Mobile Bases - Build or Buy?

[Michael W. Clark]

I have a need for three mobile bases, 6" jointer, 14" bandsaw, and 17" drill press (with plywood platform). I am torn between buying three bases or building them. The pluses I see to buying is less time devoted to building bases and the stationary stops are usually built-in. However, at $40-$60 /ea it may be worth devoting a little time to building them. I don't like the locking casters, they still seem to slip, so a good home-made option for making the bases stationary may sway me into building them. Any thoughts, opnions?

Thanks,
Mike

[Todd Burch]

I bought mine. They work well enough. I have all the stuff to make my own though, but it's time I would rather spend on other things. Searching out proper casters, making sure I have the right welding wire, changing the breaker box to swap my wide belt breaker back to welder outlet, etc.....

[Brian Kincaid]

Michael,
If you're rolling on concrete you will be hard pressed to beat the price/performance of Grizzly's shopfox super-heavy duty base. It's the one with the metal wheels.

Of course, since you will be sourcing 3 units it might be more of a question of how much you value your time. You might be able to save a little money, but it won't be much. Especially considering the time investment you will put in. Also, if you change equipment later you can move the purchased mobile base or sell it. The custom job is probably 'stuck' with the machine it was designed for unless you want to cut/weld again (unless you add in features to make it universal).

-Brian

[Michael W. Clark]

Todd, That's kind of the way I'm leaning. I have casters and most of the parts, but it seems like there is no simple (time, money, and convenience) solution for a homemade stop. The one on my Shop Fox base uses a threaded screw with a swivel "foot" similar like on a leveler. Something like this may be doable.

[Michael W. Clark]

Michael,
If you're rolling on concrete you will be hard pressed to beat the price/performance of Grizzly's shopfox super-heavy duty base. It's the one with the metal wheels.

Of course, since you will be sourcing 3 units it might be more of a question of how much you value your time. You might be able to save a little money, but it won't be much. Especially considering the time investment you will put in. Also, if you change equipment later you can move the purchased mobile base or sell it. The custom job is probably 'stuck' with the machine it was designed for unless you want to cut/weld again (unless you add in features to make it universal).

-Brian

Another good point Brian. I haven't thought about the versatility. All of these machines could be changed/upgraded at some point.

[Cary Falk]

I you make them, you will not save any money money. I never have but that is not why I make all of mine. I make mine because I don't like any that are commercially available. I like all 4 wheels to swivel and fully lock.

[jared herbert]

I have made several for my own use. Did I save any money, definitely not if you figure my time in on the deal but I think I have mobile bases that work better than ones you can buy, they last forever and they are heavy duty. Jared

[Matt Meiser]

I like to build them but I have the capability of welding them. Some others and I came up with what I think is a great design that we can build for about $50-$75 when purchasing materials in quantity, depending on what's available at the local steel place in drops.

[Chip Lindley]

IF you have a stick welder and side grinder, make your own! I have made custom bases for my PM66 table saw, 20" planer, and other lesser machines. Some, I patterned from HTC's Tricycle bases. Others I made to my own specs.

Because my steel was obtained at scrap prices, I could enjoy the economy of using my own time to make them. Hobby time is not like "real time" in a business setting. Do not include it in the pleasure you get from making something exactly as you want it!

Great deals on commercial casters can be had on eBay. I bought 4 Colson 2x4" swivel casters for $20, for a mobile base for my Woodmaster 38" double drum sander. It is huge, and they support it so fine!

~~Woodchipz~~

[HANK METZ]

This video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBnjoOvQ_X0)shows a mobility method that is hard to beat for simplicity, stability, economy.
I've also improved on that a bit by using bed casters from thrift stores, usually get them for $.50 each. Scored some free on a trash day roadside grab of a bed frame.
248340

- Beachside Hank
Improvise, adapt, overcome; the essence of true craftsmanship.

[Brian Brightwell]

I have the mobile base off my Delta tablesaw, you are welcome to it. But we are aways apart.

[Keith Outten]

Someone here shared the idea of making your own mobile bases without wheels. Instead of wheels design your base so you can use a mini pallet jack to move your machines around. This is what I intend to do in the future, I already purchased the pallet jack and I use it more that I thought possible already.
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[John Lifer]

I welded up a couple of mine, fun to do. Did a cheap fix for my jointer. used a HF furniture dolly under it. Works well and rolls only when pushed.

