More progress!
The shed floor is your normal tongue and groove job - so I laid an extra layer over the top of it to beef it up and to ensure the loads where spread evenly. I used waterproof flooring panels:
I then laid some heavy duty vinyl flooring that Pauline found at Costco - it's supposed to be for garage floors, is very thick and weighs a ton. It's not to easy to cut either! But it'll make cleaning up easier - we'll just have to see how it copes with swarf.
With the flooring down, I needed to think about workbenches. I did think about building my own out of timber or welding some frames up myself... But I saw an advert for some nice looking tables on eBay of all places. They mentioned they could do custom sizes, so I measured up, rang them and ordered two - one for the back gable wall, and one to go opposite the window in the gap left between the other table and the wall with the door in it.
I also asked them to weld some nuts into the legs so I could put some adjustable feet in to ensure I can level them up. The floor should be level... But no harm having them.
They arrived, and they just bolted together:
The larger of the two will be where my mill sits. It has two additional supports bolted in place in the centre of the bench, spaced as to pick up the bolt holes of the mill base.
The company that makes the benches doesn't supply the tops, so it's down to personal preference what you put on them. They suggest 18mm MDF, or steel plate for hot work if you're doing any. I went for 18mm marine plywood and then bonded a .7mm stainless steel sheet on top:
Wipe clean, oil and cutting fluid resistant - and if my mate is to be believed, could be used as a make shift morgue.
So - time to start moving machines in.
I asked my friend to give me a hand, and we managed to get the mill in:
I've been really paranoid about the Mill weight - it's 220Kg... But the bench hasn't buckled, the shed hasn't sunk and my friend and I didn't kill ourselves getting it in.
Anyway, that's as far as I've got. Now I need to call in another favour at the weekend to get the lathe installed under the window.