Homemade Mobile Base f/1000lb Jointer

[Carroll Courtney]

Guys I need to make a mobile base for a jointer that weighs around 1000lb plus.The base has two sections that I can construct two bases w/4 wheels for each section to help w/ the weight.I have a welder and some 2"X1" tubing,but I am wondering about the wheels.I would like some low profile if possible,or maybe 2"-4" wheels.What type of wheels would you suggest for this project?Should I get the ones w/ steel,rubber,plastic,what ever else there is.And where could I purchase these?I have look on e-bay,and casters are there by the thousands.Some wheels there have a rating of 450lb per wheel.And the floor in my shop is concrete.If you have any pics of your mobile base for something this heavy,please post with some pics your thoughts on this.Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving as I did.Thanks again guys for the help.

[Eric Gustafson]

That's not a jointer. That is an anchor for a large ship. I saw one on my last cruise. Looked just like that. ;)

[Brian Ross]

I have made a couple of mobile bases the heaviest was for my DJ 20. I have 4 large casters in the shop that I will use for a lumber rack someday. They are rated at 800 lbs each. For something like you have there I would use 2 on one end and a single at the other. On the end with the single caster I would put a screw down foot on the outer corners This will allow for some compensation for uneven floors and give the jointer a solid base. There are some who prefer all casters swivel but I have found that having all swivel the base has some movement as the caster locks are not that good. To keep the base close to the floor I would weld the wheels to a base that is steped allowing just enough clearance between the floor and the tool to allow it to move about freely. If I had a scanner I would draw a picture. If you send me a FAx # I will send you a drawing how I made mine.
Brian

[Bart Leetch]

2" thick wall square tube welded together big enough for the machine to fit in loosely with thick angle iron welded in with 1 web against the inside of the 2" tube with the other web at the bottom pointed in toward the center of the frame. This will provide a ledge for the jointer to set on. On the outside Brian has the right idea. Weld some brackets upside down L shaped pieces with gussets on each side for strength for the wheels to mount to. A screw down foot on the outer corners is a good idea too.

[Rob Will]

We move a 2500 lb bandsaw about the shop on air casters. Same principle as General's Hoverpad.

Rob

[John A. Williams]

I bought a jointer like yours a couple of years ago. A 16" American. Brought it home and planned on making a mobile base. I temporarily put it on 2 harbor frieght moving dollies, rated at 1,000 pounds each. I could not roll it on my concrete driveway. It would not bubge! I figured there was no way I was gonna make it mobile. Just too much mass to move. I ended up selling it (made a profit) and bought a G490. There are times I wish I kept it. But I'm in a 2 car garage, it was just too big.
John

[Doug Shepard]

These aren't exactly low profile but their smaller version works great under my 600 LB bandsaw. This model is rated about double what you need for 4 casters.
http://www.zambus.com/pages/ac600.htm

[M Toupin]

You might consider the Northern Tools 1200lb mobile base for $40.00 as a start. It's only 14" X 21" but you can easily replace the short tubs with steel 1 1/4" tubing which slide right into it. I've got 3 machines sitting on these bases which I've stretched with 1 1/4" tubing and they work great. The heaviest machine is a Walker Turner 16" bandsaw which goes, oh, about 900 lbs! The bases have 3 1/2" steel wheels that roll over small debris and work fine on the concrete driveway were it goes for big jobs. For the price you can't beat the Northern base, you'll spend more than $40 for a good set of casters and that doesn't include anything else to build your base. 1 1/4" steel runs me $40 for a 24' length at my local steel supplier, so for about $80 you'll have a custom, heavy duty base.

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_1040652_1040652

Mike

[Bart Leetch]

You might consider the Northern Tools 1200lb mobile base for $40.00 as a start. It's only 14" X 21" but you can easily replace the short tubs with steel 1 1/4" tubing which slide right into it. I've got 3 machines sitting on these bases which I've stretched with 1 1/4" tubing and they work great. The heaviest machine is a Walker Turner 16" bandsaw which goes, oh, about 900 lbs! The bases have 3 1/2" steel wheels that roll over small debris and work fine on the concrete driveway were it goes for big jobs. For the price you can't beat the Northern base, you'll spend more than $40 for a good set of casters and that doesn't include anything else to build your base. 1 1/4" steel runs me $40 for a 24' length at my local steel supplier, so for about $80 you'll have a custom, heavy duty base.

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_1040652_1040652

Mike

Sure looks a lot like a Shopfox base sold at Grizzly http://www.grizzly.com/products/g7315.

[Steve Leverich]

"Sure looks a lot like a Shopfox base" - yeah, except for the casters - the shop fox (I bought their "1300 lb rated" base for the PM66 I'm regurgitating, and the funky casters won't even roll under their OWN weight. The Northern version seems to have heavier looking casters. I have a set of the urethane tired 4" ones from woodcraft and will beef up the mounts for the larger wheels so it'll actually be mobile.

I don't recommend the shop fox base unless you have a welder and some better wheels and some time... Steve

[M Toupin]

Sure looks a lot like a Shopfox base sold at Grizzly http://www.grizzly.com/products/g7315.

Not... I have a SF under my 8" jointer, it's junk. The NT base uses 1 1/4" square tubing as apposed to the 3/4" X 1 1/8" on the SF making it much stiffer. The The NT has steel casters as opposed to crappy rubber ones on the SF. The SF casters have deformed under the weight and now have a permanent flat spot that goes thump, thump, thump every time I try and move it. The NT has 1 1/2" clearance as opposed to the 1" on the SF. While 1/2" doesn't sound like much, it sure helps when going over those big cracks.

In short for the $40 cost of the NT and $40 in steel (total $80) you get a much more functional base that the $80 SF base.

And yes, the SF base under my jointer is in the Que to be replaced with a NT.

Mike

[Kevin Murdock]

I fully agree with Steve on the shop fox "1300lb rated" Super Heavy-Duty mobile base.

I bought two... one for my 21" bandsaw and one for my 12" jointer/planer.

I put one under the jointer/planer and just couldn't budge it without tremendous effort. The casters practically wouldn't budge, and when I got it moving most of the time they were sliding across the floor, not rolling.

So I'm in the process of returning them now.

I have a smaller 600lb rated shopfox mobile base on my shaper and the casters look to be exactly the same, and even it's hard to move at around 300lbs load.

I've since bought two HTC 1000lb rated mobile bases. What a difference! It's a 3 wheel design, two fixed on one end and one rating on the other end. The two fixed wheels have needle style roller bearings inside the beefy wheels and the single swivel caster glides with ease.

If anything I'm actually having a hard time keeping it still, it wants to glide with minimal effort. The single lockable caster and one small rubber plunge stopper have a hard time holding the weight from rolling. Some wedges on the wheels will fix that.

I'll take "it moves to easy" over "it won't move" any day.

-Kevin

[Bart Leetch]

I 100% agree.

This base was recommended by technical support as the heavy duty base for heavy equipment like my 5 HP Belsaw planer. I got it all put together & couldn't budge it I put the wheel mount bolts in like it showed with the nuts on the bottom & they wouldn't swivel. So I changed them & I still couldn't budge it. The wheel s themselves just were not up to the job.

I had to buy better wheels at $15 each & make & weld on extender plates to mount the new wheels to. All this was done on a week end so I should charge Grizzly double time.

I did talk to Bill Crofutt's assistant but don't know what came of it.

The whole outcome of this is I have a much better base with lockable wheels that will roll up over the 1/2" thick interlocking anti fatigue mat so I don't have to remove the mat to get the planer out.

I really don't think I should have had to do this but I needed it right away because pulling the planer around with no wheels wasn't doing my back any good.