How mobile is the shop fox stand?

[Vinny Papaleo]

I like to work outside and most of my tools I can wheel around except for my 8 in jointed. It weighs just shy of 400 lbs. For those with the shop fox mobile stand, how mobile is it? Enough to wheel hefty tools around?

[glenn bradley]

I have a 17" bandsaw on one. It is OK for moving in and out a bit or swinging to an angle for clearance. I wouldn't want to go far on it though. A lot of that is probably due to the high center of gravity which makes things feel spongy. I have never had it stall on me or try to tip. Something like a jointer may do much better but, hopefully someone with that setup will chime in.

[Michael Roland]

I have the Shop Fox D2058A under my 8" jointer. How mobile is it.. That depends on how much open floor space your shop has.

In a shop with lots of open room it would probably be excellent. In a smaller shop like mine think of moving it like performing a 3 point turn in an aircraft carrier. In a tight space any base with two fixed and two swivel casters is going to be a bit of a challenge. Best mobility would come from four swivel casters but that will be hard to control on an uneven floor. If the floor as a garage floor and it's sloped away from the house you would really have to muscle around a base with 4 swivel casters.

[Cary Falk]

My friend has the Shop Fox and it is the worst I have seen. The wheels don't swivel well. It barely moves.

[Tony Gomez]

I have my table saw and jointer on them. Michael's description is accurate. I don't move them much but glad I got them for when I need to.

[Dimitrios Fradelakis]

If you want GREAT mobility then buy the Rockler all terrain mobile base. Hands down the BEST mobile base on the market. Pricey, but it does go on sale every now and again. I'm waiting for the price to drop so I can pick one up for my shaper.

[Mike Ontko]

I have a Shop Fox mobile base on my G01022ZF tablesaw, 17" G0513XBF2 bandsaw, and 8" G0543 jointer. And, while they're all "mobile", I'm glad that it's only over the smooth concrete surface of my garage floor that I need to move them. The SF mobile base has two fixed and two rotating wheels, made of some plastic/phenolic measuring around 2" in diameter, which can make it a little awkward to move these big items around in my fairly small shop (my working floor space is about 15' x 25'). Some kind of locking urethane tire would be better, but then it would probably add too much to the overall working height.

[George Bokros]

If you want GREAT mobility then buy the Rockler all terrain mobile base. Hands down the BEST mobile base on the market. Pricey, but it does go on sale every now and again. I'm waiting for the price to drop so I can pick one up for my shaper.

Only two wheels swivel which to me makes maneuverability more difficult than if you have four swiveling wheels.

[Dimitrios Fradelakis]

Only two wheels swivel which to me makes maneuverability more difficult than if you have four swiveling wheels.


Even with two wheels it's very easy to maneuver.

[Ben Rivel]

I have the Shop Fox Super Heavy-Duty Mobile Base D2058A (LINK (http://www.grizzly.com/products/Super-Heavy-Duty-Mobile-Base/D2058A?utm_campaign=zPage&utm_source=grizzly.com)) and by itself with a 400lbs tool on it, it was not nearly mobile enough for my taste. So I ordered I second set of swivel casters for it (LINK (http://www.grizzly.com/products/Cast-Iron-Swivel-Caster-for-D2058A/D4175?utm_campaign=zPage&utm_source=grizzly.com)), and after drilling new mount holes for them in the non-swivel casters mount plate that improved the setup quite a bit. Now its a decent mobile base. Certainly nothing special though. I think the method of locking it down is silly and would much rather prefer locking casters.

[Rick Moyer]

The Shop Fox are "serviceable" at best AFAIK. I'd find another option, especially for outside. As others have said, short distance on smooth concrete they're "OK".
Ironically, after putting most of my tools on mobile bases I installed a cyclone and piping and now don't move hardly anything.

[Tom Trees]

Even with two wheels it's very easy to maneuver.


That depends on how much space you've got !