[Anthony Diodati]

how are the harbor freight ones these days, I remember they had a decent clone of the Delta base, but as usual, when HF has something good, they do away with it.
$40.00, get it for $32.00 with a - 20% coupon.
http://www.harborfreight.com/300-lb-capacity-mobile-base-95288.html

[Anthony Diodati]

Lumberjocks review seemed to like it.
lumberjocks.com/reviews/product/2679
And this one
woodtalkonline.com/topic/7333-harbor-freight-mobile-base/

[Brian Backner]

+1 for using a pallet jack.

Stable and more capacity than you're ever likely to need (4,500-5,500#) and you only need to buy one for all of your machines. As an example, I have a 3,200# Crescent P24 planer that I move with my pallet jack. When in actual use, the P24 lives on 6x6" timbers. When moved to a different location in the garage, I level it by using wooden shims - simple to do as you can easily lift and lower even a machine as heavy as the P24. Overall, the jack makes moving machinery easy (not that moving a 3,200# machine is easy), and it's very stable, and cost effective. Each subsequent machine to be mobilized only requires some 4x4 or 6x6 timbering and some lag screws.

A standard pallet jack measures just under 27" across the width of the two forks. This would probably be too big for a typical cabinet style table saw, but there are narrow jacks that are just 15" across the forks. Those are a little harder to find used, but I do see them from time to time on CraigsList.

[Steve Kohn]

I have my entire shop on mobile bases including a wide belt sander (800 lbs.). One thing I have learned is that most of the manufactured bases have too small of wheels to be effective. The small wheels get stuck on wood scraps or even in the stress control joints in my concrete floor. I've gone almost totally to a minimum of 4 inch casters. The 5 inch double locking rubber casters from Grizzly are what I am using now for everything I've been building.

[Chris Ainsley]

I built one for my old grizzly bandsaw out of 4" channel and 4"x1/4" angle with locking casters from lee valley.

[Jeff Cybulski]

I have used the HF and the Delta mobile bases for my Grizzly bandsaw and Rockwell Model 10 table saw. The Delta has a better lift wheel then the HF unit. I glued up white oak for the bases and have had no issues rolling around on my cement floor

[Keith Outten]

The mini-pallet jacks can be purchased from either Grizzly or from Northern Tools.

[Keith Avery]

RWM is an industrial maker of casters. They are very high quality casters. I have bought them on Amazon for as little as 3 dollars each. I regularly pick up a set for less than $30 rated at 600-1200lbs per caster. Watch Amazon and you can get casters at phenomenal prices(along with ebay). In many cases I have bought a caster thats msrp is 70 bucks for less than it cost Amazon to ship it to me. Only downside is you may have to spend a little time in their 80 page catalog to figure out which ones are best for your application.

[Michael W. Clark]

Thanks for all the responses!
I don't have a welder or immediate access to one, so my build would most likely consist of wood or bolted steel. I can cut and drill steel, but no welder.

When I think of a pallet jack, I think of a typical warehouse version. I don't currently have room for that but sounds like a good way to go if I did. I'm not familiar with the "mini pallet jack". I'll check that out.

I thought about the tow bar, but I think it would be cumbersome for the drill press and maybe the bandsaw too. The drill press is especially top heavy.

On the home-made versions (wood and metal), how are you securing the base in place for use? I don't usuall buy the best casters (and that may be the problem), but the lockable ones always seem to slip. The base on the tablesaw (shop fox base) has threaded rods with a foot on the bottom that you screw down to secure it in place. What about a toggle clamp, the type you would use to hold something against a fence? Obviously this would not be good on something like the P24 planer, but my machines are much lighter duty.

Thanks,

Mike

[Anthony Diodati]

l am real tempted to try one of the HF bases next time they have the -25% coupon. I need one for my wood metal bandsaw.

[Dave Aronson]

l am real tempted to try one of the HF bases next time they have the -25% coupon. I need one for my wood metal bandsaw.

I have a few different mobile bases and my favorite is the one from Rockler because it has a really big foot pedal to raise and lower the base.

