MM24 mobility kit?????

[Tom M King]

Anyone have one, and have any comments, likes, or dislikes. It's a fairly heavy thing, and I was wondering about the levering little dolly for the front. The price is certainly cheap enough, so I was wondering about bearings in the wheels. I don't mind making my own, but for the price if it's easily used, it should be good enough.

[Bruce Page]

Some people like them, I hated it and found it clumsy to maneuver. I put a mobile base under my MM16.

[Scott Dorrer]

I have it the mobility kit on my MM20. It's better than nothing. The biggest issue I have is that the leveling screws are useless with the kit as they are too short. I usually end up just using wooden wedges to level the machine. Interesting when I bought the machine at a woodworking expo they had a slick holder for the dolly on the back of the saw. When the machine was delivered there was no holder. When I called MM about it, they had no clue what I was talking about. Then I contacted the sales person from the expo, he told me it was a custom holder just for the expos and not a MM item.

[Tom M King]

Thanks for the input. I think I'll fabricate one that works good.

[Bernie May]

i put the GD-60s casters on my MM20. they work great.
http://www.casterdepot.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=gd+60s

[Tom M King]

It's sitting on a dolly with those casters on it already, but it raises it up too high. I might just make a metal frame to use those casters, but put them to the outside so it's just an inch, or less, off the floor. Looks like all I need is the right sized angle iron-two pieces along the sides for it to sit on, and two pieces welded across the ends of those, with the horizontal leg at the top facing out, that are large enough for the casters to fit under. Those casters come with a wrench, but it didn't come with that, so I need to find one instead of something makeshift.

[Steve Wilde]

Bernie,
do you have pictures of these castors on your Mm20? I have a mm16 coming Monday and am looking at different options. If I could lift the mm16 up by a half inch the table would be level with my cabinets and could use them as a long out feed table. Thanks,
steve

[Bruce Page]

Tom, here's a thread on my conversion to a mobile base. It raised the height less than 1"
I've gone Mobile! (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?10507-I-ve-gone-Mobile%21)

[Scott DelPorte]

Hi Tom,
I put casters on my MM24. There are threaded pads welded to the base that allow for screwing on standard sized casters. You can just lever and block the machine up about 6 inches and screw these to the base. They roll quite nice and you can level the machine with them.

322718

[Tom M King]

Those are the casters that it's sitting on under a couple of inches of Baltic birch dolly. I'm going to make an angle iron frame that uses those casters, but allows the machine to be down at only and inch or less higher than without casters. Do you have a "wrench" that turns the adjuster? My machine is a Centauro CO600, but almost identical to a MM24. I bought it used, and it came with the dolly.

[Steve Wilde]

That's pretty nice Bruce, I have that same bSe under my Dj20. I looked but can't find another... I'll keep looking!

[Jim Becker]

Tom, I have the MM mobility kit under my MM16 and like others have indicated, it's not the most elegant way to move a very top-heavy tool. It works, but...

I really don't move my band saw around, so it's not been an issue for me. In fact, I have a piece of 3/4" thick PT plywood under the base to raise everything off the floor so the tool is rock-solid.

[Erik Loza]

...the leveling screws are useless with the kit as they are too short...

Scott, sure that you're using the correct leveling studs? They should be plenty long enough. This is the first time I've heard anyone mention this.


...when I bought the machine at a woodworking expo they had a slick holder for the dolly on the back of the saw. When the machine was delivered there was no holder...

There is no special holder for the lifting bar. Many folks (myself included) simply hang the bar upside-down, with the nose of the bar into one of the holes in the upper cabinet, like so...

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i315/erikloza/Mini%20Max%20Bandsaw%20Works/MMbandsawfamily.jpg

Getting back to the OP's question, I agree that Zambus-type casters are the way to go on the big machines. The factory mobility kit (for me) works fine on the MM16, acceptably on the MM20, then "No way!" on the MM24. This has nothing to do with the design of the MM mobility kit (which actually is quite good, since it puts the machine back in contact with the floor once you are done moving it...) but the fact that's it's darn near impossible to tip a machine as heavy as the MM24 back far enough to make it usable. Just my 2-cents as always.

Erik

[Tom M King]

Thanks Erik. That was the idea I had, but wasn't certain. I'll post pictures of mine once I build it, but it's down the to-do list for a little while. Can you tell me how the MM gets more resaw height than the Centauro? Not that it really matters. I'm just curious. When I was taking the table off when I was moving the Centauro, I thought that there was plenty of possibility to get more height under there. After I printed out the parts sheets for the MM, I saw that the table mount was completely different. Just by looking at that picture, the machine height doesn't look any different to me, but the table looks lower.

