Mobile base for 18” Steel City Band Saw?

[jason lambert]

Just picked up a 18" steal city band saw, OMG! This thing is heavy, almost killed myself getting it in the house. My back is regretting I didn't get the 14". Anyhow I will need a mobial base for this there is no way I can move it on my own around the shop if I have to comfortably. What is a good mobile base for it?

[Doug Shepard]

Better than a mobile base
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=56195&highlight=zambus
with the exception of having to reach down and adjust 4 knobs instead of stepping on a pedal.

[jason lambert]

Looks intresting how do you roll it on thoes, I don't understand do you have to reach down and unscrew, or screw down each foot when you need to move it, doesn't the bolt bind up on a heavy machine? Can someone explain how they work and what model they have used for the steal city 18".

[Doug Shepard]

The red thumbwheel in the pics here
http://www.zambus.com/pages/ac300.htm
lowers the black foot down to raise the caster wheel off the floor and holds the saw in place. Dont know what's underneath the SC saw base but the MM16 has 12mm threaded holes for the leveling pads that directly fit the stem type on the casters.

[Randy Klein]

Funny you should ask. I just finished and posted (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?p=763591#post763591) about a DIY mobile base for my drill press. But the idea can be easily adapted to any tool.

[Brent Grooms]

I used a jet 600lb mobile base and cut the size adjustment bars to length for my SC. I think I went one step further and bolted it to the base as well.

[Dave Verstraete]

I used a Jet 1200 LB. base and cut two slide bars down to fit the narrow dimension on my Rikon 10-345 saw.

[Rod Upfold]

I agree...damn they are heavy. I put my SC 18" on a Shop Fox 1200 lb base.


Rod

[jason lambert]

The base underneeth is hollow so I don'think I can mount the wheels easly. I think the regular mobile base will be the best. What is a good one? Saw weighs 450 lbs.

[tim rowledge]

The dealer that I bought my SC 18" from gave me a mobile base made by 'Samona' (http://samona.com/site/) (look for product 34072 "Heavy Duty Mobile Base"). I've bought a few Samona branded items - mostly mid-price clamps and DC ducting bits, small tools etc. It's better than a lot, not as good as the best. Anyway, the base assembled easily, fitted the BS admirably and seems to do the job very well. For a retail price of something like $80 it would be a reasonable buy, for free it was very good!

They gave me the smaller stand for the SC drillpress I bought the week before and it similarly works nicely.

[John Thompson]

My SC 18" is bolted to two 2 x 6" and is permanent but... tomorrow night it's going mobile on the larger JET universal base. I have my Steel City jointer on one and has been awhile. I keep it in the rear shop and just roll it up to the cut area when needed. The Jets handles the 450 lb. jointer with ease. It is best to put a piece of 3/4" ply down on the base before putting the saw on and then bolting it down.

Good luck...

Sarge..

[jason lambert]

The 'Samona' (http://samona.com/site/) actually looks pretty nice. maybe Iwill try that. I like the fact that you can level it my floor is tilted a bit.

I also picked up a steel city drill press, wasn't thinking of a moble base for it but might be nice also.

["Michael Hinkel"]

I have this one under my SC 8" jointer.
I was surprised with it. It is very stout and moves easy, wheels are raised with a pedal. Its on sale.

http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?familyid=5114

[Brian Kent]

I'll have the same issue soon, hopefully.

I have been trying to picture how you lift the saw onto a base or bolt on the casters. I have this picture in my mind where my wife is standing in the garage holding the tilted 450 lb saw while I screw in the casters. Either that or I set up the base and say, "OK, honey, one, two three… lift!"

[jason lambert]

The 'Samona' (http://samona.com/site/) actually looks pretty nice. maybe Iwill try that. I like the fact that you can level it my floor is tilted a bit.

I also picked up a steel city drill press, wasn't thinking of a moble base for it but might be nice also.

[Bret Leishman]

Similar to the Zambus but better deal, these casters work much better than the mobile bases I have used: http://www.greatlakescaster.com/proddetail.php?prod=LV-1710-NYP-S-M12. I am going to replace the mobile base on my drill press with these. I have them on my 600lb plus Grizzly G0636X bandsaw (see picture) and have a set ready for my Grizzly 12" jointer/planer due to arrive end of month. Mine just bolted into existing holes in saw that were used to bolt the the saw to a pallet for delivery. The misconception is that the pad you are lowering is meant to lift the weight of the tool. What you are doing is lowering the pad with a notched wheel to just snug the pad to the floor. This keeps to tool from moving and in the case of an uneven floor the pad is supporting the tool so it doesnt rock. Keep in mind you dont need to crank on this adjusting knob. When the pads are adjusted just slightly up so wheels will roll, my bandsaw is easily rolled on my garage floor including going over expansion joints. These casters are short and did not create any stability issues for me when moving my fairly top heavy bandsaw. Would highly recommend either zambus or Great Lakes version.

[richard poitras]

I just read this about a person putting his bandsaw on caster's on a differant fourm , here's his post .. not mine, I hope he doesnt mind ....


finally got around to putting mobility into my Grizzly G0566 21" bandsaw.

All I can say is wow, now that bandsaw can dance across the floor!

The saw weights almost 600lbs and was a beast just to get delivered. It took 4 guys to get it safely down the ramp on a hand truck.

Now it moves with ease, and quite frankly much less effort that I would have thought.

In addition, since all 4 casters swivel it can turn on dime... no 5 point turns that we've all come to loath from mobile bases with 2 fixed casters.

Once you lower the rubber feet to lift it off the wheels, the sucker is solidly planted and registered to the floor. This is because the feet are directly below the stem while the wheels are off center.

The 3rd great part is that you can use the feet to level the machine on the uneven garage floor.

Oh, and they're way cheaper than the Zambus casters some have mentioned on the various woodworking forums... less than 12 bucks each!

Again, they just far exceeded my expectations.

Here's a link to the casters:
http://www.greatlakescaster.com/prod...1710-NYP-S-M12 (http://www.greatlakescaster.com/prod...1710-NYP-S-M12)

Here's an animated drawing of how they work:
http://www.greatlakescaster.com/media/leveling.gif

[Bret Leishman]

The zambus animation is what helps to distort how they work for me. The adjusting nut is plastic. You are not going to raise the weight of a heavy machine with it, nor do you need to. You are not lifting the machine when "leveling", just lower the pad so something is contacting the floor when one caster is not. Should you actually want to use these casters to actually level the machine (though I do not see the need) you would need to take the weight off the caster you are lowering the pad on in order to turn the thumb screw. I think how I am using is more in line with how they would be used in a woodworking shop. By only snugging the adjustment it still keeps the saw steady and immobile yet the adjustment wheel remains easy to turn by hand to make the machine mobile again.

[Doug Shepard]

Bret - good point. You can actually lift the saw up with them but it's pretty hard to turn. The one time where that ability is handy though is after installing them. I used them to lift the saw off the 4x4's to remove them, then lowered the casters back down to normal height. In practice I've found that even just lowering the foot down on two of the four is enough to stop it from moving.

[jason lambert]

The Samona base looks the best so far but not great. I also need to level this my floor is uneven. I can't beleve this thing doesn't have leveling feet or a good way to attach them the base really lends itself to being unstable if your floor isn't perfect. Guess alot of tools do. What a pain.

[Bob Aquino]

I have the Delta 18" and it is on the shopfox 600lb base. Does fine for the saw. The SC is largely patterned after the delta (go figure) so it should work as well on that saw.

[jason lambert]

Dang I can't figure out how to mount the saw to the zambus looks like a mobial base is the way to go.