Mini Max Jointer/Planer Mobility Help, Please...

[Derek Arita]

I have a MM FS30 Smart, that I wish to use Footmaster leveling castors on. The J/P four corners are basically hollow legs, however inside the outer corner of each leg, there is an M12 bolt welded in place. I suppose these bolts are to be used for their M12 leveling bolts, that did not come with my machine. I may be answering my own question, but can I use these to mount leveling castors to?

[Robert Galey]

Derek,
I installed a set of Zambus Carrymaster AC-600S casters on my FS30 Classic jointer/planer in 2014. The AC-600 “S” is a center-bolt mount caster. The bolt screws directly into a nut on (in) the bottom of the FS30 leg. The FS30 caster-mounting nut thread is M12-1.75. In 2014 I paid $213 (including shipping and tax) for a set of 4 casters. The AC-600S caster specs are: Maximum Load Capacity with 1 Caster - 660 Lbs. Recommended Load Capacity with 4 Casters - 2,640 Lbs. The AC-600S came standard with M12 all-thread bolts. The bolts are approximately 2.25-in. long. The FS30 weighs about 650 lb without the mortising attachment. The machine rolls quite easily. I suggest not ordering a less stout caster. The leveling adjusters seem reasonably easy to operate considering the load. To me, the weakest part is the caster-mounting nut. The nut is simply tack-welded inside the base of the leg. The AC-600 leveling adjustment worked great for my slightly sloping garage floor.

Loran Galey

[Derek Arita]

Robert, thanks for the advice, especially since you've done it yourself. Those tac welds had me concerned, but looking at it, seems like the load would mainly rest on the corner of the leg, contacting the castor mounting surface. That said, it's still not ideal, so I was hoping that someone who has gone before me, like yourself, would chime in and tell me their experience. I'll certainly be careful when moving it around, but once in place, I'll lower the levelers. I do have those seams in the garage floor to manage, but I'll be careful there. Thanks again!
Just dawned on me...what I could do is to place a metal plate between the castor mount and the leg bottom. Everything would bolt in place and the weight could be more evenly distributed. Think that would work out OK?

[Brian W Evans]

Derek,

I posted a review of a mobile base that might work for you. I use it on my MM FS41 Classic. I paid $150 for the base at Woodcraft. After checking out the prices on Zambus casters, it feels like quite a deal.

Here's the link to my review: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...e-Base-PM-3500.

[Jim Becker]

The one comment I feel a need to make is to insure that your mobility solution for the J/P leaves the machine fully "grounded" when it's in place to be used. You want it solid on the floor, in other words. That's one of the reasons that the "native" mobility solutions for many of these larger machines (J/P, BS, etc.) were designed such that the wheels are not on the floor once they are parked. Believe it or not, steel and cast iron are flexible, so proper leveling is a best practice.

[Derek Arita]

Jim, very true. Right now the machine is on a 3-point mobile base, which means it finds it's own level, if you know what I mean. Once on 4 points, I would simulate that 3-point distribution, then lower the feet to support it. Hope you can visualize that from my explanation...

[Jim Becker]

Yes, that's what you want to do. I've only actually moved mine twice since I bought it years ago, and the OEM mobility package that came with it was perfectly fine for that.

[Brian W Evans]

The one comment I feel a need to make is to insure that your mobility solution for the J/P leaves the machine fully "grounded" when it's in place to be used. You want it solid on the floor, in other words. That's one of the reasons that the "native" mobility solutions for many of these larger machines (J/P, BS, etc.) were designed such that the wheels are not on the floor once they are parked. Believe it or not, steel and cast iron are flexible, so proper leveling is a best practice.

Jim,

I have to admit that this is not something I had considered before. It seems to me that if the machine sits solidly on a mobile base, and the mobile base sits solidly (all four wheels) on a reasonably flat floor, there should be no warping or twisting. This assumes that the base itself isn't twisted somehow, but the base I'm using seems beefy enough that it would be hard to twist. Is this reasoning correct?

Assuming the floor is not flat, how would I level the machine properly (without a mobile base) - what is the best practice?

Thanks for pointing this out.

[Robert Galey]

My method my not have been correct and I'm not suggesting the mobile-base solution isn't the way to go, but I used a long level and the individual Zambus caster height adjustment to get my machine level lengthwise and across.

If you go with casters, I suggest individual caster load rating no less than 50% of machine total weight. That's because while rolling the machine from Point A to Point B, the machine's weight will not be evenly distributed on all four casters unless the surface is pretty darn flat. So, for a 650 lb machine, you want at least 650 * 0.5 = 325-lb individual caster rating. I used individual caster rating approximately equal to machine weight. Works great.

[Jim Becker]

Assuming the floor is not flat, how would I level the machine properly (without a mobile base) - what is the best practice?

Most machines have some provisioning for leveling "feet" at their corners. If not, there's the old "pieces of plywood" trick. Don't laugh, my shop floor is sloped because it was originally build as a garage. My 1500 lb sliding table saw has two pieces of 3/4" plywood at the front corners to level the machine as it sits perpendicular to the slope. Those shims will never move on their own... My J/P sits in the same orientation, but it's narrow enough that I don't worry about "level" since it's effectively coplanar with the floor. The MM16 sits on a piece of 3/4" plywood which is just the right height to get the two mobility wheels at the spine off the floor completely when it's not tipped up to move. (I've only moved it once and that was a few inches)

Now my lathe was interesting. You would think that 800 pounds of cast iron and steel would be pretty rigid, but alas, it is not and adjusting the four corners to account for the very slight variability in the floor was absolutely required to get the centers to line up exactly. It took me a long time to get that machine true and I marked the floor so that there was an exact reference to where it needs to be, should I even have to move it temporarily for any reason. I have a mobile base for it, but that's stored away so all four feet are on the floor. Removal/installation requires a car jack and I break the base down into two halves to accommodate that fact.