Replacing casters on shopfox mobile base?

[Matt Stiegler]

Judging from past posts, lots of folks are unhappy with their shopfox mobile bases because the cheap casters won't roll. I have one that came with my used jointer, and I hate it.

Several people have posted great pictures of their shop-made mobile bases. But I'm considering an option I haven't been able to find discussed: keeping the mobile base frame and just replacing the casters.

The holes on the frame where the casters mount don't line up with the casters I have (3" locking from hartvilletool.com, rated for 220#), so mounting them would mean drilling two new holes in the frame for each caster. (See photo of new caster sitting on top of existing bolts).

Stupid idea? Anyone done it?

[Jason White]

I actually considered doing the exact same thing on that base to make it taller. When I held the Woodcraft urethane casters over the stock wheels, it looked like the holes would line up perfectly. Even if they don't, though, no reason not to try it. Woodcraft also sells them with with threaded spindle if you wanted to go a slightly cheaper route.

Jason


Judging from past posts, lots of folks are unhappy with their shopfox mobile bases because the cheap casters won't roll. I have one that came with my used jointer, and I hate it.

Several people have posted great pictures of their shop-made mobile bases. But I'm considering an option I haven't been able to find discussed: keeping the mobile base frame and just replacing the casters.

The holes on the frame where the casters mount don't line up with the casters I have (3" locking from hartvilletool.com, rated for 220#), so mounting them would mean drilling two new holes in the frame for each caster. (See photo of new caster sitting on top of existing bolts).

Stupid idea? Anyone done it?

[Bruce Page]

I went down to a local castor store (Casters of Albuquerque) and replaced the garbage HTC castors on my Woodmaster DS with quality red casters. I couldn’t find any that would bolt up to the HTC hole pattern so I kept the HTC caster frames and just replaced the wheels and axels.

[Tom Esh]

Yeah, the dang SF casters have swivel radius shorter than just about anything you'd want to replace them with, which means they won't clear the frame. I used the Woodcraft post type which allowed me to locate them further outboard on the plate. I also had to remove the brake mechanisms for clearance.
125211

[Ed Labadie]

I cut the trip hazard brackets off the mobile base......welded a new plate underneath and bolted the new casters to it.
Yup, it raised the drum sander up 4", but it's now at a more comfortable height for me.

I also cut the leveling thingies off & welded the whole base up solid after it was adjusted to the correct size.

Ed

[Matt Stiegler]

Well, I'm glad I asked. Thanks for the responses, each one was helpful.

Hard to believe I was dumb enough not to think about swivel clearance, thanks for pointing that out, Tom. Maybe that's the reason more people don't do what I was thinking about, or do what Bruce did instead. Ed's got a nice looking base there.

I guess I need to think about it some more. Maybe I'll just go the shop-made base route too.

[Ed Reeder]

I know that this is an old thread, but my SF casters just crapped out. I called Caster City and spoke with George who spent some time with me to make sure that I got the proper fix. I ended up keeping the casters and replacing the axles and wheels. He recommended polyurethane wheels and said that the ones with aluminum centers were best because of the way the treads locked into the centers. This was important because of the possible sideways strain on the fixed wheels when the base was turned. The aluminum center wheels also have ball bearings.

The casters just needed to spread slightly for the wider wheels (you might need to remove the fixed casters to remove the SF wheels) no drilling required. The caster sides do need to be tight to the wheels (if you get the aluminum center ones).

Let me say my table saw glides around now and locks in place when needed. The aluminum center wheels were more expensive, but I am VERY happy with the results. BTW - the axles have grease fittings so you can lubricate them if needed.

This is what I ordered Ordered: PA3x1-1/4B 3" Blue Polyurethane on Aluminum Wheel and LA3/8x2-3/8 Lube (Zerk) Axle 3/8" x 2-3/8" with Lock Nut.