time for rearrangement of machines is low.
These vibration isolators can be classified,
according to the material of which the elastic
element is made, as:
(1) rubber and combined rubber and metal
isolators;
(2) all-metal isolators and mounts
(3) felt pads
(4) cork pads
(5) plastic pad;
(6) pneumatic isolators.
 An investigation of vibration isolators, showed
that combined rubber and metal isolators with
the rubber in shear are the most efficient for the
installation of machine tools.
 Shown in Fig. 3 is the rubber and metal isolator
manufactured by the Barry Controls Incorporated
(USA).
 The machine tool bed is mounted directly on the
cover of the isolator.
 This cover is adjustable due to the deformation of
the rubber rim upon turning the adjusting screw
which bears on a metal thrust flange.
Fig. 3 Combined rubber and metal isolator
 Depending upon the kind of rubber and the size
of the isolator it can withstand a load from 60 to
2,700 kgf.
 The metal frame protects the rubber against the
action of oils, solvents and sunlight, thereby
prolonging the service life of the isolators.
 Rubber and metal isolators, in which the rubber
is in compression; ensure vibration isolation.