Leveling casters solution

[Jim Klein]

Friends -

Sorry for the long post, but I find this to be a complex problem, and I could use some ideas. I have a small basement shop Most of my gear is on wheels, and generally, at some point in the project I need to move something to make room for various operations. My shop floor is also very uneven and out of level. Right now, my saw, router table, and right hand "side-feed" are all on one cart with six casters, and I have to individually level each of the three pieces that ride on that cart (the saw, the router table unit, and the right side-feed unit) so that everything is co-planar. This involves a lot of back and forth with locking nuts, shims, etc., and is a huge pain in the butt. I am in the process of improving and expanding the router table, and I'm trying to come up with the best solution between mobility and "level-ness" for my rig. Since I'm building a new router table, I thought this would be a good time to revamp all of the casters and feet that I'm using to make it easier to level and move. I think I want to end up with two main "units" that need to be able to move: the first will be on the right of my saw, and will serve as extra support for the saw and as outfeed for the planer, pretty much exactly as what I have now. That will live on one cart, and that is the one that will be moved around the most. The second will be on the left of the saw, and will serve as a router table and side/outfeed for the saw. Everything needs to be co-planar with everything else, including my workbench (see photo). Once the router table is level, I don't think it will need to be moved that much, but I'm sure it will be necessary some day. What I'm looking for are casters that can swivel, with feet that can be engaged and adjusted for height. Ideally, they would have the foot operated lifts to engage the feet.

Anyone have ideas for casters or feet that will work? I've seen two kinds. The first only lift off the wheels when the foot is extended beyond where the wheels touch by turning a wrench or ratchet, which means I'd have to re-level everything each time I moved it back, which is unacceptable. The other kind, which are "workbench casters," use the foot levers to engage the feet/raise the wheels, but I haven't seen one with adjustable height. Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated. THANKS!!

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[Tom Trees]

Carl Holmgren.
https://youtu.be/7TTnb3TyH5Y?si=iVro8w8qrMCoKqzW
(nuff said.) :cool:

All the best
Tom

[Robert M Richardson]

I'm wrestling with the same problems. My shop is 100 years old this year. I believe originally it was a small auto dealership . The floor was intentionally poured on a slant presumably to allow water to flow out the door when the building was hosed out. Compounding the problem is 100 yrs of abuse the floor has taken. I wonder how important it is to "level" my equipment as it is to insure that tables are in one plane ie not twisted. I'm thinking that if I move my portable tools to the same spot every time and have leveling feet set for that spot and then use some casters that can be engaged with a foot (like the one your show) to raise the fixed leveling screws allowing the tool to be repositioned out of the way that might work.
Robert

[Jim Klein]

I watched the Carl Holmgren video, and then realized that rather than trying to find a one-stop solution, my problem could be solved by installing the foot pedal casters on the sides of the legs, and then some leveling feet on the bottom of the legs. I think.

[Tom Trees]

That's what I did for the bandsaw in the folks place
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It's much nicer than those single foot lever types like below, and the same amount of effort involved.
Worth noting, orientate the levers away from the wall, as you might need a pry bar otherwise, if you've got something a bit more
permanent/heavier.
Also worth mentioning, the wasted space behind the column on this larger machine, due to my lack of foresight.
Won't be making any more of them types any more.
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All the best
Tom

[Cameron Wood]

I just put some wheels like #2 pic on a jointer. In general, I avoid having things mobile, but this one wants to move to the side a foot or less. It had a poorly fitting mobile base that put the frame where you want to stand in use.
Anyway, these #2 wheels roll easily, lower and raise easily with one's foot and don't take up much room. It would actually be better if they rolled less easily.

In this case, height and levelness are not important, but if they were, a set of shims could be made for the landing spot, and slid under the corners before raising the wheels, or maybe some wedges that could be kicked into place.

[Tom Trees]

Just finished up making some changes to my tablesaw mobile base, as I got sick of fishing underneath for the ply pads used previously.
I have some faffery ahead getting back onto the bells and whistles,
so these feet are to help try find a flatter spot on the floor, should it exist, fingers crossed.

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Tom

[Lee Schierer]

Carl Holmgren.
https://youtu.be/7TTnb3TyH5Y?si=iVro8w8qrMCoKqzW
(nuff said.) :cool:

All the best
Tomgs to ft the two swivel cast

Pretty clever and low cost solution to the mobile base problem. My jointer is mobile by means of two fixed casters on the back legs and two swivel casters on the front legs. To lock it in position I have two Destaco straight line clamps mounted vertically on the front legs to lift the swivel caster off the floor and lock the jointer in place. I can raise and lower the jointer with the toe of my shoe.
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[Tom Bender]

Lots of good solutions here but maybe for a basement shop the best is to level the floor with a thin coat of something.