Richard Cotten
12-10-2011, 8:00 PM
I purchased a Grizzly G0609 Jointer a while back along with a G0531 21" bandsaw. It was hard enough to offload these from the truck into my garage, let alone trying to get them into my basement shop. After installing a double door in the side of my walkout basement and renting an extendable all terrain forklift, I managed to get the jointer, bandsaw, and a Woodmaster 725 planer into my basement. I was able to use a Shop Fox universal base for the bandsaw and Woodmaster sells a mobile kit for the planer. But the jointer sat on its shipping pallet for about a year. I was driving me nuts and it was in the way.
I researched the web, spoke with HTC, and local metal fabricators trying to figure out a solution. The universal bases just did not seem sturdy enough. HTC did not have a stock base to fit this jointer. They could make a custom base but the estimate was $600.00 plus shipping. HTC makes a great product (I have several of their bases under other equipment) but I just wasn't prepared to spend that much money on a mobile base for a machine I will use "occasionally". Local fabricators were even higher and there was no history of their ability to make a safe mobile base for a machine that weighs about 1000 pounds.
So I bought a Miller 211 Autoset and a few scraps of metal and decided I'd design and build one myself (I already had a metal chop saw).
Some of the home-made examples I saw on the web were made of wood. That concerned me for two reasons - 1) is wood sturdy enough to safely support this size and weight machine, and 2) the examples I looked at raised the base of the machine up off the floor about 3 or 4 inches. I was concerned about raising the center of gravity on something this heavy. If it started to tip there would be no way to stop it from falling over (sort of like a Harley Davidson).
I used 11 ga 1.0 inch by 1.5 inch steel tubing for the main frame. There are three support plates welded to the under side of the frame made from 3/16 inch plate. The plates were placed so I could use the shipping bolt holes to secure the machine to the completed frame. The end plates where the casters bolt on are made from 1/4 inch plate. The casters are 3 1/2 inch cast iron rated at 400 pounds each. The 1.5 inch high steel tubing allows the jointer to sit in the frame without restricing access to the end covers or the belt guard. I purchased the steel and castors from a local metal supplier for about $85.00 total.
I made a wood template of everything and then cut all the metal parts to fit the templates. Sitting in the finished base, the jointer is about 1 inch off the floor. I've used it once since setting it in the base and it is very stable. I plan to change out two of the casters on one end to "fixed". It is probably a better idea to roll the jointer on its lenght versus across its depth. The only other thing is to get it powdercoated. I built another base for my Delta 14 inch RAS. I'm going to build a new base for my Delta Unisaw to handle the Biesemeyer 52 inch fence I installed earlier this year. Once I get the Unisaw base completed I'll take all three to Liquid & Powdercoat Finishes in Kansas City so they can work their magic.
All in all, I am very please with how the jointer base turned out (the RAS base was simple compared to the jointer base). Here are some pictures of the structurally completed jointer base.
215391215392215393215394
I researched the web, spoke with HTC, and local metal fabricators trying to figure out a solution. The universal bases just did not seem sturdy enough. HTC did not have a stock base to fit this jointer. They could make a custom base but the estimate was $600.00 plus shipping. HTC makes a great product (I have several of their bases under other equipment) but I just wasn't prepared to spend that much money on a mobile base for a machine I will use "occasionally". Local fabricators were even higher and there was no history of their ability to make a safe mobile base for a machine that weighs about 1000 pounds.
So I bought a Miller 211 Autoset and a few scraps of metal and decided I'd design and build one myself (I already had a metal chop saw).
Some of the home-made examples I saw on the web were made of wood. That concerned me for two reasons - 1) is wood sturdy enough to safely support this size and weight machine, and 2) the examples I looked at raised the base of the machine up off the floor about 3 or 4 inches. I was concerned about raising the center of gravity on something this heavy. If it started to tip there would be no way to stop it from falling over (sort of like a Harley Davidson).
I used 11 ga 1.0 inch by 1.5 inch steel tubing for the main frame. There are three support plates welded to the under side of the frame made from 3/16 inch plate. The plates were placed so I could use the shipping bolt holes to secure the machine to the completed frame. The end plates where the casters bolt on are made from 1/4 inch plate. The casters are 3 1/2 inch cast iron rated at 400 pounds each. The 1.5 inch high steel tubing allows the jointer to sit in the frame without restricing access to the end covers or the belt guard. I purchased the steel and castors from a local metal supplier for about $85.00 total.
I made a wood template of everything and then cut all the metal parts to fit the templates. Sitting in the finished base, the jointer is about 1 inch off the floor. I've used it once since setting it in the base and it is very stable. I plan to change out two of the casters on one end to "fixed". It is probably a better idea to roll the jointer on its lenght versus across its depth. The only other thing is to get it powdercoated. I built another base for my Delta 14 inch RAS. I'm going to build a new base for my Delta Unisaw to handle the Biesemeyer 52 inch fence I installed earlier this year. Once I get the Unisaw base completed I'll take all three to Liquid & Powdercoat Finishes in Kansas City so they can work their magic.
All in all, I am very please with how the jointer base turned out (the RAS base was simple compared to the jointer base). Here are some pictures of the structurally completed jointer base.
215391215392215393215394