There will be a block wall 8 courses high on the back wall and the side walls will go from 8 high tapering down to two courses high at the front over a 30 foot length.
The lathe weighs 1600lbs. and has six bolts holding it down through the baseplate of the machine. Baseplate has two pads 3"wide x 18'' long under the headstock and the same under the tailstock. Baseplate will be shimmed level at these six points and then grouted which spreads the load of the machine over 216 square inches which works out to 7.4lbs per square inch.
Milling machine weighs 2500lbs and has 4 pads with a total area of 44 square inch plus the perimeter of the machine base which will be grouted for a total of 170 square inches.
Load per square inch will be less than 15lbs.
Not sure about a frost line here, i don't know if it ever gets that cold to freeze the ground.
I'll talk to the builder about putting stone instead of sand for the base. I'm a machinist not a builder but i can see the advantage of rock as against sand for backfill.
Found all kinds of things to consider from peoples input and appreciate it.
