I like having the ability to move machines around my shop, too. What I don't like is the expense, or the cheapness, of many of the mobile bases for woodworking and metalworking machinery. One of the benefits of a quality machine is its mass, and thus, the ability to dampen vibration. A mobile base can be very limiting in that regard, as it makes a machine a little less stable, and allows it to vibrate more.

Because of that, I decided to just make all my machines in my shop mobile by owning a $50 pallet jack off of craigslist. I also added a $75 2 ton engine hoist, which folds up quite nicely inside a 24" X 15" space when not in use. I have machines upwards of over 10,000 lbs. in my shop, and I can move every single one of them with 1 (or sometimes 2 needed, and I added a 2nd pallet jack 2 years ago) pallet jack, and lift most of them with the hoist. I have picked 2700 lbs. of bandsaw up in the air with my engine hoist, carefully rigged with lifting straps, which cost about $8 apiece.

Here's some food for thought, for those that have stayed away from the bigger quality machines because they deemed it difficult to move them. It really is quite easy.....

Here's a pallet jack and some cribbing making a 1800 lb. jointer mobile



And here's an engine hoist lifting it off a trailer.....with ease. Just pull the trailer right out, and set it down nice and easy.



Sounds like you've already made up your mind about which way you want to go, and I'm not trying to convince you otherwise. I'm just sharing what I've learned over the past many years, and $50 for a pallet jack, and another $75 for a hoist is a heckuva lot cheaper than $150 mobile bases for each and every machine in the shop......by a long shot. My pallet jack is rated for 5500 lbs., but it will lift and move my 6500 30" planer by itself. Past that weight, I bring in the 2nd jack. Most machines discussed here are much less than half that weight.