[Anthony Diodati]

I have a few different mobile bases and my favorite is the one from Rockler because it has a really big foot pedal to raise and lower the base.

Yeah, l can understand that. My shop area is sort of crowded, sometimes l am tripping over those foot pedals, the HF one, while not as convenient, and l would have to ;heaven forbid, bend over to crank the screws to raise it, might be more out of the way.
If all goes well, l will be buying a house this coming year. I told the realtor, the garage is just, if not more important than the house.
What one from Rockler is it? Don't they have more than one?

[Danny Burns]

Last time I checked out Grizzly's site, they had the ShopFox bases on sale.
I like them because the frame is sturdy with rectangular steel tubes on the sides, as apposed to steel bar, and the bases only raise the machines about an inch off the floor.
For something like a tippy drill press, I think the lower the better.
Manufactureres usually give a minimum base dimensions for drill presses so they don't tip.

[Anthony Diodati]

Like this one?
This is the small one, they have the same thing in a larger version.
http://www.amazon.com/Shop-Fox-D2057A-Adjustable-Mobile/dp/B0000DD6B9


Last time I checked out Grizzly's site, they had the ShopFox bases on sale.
I like them because the frame is sturdy with rectangular steel tubes on the sides, as apposed to steel bar, and the bases only raise the machines about an inch off the floor.
For something like a tippy drill press, I think the lower the better.
Manufactureres usually give a minimum base dimensions for drill presses so they don't tip.

[Jim Becker]

Someone here shared the idea of making your own mobile bases without wheels. Instead of wheels design your base so you can use a mini pallet jack to move your machines around. This is what I intend to do in the future, I already purchased the pallet jack and I use it more that I thought possible already.
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I like this idea a lot...and it has the added advantage of being able to keep an assembly platform around that can also be moved at will with the pallet jack, making schlepping of large projects/project components around in the shop easier. And for me, if I even needed to move my slider, I'd need a pallet jack anyway...it weighs 1500 lbs. :) (That's what we used to put in in the spot it lives now...)

[Don Stanley]

I have a need for three mobile bases, 6" jointer, 14" bandsaw, and 17" drill press (with plywood platform). I am torn between buying three bases or building them. The pluses I see to buying is less time devoted to building bases and the stationary stops are usually built-in. However, at $40-$60 /ea it may be worth devoting a little time to building them. I don't like the locking casters, they still seem to slip, so a good home-made option for making the bases stationary may sway me into building them. Any thoughts, opnions?

Thanks,
Mike

Mike, maybe this should give you some ideas! I started with an inexpensive base for my planer, a Rockler with a single re-moveable swivel wheel on one end - fixed casters on the other end. It does the job, but four swivel wheels work a lot better on tools you move all the time!

For heavy tools that seldom get moved consider using the re-moveable wheel from the Rocker base as part of the solution.
The swivel caster is available separately from Rockler: http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=2383&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=&utm_content=pla&utm_campaign=PLA&gclid=COajh53EuLQCFQhyQgodZQYAQQ

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/1893/thumbs/6_P1040471.jpg (http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/showphoto.php?photo=44911&title=drill-press-mobile-base&cat=1893)

This is my shop-made 17" Delta Drill Press Mobil Base.
http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/1893/thumbs/13_P1040484.jpg (http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/showphoto.php?photo=44900&title=drill-press-mobile-base&cat=1893)

I also modified my Router Table to use the swivel caster; added fixed wheels under the table on one end and a small hitch block on the other end. Sorry I don't have a picture of the finished table, but this will give you an idea of what I'm talking about.

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/852/thumbs/1_FrontView.JPG (http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/showphoto.php?photo=11070&title=front-view&cat=852)

-Don

[Prashun Patel]

Personally, I'd make them - but for different reasons:

Drill press: stability is not as big a deal on this as with other tools. I'd add some locking casters to your plywood base and be done with it. All the force is downward, so slipping isn't an issue. Low cost = best here IMHO.

Bandsaw: make your own. The bases I explored were tippy. I made one out of four pieces of 2x3 rectangular steel tubing and some Great Lakes casters (all bolted together. It works great. It cost me about $60-70 in materials, but the wider footprint has made it worth it. Also, depending on the operation, I have to move my bandsaw around and pivot it quite a bit. Having 4 independent swiveling/locking casters is convenient here. Unless you are resawing huge slabs, the swiveling/locking casters won't pose a problem.

