Shop Casters

[glenn bradley]

I've used 4 or 5 sets of the 3" Peachtree double-lockers and have had no problems with mine.

I have run several sets the Peachtree version going on 10 years without issue also.

for a four-caster base, you should size it for only *twice* the rating of a single caster rather than 4-times, unless the manufacturer expressly says differently.

This may contribute to my success. I don't think I have more than 400 lbs on any set of four 300 lb rated casters. My heavier machines are on steel wheels which work fine on my smooth (but hardly perfectly flat) shop floor. I think they would play heck on a rough or very uneven surfaces.

[Mike Heidrick]

I got tired of all of them and bought a used pallet jack and just make pallet platforms now.

[Brian Backner]

I got tired of all of them and bought a used pallet jack and just make pallet platforms now.

That's the best way. I have several very heavy machines (think 3-5,000# each) set up just this way. Casters with the capacity to handle such monsters are not cheap - probably several hundred dollars per machine, plus you also need to build a frame under the machine to carry it and to which to bolt the casters. You also want to include some mechanism for leveling. Too complicated and expensive. I started by using either 4x4 or even 6x6 PT lumber as skids bolted to the floor mounting holes and got a used pallet jack off of CL for $50. To level these beasts, I used steel shims, which was a PIA. So I later switched to 4x4x1/4" steel tubing. By boring clearance holes near the ends of the tubes and welding stainless steel nuts over them, it is easy to use large carriage bolts (as in 3/4-10 x 4") as levelers. A strong suggestion is to use a 6" square of 1/4" steel on the floor to keep the bolt head from marring the surface. I've even started to contact cement sheet rubber to the underside and mill a divot into the top face of this support in which to center the bolt head and keep it from walking as you turn the bolt during the leveling process. There are two downsides to this system: first is the floor space needed to store the jack - it usually resides under my surface planer, a Crescent P24, except when I need to use that machine. The second is that it raises the machines by 5" or more. This is actually fine for me as I'm tall.

Admittedly, my system is somewhat extreme for typical woodworking machinery (a Unisaw is, what, 400#), but there are smaller pallet jacks available and five or ten sets of any decent casters will still set you back quite a bit.