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Thread: Preferred Mobile Bases?

  1. #16
    Join Date
    Feb 2017
    Location
    Northern Illinois
    Posts
    943
    Brad,

    Is it correct that, each time you move the tool, the 2 feet would need to be retracted using the 2 threaded knobs? In the picture I see no other way to allow the tool to rest on just the casters. Isn't this a little inconvenient for a tool that would be moved into a usable position and back against the wall frequently? Other than that, it seems like a very heavy duty mobile base.

    Also, I assume that there is no reason that a piece of 3/4" plywood couldn't be attached to allow bolting a tool to the mobile base for tools like a bandsaw or drill press where having a base wider than the base of the tool itself might desirable for stability.

  2. #17
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Pleasant Grove, UT
    Posts
    1,503
    Preferred mobile base, Characteristics:
    • It will provide enough clearance that the BASE doesn't high center or otherwise catch on things.
    • It will have large enough wheels that I don't have to get the shop photo-shoot ready in order to move my tools.
    • It will not flex during use, or at least not enough to either interfere with use or raise concerns of failure.
    • It will spin on a dime.
    • It will be unobstrusive, i.e. not viciously attacking my toes or attempting to trip me as I go buy.
    • It will lock/lift/lower easily when needed.
    It came to pass...
    "Curiosity is the ultimate power tool." - Roy Underhill
    The road IS the destination.

  3. HTC 2000 is my go to aftermarket mobile base.

  4. #19
    I work in a basement shop and everything is on mobile bases except my drill press and grinder, which sit in the furnace room and do not need to move. I have a number of the Shop Fox 600 pound mobile bases and I have also built some of my own for pieces of equipment with too large of a footprint to work with a premade mobile base, or too heavy to work with one. The advantages of the Shop Fox base are that the machine only sits about an inch higher than it would if you put it directly on the ground, and it also has built in jack screws to immobilize the base. These work fine but anything with a door in its base such as a bandsaw or most of Grizzly's mounted-on-a-cabinet sanders will hit on the bolts used to hold the rails in place. You would need to

    I put casters underneath my Norm Abram router table since it was trivially easy to do so, and I had to make my own mobile base for my DeWalt GE with a 48" x 36" footprint, and also for my ~2200 pound Whitney No. 134 shaper. I half-lapped some 2x8s and put inexpensive 5" casters underneath the GE, it works great. I used 2x6s and bolted doubled-up stringers at the ends to the rails for the Whitney, and used the heaviest casters I could get without lifting the table up ridiculously high (5" 660 pound casters.) Pushing 900 pounds on 5" wheels is easy but pushing 2200 pounds isn't, but it's doable, particularly if you plan your turns well in advance to get the machine moving in the direction the two swivel wheels are already pointed and THEN steer it.

    Quote Originally Posted by Cary Falk View Post
    I hate mobile bases with 2 fixed wheels. All of my tools must be on wheels so they can be moved into 1/3 of a 3 car garage at the end of the day. It is a puzzle the way everything fits. I buy 360 degree swivel, locking casters and weld my own.
    I dislike mobile bases with four swivel wheels. I did my Norm Abram router table that way and I always seem to have at least one wheel pointed perpendicular to the direction of travel, making it difficult to push at first. That's not that big of a deal with a router table that maybe weighs 100 pounds but put four swivel wheels under something heavy and it becomes impossible to push. Everything else since then has had two fixed and two swivel wheels. It takes a little more jockeying around to parallel park, but it's much easier than skidding a machine across a wheel turned perpendicular to the direction of travel.

  5. #20
    I have everything on the Delta style mobile base except for my 18" Laguna bandsaw. It uses a tow bar.

    The Delta style is great. Use your foot to raise the base, use your toe to lower. No bending over and turning screws. Very stable, not depending upon a screw to tighten against a wheel. The pad also has more contact with the floor than the touching surface of a round wheel.

    I do NOT like 4 swivel wheels, it is often hard to push your equipment it a particular direction because one or more wheels are pointed in the wrong direction. Not only is the starting direction awkward, it takes more effort to stay going in the direction you want to go. Having 2 fixed wheels it is MUCH easier to control the precise path of movement. I can maneuver within an 1/8" of another piece of equipment. With 4 swivel wheels, I would have to allow MUCH more room. I also think 4 swivel wheels are less stable when locked. The circular movement of the wheels allows a little bit of movement even when locked.

    The tow bar for the Laguna works fine. Same as the Delta mobile bases, only using the tow bar as the third wheel instead of the foot control.

    If I had to start all over I would consider a mini pallet jack and putting everything on a little custom made pallet. The pallet in the picture is too big for my liking. I would size it smaller in all dimensions. A pallet jack would not be very hard to store either, just slip it under something only taking up the very small footprint of the handle. (something I had not considered before) The only negative would be that everything would be raised up a few inches. (that may or may not be important to you)

    Delta mobile base.JPG Laguna mobile base.JPG pallet jack stand.JPG
    Last edited by Frankie Hunt; 02-25-2018 at 11:48 AM.
    Frankie

    I have a great Border Collie, she just can't hold her licker!

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