I find the 75mm casters on the bandsaw are easy enough to push over a small amount of dust, weighs 300kg(ish)
I think the ones on the tablesaw are 50mm and it makes a difference 230kg(ish)


Do you have space, not to need swivel casters on all four...or are you planning to store the machines like tetris afterwards ?
How smooth is the run you plan to do... any wee bump will hinder 75mm casters
It kinda damages the wheels on my bandsaw to be giving them a workout within the shop.
I only seldom move the thing ...maybe I could get better wheels?
There good enough for me, but if I had to move the thing often and over a bump it would probably be the end of them.
I suggest having the option of bigger wheels than 75mm.
Tom
357921

[William Gullage]

I curse myself out every time I have to move my bandsaw because of that stupid Shop Fox/ Grizzly mobile base that I put it on. Don't cheap out on a mobile base if you need to move your machine often. That mobile base is one of the most hated items I have in my whole shop.

[George Werner]

Like others here, I hate the Shop Fox base. I have one on my Ridgid 6" jointer and it's fine if you only need to pull it away from the wall in a straight line. If you're trying to maneuver it around other machines though, you will end up inventing new swear words.

[Dimitrios Fradelakis]

That depends on how much space you've got !

In my 1 car garage I have the following:

Unisaw with 32 inch extension table

DJ20

Delta 12" RAS

Delta DC380 15" planer

Delta X5 3hp shaper with extension wings and power feeder

Delta 14" bandsaw

Vintage Hitachi dust collector

Powermatic vintage 1150 drill press

plus lumber, wall cabinets, shelves, kapex, porter cable production pocket screw cutter, air compressor and various other non woodworking related items.

So, is that enough of a reason for me to recommend the Rockler all terrain base? I think so!

[Craig Shewmake]

I have several of them under my sliding table saw, band saw, and combo sander. I have been more than happy with my Grizzly machines but the mobile stands are terrible. Yes, they allow me to move my tools in my small shop. Thats about it. My shops concrete floor has small expansion joints and the wheels barely roll over them. Turning the machines is a bear as others have mentioned above. So while they are functional and I am able to move the machines, it's no simple task. Kind of reminds me of watching the kids learn to parallel park. :)

Also, the lockdown/leveling threaded bolts are not ideal. For one, its a pain to have to unscrew them if you use them to level the machine due to the weight. On two of the three bases one of the threaded bolts cross threaded after several uses and no longer are able to go up or down.

On a 10 point scale I would them a 3.

I am going to eventually replace them but dread doing so and wish I had just spent the extra money and purchased the Rockler All Terrain or similar base. If you look at the Rockler ad they show the difference in their urethane wheels compered to smaller hard plastic wheels similar to the Shop Fox. It's pretty obvious which would roll easier. Especially if your floor isn't smooth throughout.

Edit: I just watched the video on the Rockler All Terrain and am truly saddened that I didn't do the due diligence when getting mine. It will roll over power cords etc. Not so with mine and that has often been the cause of a few choice words to be shouted. :) I just ordered one to try out on the table saw.

[Ed Labadie]

My Woodmaster drum sander came with one.....the only thing left is the frame, that I welded solid. Cut off the junk leveling pads, replaced the casters, gave the old ones to someone I didn't like.....

Ed

[Craig Shewmake]

As a follow up to my post above I received the Rockler All Terrain yesterday. It is FAR superior to the Shop Fox mobile stands. This is mainly do to the big urethane wheels compared to the hard plastic ones. What a major pain though to get the old one out from under the Slider and the new one in to replace it. I so wish I would have done the research up front the first time. I ended up raising each end of the saw with my scissor lift table and straps and then placing wood blocks underneath to hold 4" up then disassemble the old one and assemble the new one under it. It took me several hours and a lot of not so nice words tossed about. :)

With the old Shop Fox I had to manhandle the saw to move it around. With the new Rockler I can move it with one hand.

I should also note that the new stand raised the table height close to 1/2"