First post - My solution for MM16 Mobility Kit

[Chas Richter]

My MM16 BS is due to arrive Tuesday w/o the mobility kit. Here is what I will fab to move it around. It's made 2x2x.125 mechanical steel tube with steel hub urethane casters. The U shape is to allow for removal once it is where I want it. After it is in position, the jack screws will be driven to contact the floor and pins/bolts (not shown) will be removed that mate the frame with the BS base. It can also stay mated and still allow for the bottom door to open. Anyone see any problems or ways to improve the design?


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[Jim Becker]

Charles, welcome to SMC!

That's a pretty nice design and will likely work well for what you want. Many folks are using Zambus casters as an alternative to the OEM mobility kit (I just use what came with my MM16). The upside is that they work very, very well and are rock solid with their lowering foot design. The downside is they raise the machine higher...an asset for some, but not for others, depending on the type of work you do.

[Walt Caza]

Hi Chas,
Welcome to the Creek, come on in ... the water's warm!

Your design looks solid. Since you asked, my 2 cents would be:
-are the MM supplied jack screws able to lift the BS high enough to
engage (and disengage) your U-frame?

-is this temporary mobility approach going to satisfy you?
(you seem to assume that you will want to move the BS only once)
in my experience, I keep my MM16 as tight to the wall as the big motor
will allow...shop space is always at a premium
I move the BS away from the wall to work with larger stock, infrequently,
so the rest of the time, I get back the use of that space

-if the BS is gonna be moved more than once, I would want to leave
the U-frame mounted to saw, as to store it elsewhere takes up more
precious space, unless frame can be disassembled back to sticks (weld?)

-I too had big plans regarding MM16 mobility, while waiting for my
machine to arrive from Italy by ship to California, then truck to Texas,
another to Detroit and eventually across the border into Canada,
too much time for thinking...
It turned out that I was looking for solutions to a problem I never had...
since MM offered no credit if I did not take the much maligned mobility kit,
I took it, with plans to go the Bruce Page solution, or maybe the
big ticket Zambus castors...well, I found MM kit works fine for me!
(functional enough that I can chase other problems!)

have fun cleaning off the cosmolene,
enjoy your new saw,
Walt

ps nice sketchup work, I gotta get into that...

[Bruce Page]

Chas, welcome to SMC. Your design is similar to the HTC base that I have on my Jointer. Granted, a 500+ lb machine will be harder to move around but my jointer squirms around no mater how tight I lock the wheels. Using long set screws or all-thread should correct the problem but finding the metric size might be a challenge. They can also be tough on your shop floor.
I think Delta has a better design; the two extra pads take the weight when the lever caster is released. I think Delta sells the lever caster by itself. This setup is rock solid.
You can see my MM set up here; http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=10507

[Chas Richter]

The Zambus casters looked nice but I'm 5'6" and am looking forward to the lower table height, so I want to keep it low.

I may leave the frame attached; I just wanted the option to remove it easily if desired.

[Stan Smith]

I too like the mobility kit. In fact, I made a base for my drill press so that I can use the mm mobility pole to move the dp. I just add a couple of oak blocks with holes in the middle. I put the fulcrum riser in the dp u-bolt and lift up so the casters on the rear of the dp make contact with the floor. I don't move my machines around very often so nothing fancy is needed.

Stan

[Dan Forman]

My problem with the stock mobility kit was that my basement floor is so un-level that the saw would get high centered and stuck. Luckily I don't have to move it around anymore, so I just removed the kit. The other problem with the kit is that you can't open the door fully to change blades, which is especially troublesome when the 1" resaw blade is involved.

Only caution to you is I see you might have the same problem with getting stuck if your floor isn't very level, or maybe I should say if you floor is very UN-level, as mine is.

Dan