By the way, I was very impressed with parts service by SCM, not only availability, but pleasant and knowledgeable people to deal with. I don't know why there are complaints about the manual. It's available online, and there is all the information anyone should need there.

I am most impressed with this machine.

i'm replacing the lower guide assembly, which needed replacing anyway on my machine, with a Carter model 20 even if I have to change the mounting post position.

[Bruce Page]

That's pretty nice Bruce, I have that same bSe under my Dj20. I looked but can't find another... I'll keep looking!

Yeah, it looks like Delta discontinued it, too bad. FWIW, one sold on eBay a few months ago.

[Scott Dorrer]

Scott, sure that you're using the correct leveling studs? They should be plenty long enough. This is the first time I've heard anyone mention this.



There is no special holder for the lifting bar. Many folks (myself included) simply hang the bar upside-down, with the nose of the bar into one of the holes in the upper cabinet, like so...



Erik


Yes,,, using the correct leveling studs as I assumed the ones that came with the machine were correct. If I screw them down far enough to level the machine, so the table is actually level and not slanted to the right, they are only in the base by a couple threads at the most. With the weight of the machine and working with heavy stock, it wouldn't be long before the threads would be trashed. My machine sits in a corner unused most of the time so a couple wooded wedges are easy to slide under when the time comes.

You are correct about the special holder (and hanging the bar on the machine). But they did have a custom holder on the demo machine and again I assumed that it came with the mobility kit. I felt I was duped some what when I found after the fact that the holder wasn't part of the kit. Not really that big of a deal but though I'd mention it.

Do you work for MM?? I bought my saw at the Woodworking Expo In Springfield , MA in 2003. As I recall this was a pretty new machine at the time.

[Erik Loza]

Thanks Erik. That was the idea I had, but wasn't certain. I'll post pictures of mine once I build it, but it's down the to-do list for a little while. Can you tell me how the MM gets more resaw height than the Centauro? Not that it really matters. I'm just curious. When I was taking the table off when I was moving the Centauro, I thought that there was plenty of possibility to get more height under there. After I printed out the parts sheets for the MM, I saw that the table mount was completely different. Just by looking at that picture, the machine height doesn't look any different to me, but the table looks lower.

By the way, I was very impressed with parts service by SCM, not only availability, but pleasant and knowledgeable people to deal with. I don't know why there are complaints about the manual. It's available online, and there is all the information anyone should need there.

I am most impressed with this machine.

i'm replacing the lower guide assembly, which needed replacing anyway on my machine, with a Carter model 20 even if I have to change the mounting post position.

It's honestly been a long time since I've seen one of those older machines, so I'm fuzzy on how Centauro built them but the newer (MM) series are indeed more robust in many areas and have the hinge-type table tilting unit. All they did for the new machine was just elongate the neck. Rest of the machine is plenty srong enough to handle whatever the owner throws at it.


Yes,,, using the correct leveling studs as I assumed the ones that came with the machine were correct. If I screw them down far enough to level the machine, so the table is actually level and not slanted to the right, they are only in the base by a couple threads at the most. With the weight of the machine and working with heavy stock, it wouldn't be long before the threads would be trashed. My machine sits in a corner unused most of the time so a couple wooded wedges are easy to slide under when the time comes.

You are correct about the special holder (and hanging the bar on the machine). But they did have a custom holder on the demo machine and again I assumed that it came with the mobility kit. I felt I was duped some what when I found after the fact that the holder wasn't part of the kit. Not really that big of a deal but though I'd mention it.

Do you work for MM?? I bought my saw at the Woodworking Expo In Springfield , MA in 2003. As I recall this was a pretty new machine at the time.

Yes, I'm an MM rep. Since 2004. I've pretty much "seen it all" when it comes to MM bandsaws and have never seen any custome type mobility bar holder. Not saying you are mistaken, just that I have never seen it. Perhaps a local owner brought it to the show, to show off. Who knows?

Regarding the leveling bolts, I have never heard a complaint about them being too short. They are quite long, in fact. I use them on pretty much every MM I have ever set up and not experienced that before. I wonder if you got the incorrect ones when you got that machine? It's happened before. If you ever want to source out new ones, the correct thread pitch is M12-1.75.

Erik

[Steve Catts]

Bernie,

How did you attach the casters?

Thanks