Ideas for "Practical Shop Cabinets" made mobile?

[Mike Manning]

I recently purchased a copy of Tom Clark's Practical Shop Cabinets. My first cabinet is going to be a mobile base/cabinet for my Dewalt DW635 planer. Two firsts for me here as in my first time to make a mobile base and my first shop cabinet. I'll be using 3/4" ply to build the cabinet, rough measurements around 28" wide, 24" depth, 30" height. In building the cabinet only 30" high I'm trying to take into consideration adding casters. I'd like this to look as clean as possible and not make some clunky looking mobile base that I just set the cabinet on. This will be the testcase for building other shop cabinets.

Anyone have any thoughts or experience incorporating a mobile base into a shop cabinet? Any help, thoughts, advice is appreciated as always!

Thanks, Mike

[Jay Aubuchon]

I have made 4 pieces of mobile shop furniture. The first was this assembly/work table.

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They all have two lockable swivel casters on one end and fixed casters on the other.

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Two of them are flip-top bases for tools, like this one.

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You can find several helpful thread on flip-top carts here.

[Tim Janssen]

I made 2 mobile cabinets, one for my miter saw
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and one for my planer
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The construction was base on Tom Clark's book
I also made a 12 drawer cabinet.(not mobile)
I documented the building of the miter saw cabinet on the Canadian forum here: https://forum.canadianwoodworking.com/forum/woodworking/woodworking-aa/55129-how-i-built-my-miter-saw-cabinet-lots-of-pictures.
Hope the link works
Good luck with your project.

Tim

[Leo Graywacz]

http://www.fototime.com/CA5802E37DA86EE/orig.jpg

[Mike Manning]

I made 2 mobile cabinets, one for my miter saw...
I documented the building of the miter saw cabinet on the Canadian forum here: https://forum.canadianwoodworking.com/forum/woodworking/woodworking-aa/55129-how-i-built-my-miter-saw-cabinet-lots-of-pictures...
Tim

Tim,
Fantastically creative job on the miter saw cabinet/base. But you don't discuss adding the casters to make the cabinet mobile! :-) That's the part I'm interested in. Mind sharing with me what you did to make it mobile?

Thanks, Mike

[Tim Janssen]

Tim,
Fantastically creative job on the miter saw cabinet/base. But you don't discuss adding the casters to make the cabinet mobile! :-) That's the part I'm interested in. Mind sharing with me what you did to make it mobile?

Thanks, Mike

I'm sorry Mike, that was the purpose of your thread, wasn't it.
I bought locking swivel casters from Lee Valley. The casters have a single threaded stem for mounting them rather than a mounting plate.
This allows you to mount them close to the corners of the cabinet giving you better access to the brake and on these casters the brake locks the wheel as well as prevent the caster from swiveling.
I designed the this cabinet as well as the planer cabinet to be mobile and both to a specific height for the working surface, matching the height of my workbench as well as the table saw. That way one or the other could serve as support or outfeed for longer boards.
I had selected and bought the casters earlier, so I could allow for their height. Below a close-up of the caster and the mounting stem protruding through the bottom of the cabinet.
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Hope this helps, Mike.

Tim

[Mike Manning]

I'm sorry Mike, that was the purpose of your thread, wasn't it.
I bought locking swivel casters from Lee Valley. The casters have a single threaded stem for mounting them rather than a mounting plate.
This allows you to mount them close to the corners of the cabinet giving you better access to the brake and on these casters the brake locks the wheel as well as prevent the caster from swiveling.
I designed the this cabinet as well as the planer cabinet to be mobile and both to a specific height for the working surface, matching the height of my workbench as well as the table saw. That way one or the other could serve as support or outfeed for longer boards.
I had selected and bought the casters earlier, so I could allow for their height. Below a close-up of the caster and the mounting stem protruding through the bottom of the cabinet.

Hope this helps, Mike.

Tim

Tim,
So you added a bottom to your cabinets unlike those Tom Clark's shop cabinets? Did you glue and nail these bottoms with a butt joint? Is that bottom made out of 1/2" pressed wood with a melamine face? I wouldn't think pressed wood is strong enough. ??? At least, I see how you've done it and I can make something similiar. Thanks!

Mike

[Dan Rude]

My 2 Cents, a lot of the Caster kits have 2 fixed and 2 swivel. Make sure you can swing it around in the space if using this combination. I prefer the all swivel in tighter quarters. It allows you to fit it in spots without driving it in at an angle. Dan

[Ray Selinger]

Larger castors roll easier. Look for double locking. Get the better quality castors. I have one set that only has three of four that lock. I stubbed my toe on the brake and the brake fell apart.

[Tim Janssen]

Tim,
So you added a bottom to your cabinets unlike those Tom Clark's shop cabinets? Did you glue and nail these bottoms with a butt joint? Is that bottom made out of 1/2" pressed wood with a melamine face? I wouldn't think pressed wood is strong enough. ??? At least, I see how you've done it and I can make something similiar. Thanks!

Mike


I used whatever I had on hand at the time. Both have a 3/4" thick particle board bottom, one with a wood veneer and it was simply glued on and the other had a melamine coating and it was screwed on. I certainly have had no issue with the 3/4" I used. The Planer alone weighs about 90 pounds. Plus lots of stuff in the drawers. And yes; I used all swivel casters with the double locking brake system.

Tim