Jointer: here stability is really important. Most likely, this will be stored against a wall and only moved away from the wall in one dimension. For this reason, a base with 2 fixed casters is fine. I'd definitely make one here that lifts up off the casters, or allows them to fold down for maximum stability. FWIW, i have a very small shop, and am able to to get by with a stationary jointer by lifting it up on blocks so the wings are slightly above my tablesaw extension wing. Once I was able to get clearance fore and aft, I realized the jointer actually requires very little space to work properly.

[Ole Anderson]

I have an HTC tricycle base under my table saw (small shop, I need to move it a lot), a 4 wheel HTC under my Delta lunchbox planer, my BS came with casters and everything else, I pretty much drag around. The problem I have with most mobile bases is that it increases the footprint and adds to the trip hazards in the shop.

[Gus Dundon]

I don't see any problem in buying new mobile base for your bandsaw. But if you think you have so much time and if you want it the way you wanted it to be, the figure ,the design and the dimension etc , well, you can build one by yourself.

[Michael W. Clark]

I appreciate all the responses and I have plenty of good options to conisder. The swivel caster from Rockler looks interesting and Prashun's post has me thinking about the location of my jointer. Since I originally posted, I'm thinking about some re-arranging and putting the jointer next to the TS may be the ticket. I may also have a new home for the DP which should minimize/eliminate needing to move it. If I'm down to one base for the BS, I will either buy it or do something like Don did for the DP. Thanks again for taking the time to respond.

Mike

[Greg Portland]

Someone here shared the idea of making your own mobile bases without wheels. Instead of wheels design your base so you can use a mini pallet jack to move your machines around. This is what I intend to do in the future, I already purchased the pallet jack and I use it more that I thought possible already.
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+1. This is what I'd do if I didn't already have bases. Most shop floors are uneven (either the floor or debris). I like large (4"+) casters in these situations but that can lead to tippy-ness (or a more complex mobile base design). A pallet jack is made for towing or pushing around heavy loads. You can make the cross pieces w. notches for the jack out of decent wood (maple, hickory, etc.). Easy and cheap!

[Keith Outten]

Greg,

I'm kind of in the same situation in that I already have built several welded stands that each have castors on them already. I have been looking at my stands trying to decide if modifying them for the pallet jack would make them better. In every case except one my existing stands would be much better if I removed the wheels. Some should be converted to three legs instead of four. I have a couple new stands to build in the near term for some existing small tools and they will be the first ones to have pallet access points at the base of the stands. The older stands will have to be converted over time, the ones that all I have to do is weld two pieces of angle iron across the legs will be a quick fix, some will take design changes to the stands to convert them.

I really like the little mini pallet jack. It has become invaluable already in my shop and it stores under the end of my table saw so it doesn't take up any space. I keep my eyes out these days for high quality pallets that I can get for free and I am in the process of ordering six of the commercial plastic pallets. I also use hydraulic tables in my shop for several types of projects and for stands for some machines. Now I am planning to start setting pallets on top of hydraulic tables so I can roll the hydraulic tables around from machine to machine then move the pallet to the floor with either a shop winch or with my tractor when the parts are complete. When the pallets are on the floor they are so easy to move, I need to go the extra step to make this work even more efficiently.

[Steven DeMars]

Check these guys out . . .

http://www.palletsmith.com/default.aspx

Steve

[Robert Chapman]

The slickest mobile base that I have seen is the SawStop Industrial mobile base. It is powered by a small hydraulic bottle jack that raises the saw with three or four pumps of a foot pedal and lowers the saw back to the floor with a press on a foot operated release lever. It also uses 360 degree rotating casters. Not cheap at about $300 and built to fit SawStop cabinet saws.

[Keith Outten]

I'm doing a little organizing in my shop these days moving machines around to try and gain more floor space. Yesterday I moved my 18" band saw, a very old heavy Delta scroll saw and my CNC Router by myself with my mini pallet jack. The three machines are not ones that I move around frequently so none of them are on wheels. The move went well and I didn't have to lift anything so my back feels fine this morning :)

Robert, the SawStop base sounds interesting I will have to take a look at it the next time I am at WoodCraft.
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