Anyone modify the Sawstop industrial mobile base for another tool?

[Mike Fritz]

I don't own a Sawstop, but I am fascinated by their industrial mobile base with the hydraulic lift and easy movement. It is sized to fit their 20"x 25" industrial saw or with an adaptor kit their 19 3/8 x 19 3/8 professional saw.

I am the new owner of a Minimax FS30 jointer/planer and I'm looking at my mobile base options. The FS30 has a base of 19 1/4" x 26". So perfect on one dimension, but 1" too big on the other. The Sawstop folks said it wouldn't fit, and the size is fixed with everything welded.

I could probably put in a couple of layers of plywood to raise it above the edge of the angle iron they use, but that will raise my j/p even higher - I'm short 5'7". Or with more expense, get a welder to adapt it.

Just curious if anyone else was so attracted to this base that they made some modifications to get it to work for other tools, or should I look at other options like the Portamate PM 3500. I just looked online and their is a huge difference in price Sawstop base $328, Portamate $100 on sale.

[Nick Decker]

Mike,

I don't know about the SawStop base, but I have the Portamate 2500 unit under my bandsaw. While assembling the Portamate base, three out of 24 of the nuts/bolts had the threads so screwed up they wouldn't even thread together. You'll also be working from an instruction sheet so small that it is indecipherable to the naked eye. I enlarged mine, only to find that it became too blurry to mean anything. Portamate offered to replace the faulty nuts/bolts. I opted to replace all of them myself, with something I had a little more confidence in.

The base is still in use, but I wouldn't buy it again.

[Frank Pratt]

The SS base is truly a wonderful thing. So easy to raise & wheel around. But I don't think it would be an easy task to modify it for something larger. Like the SS tech said, it's all welded together & there are linkages involved that would have to be lengthened as well. It's too bad.

When I raise mine it will start rolling toward the OH door all by itself on my very slightly sloped garage floor.

[John K Jordan]

...
Just curious if anyone else was so attracted to this base that they made some modifications to get it to work for other tools, or should I look at other options like the Portamate PM 3500. I just looked online and their is a huge difference in price Sawstop base $328, Portamate $100 on sale.

I bought the same base and will use it with a milling machine. I love the hydraulic lift and the fact when lowered it sits firmly on the floor. It will lift an impressive load.

Since I have to build a base for the milling machine I'll fabricate a cabinet from heavy steel stock to fit inside the SS mobile base. I've drawn up the base so all I have to do now is make it. (Life sure is easier in some ways with a little welding shop!)

I'm not looking at it right now but if I remember correctly how it is made I suspect it would be a major effort to enlarge it in one direction due to the mechanism and perhaps not as much a job for the other direction. I didn't need to do that so I really didn't look at it close enough to answer intelligently!

It might be easier to modify the jointer/planer base as you mentioned, depending on how it's made. If it's made from sheet metal cabinet similar to the base on my PM66, I can imagine cutting a couple of inches out of the middle or bottom of the base and weld it back together (or fabricate an "adapter") to keep it the perfect height. Oh, depending on how your machine base is made it might actually be easier to cut out a "rabbet" or simple slot in the machine base to clear the angle iron of the SS base.

I think I paid $299 for my SS base but it was some months ago.

JKJ

[Mike Fritz]

John I'm going to look at the "rabbet" idea tomorrow morning. Thanks.