I know what I need but I don't know what its called or where to find it

[Damon McLaughlin]

I decided that I need to take a short break from the lathe and do some organizing in my small shop. What I want to do is make a lathe chisel rack. My plan is to have it set on top of my bench and pushed up close to the wall behind the bench. On the left side the rack will be connected to a one or two inch round post. The idea is that when I want to turn wood I can rotate the tool rack towards my lathe at the end of the bench, post remains stationary but the other end will swivel away from the wall. I don't want to drag the rack across the top of my bench but rather have it 'glide' across the top of the bench. I don't know if small 1" swivel casters would work but ideally a low profile ball bearing something or another that is mounted under the rack. High profile is okay if that is all there is.

Does anyone have any idea of that I need to look for? What would work? Should I just use swivel casters, and if so will they change direction to go back and forth if there is no lateral movement in the rack?

Thanks.

[Olaf Vogel]

I decided that I need to take a short break from the lathe and do some organizing in my small shop. What I want to do is make a lathe chisel rack. My plan is to have it set on top of my bench and pushed up close to the wall behind the bench. On the left side the rack will be connected to a one or two inch round post. The idea is that when I want to turn wood I can rotate the tool rack towards my lathe at the end of the bench

Thanks.

Not sure if this is what you want
https://www.mcmaster.com/#lazy-susans/=1631br3


But start there and surf around.
If McMaster hasn’t got it, it likely doesn’t exist.
:)

[Justin Stephen]

But start there and surf around.
If McMaster hasn’t got it, it likely doesn’t exist.
:)

100%. On more than one occasion I have gone to McMaster-Carr's website trying to find something that I could visualize because I'd seen it before but didn't know the name of and have always eventually figured it out by being creative with search terms. The way that their search engine returns pictures helps tremendously. Whomever populated their search engine with keywords also did a great job. For example, needed some turnbuckles a few years back for tightening a cable for a non-woodworking related project but had no idea what they were called off the top of my head. Searched for "cable tightener" and voila, turnbuckles were the first thing to come back along with a generic picture of one so I knew I had found it. Brilliant! Of course, the next bit of brilliance is that they sell 13 different types of turnbuckles and numerous sizes (and sometimes materials) for each type.

[Keith Buxton]

I think this is what you are thinking about they are called ball casters

https://www.mcmaster.com/#ball-casters/=16322j3

[Damon McLaughlin]

I think this is what you are thinking about they are called ball casters

https://www.mcmaster.com/#ball-casters/=16322j3



That's exactly what I'm looking for! Thank you. That will give the support and smooth movement I'm looking for when one end of the rack is pivoted away from the wall.

[Keith Westfall]

Why not mount your rack on a swivel post (bearing top and bottom) and not have to worry about the wheel running through whatever might be on the bench? In my shop, I know that if there is a flat spot on a bench with nothing on it, there will soon be!

[Wes Ramsey]

Why not mount your rack on a swivel post (bearing top and bottom) and not have to worry about the wheel running through whatever might be on the bench? In my shop, I know that if there is a flat spot on a bench with nothing on it, there will soon be!

Same here. After all, it is a table before it is a saw!

[Thom Sturgill]

I agree with Kieth. Hinge it to a plate mounted to the post so that it is several inches above the bench. Spring loaded catches to hold it in place in both positions.

[Damon McLaughlin]

I like the idea of putting it swiveling on a post and being up above the bench but the bench where I want to put my tool rack is actually a couple of recycled kitchen cabinets with a thick 1.5" top, so I believe the height of this bench is about 36". If I raise the rack up off the bench I won't be able to reach my tools! I had a very crude rack on that bench space and this one uses about the same amount of space so I'll still have the same amount of space as before. But, its not done yet, plenty of time for design changes if need be.

[Clint Bach]

With hinges you could have it actually closer to the table top than with the ball casters because the ball casters are about 3/4 inch or more. You need a hinge or something to pivot on anyway... So........

c

[glenn bradley]

Bear in mind that ball casters provide a very focused pressure point. I had to give up on rollerball type outfeed supports because they damaged the material. The damage would not be obvious until I put finish on and then it would appear. Repeated movement back-and-forth across your benchtop could eventually provide you an undesirable result.