Laguna 18bx mobility base

[Dale Dallas]

Looking to mobilize my 18bx and theirs is very pricey. Options include Bora Portamate, HTC, Vevor, Grizzly. Also thought about building my own using heavy duty workbench casters.

Any experience and/or advice?

Thank you,

Dale

[Matthew Curtis]

I use the shopfox. Works fine for me. I don't move it much, just a foot or so to move it away from the wall when I use it.

[Tom Trees]

If I were to make another base for my saw, I'd design it so a single lever would do all the work.
Something like Carl Holmgren's design principal, but steel.
I tried searching the woodwork forums site as I seen something which caught my attention before, but cannot find it.
And I'd also make it able to be closer against a wall.

Bandsaws are tippy so I wanted the feet to be as wide as possible.
Making it a wee bit wider won't hurt a bit, and I doubt a bit more space lost at the back will affect anything, and probably will add stability and be easier to level.
Not too far away from the edge that it might strain the angle iron, say for thinner angle iron, but at least enough to make the machine be able to be nestled into the thing without a fight.
You will likely move it very seldom...once you find where that is.
The table is very large on my machine, so I could get away with my levelling feet.

Bob Minchin AKA 9fingers made some measurements for making these on the wood haven 2 site
I didn't have the same gauge 40mm box for the foot lever, so added a bead as thin wall will damage your boot,
and I also added more of a flat to the underside of the foot lever, i.e not made the cut so acute,
to stop it getting stuck in the down position, you might see same lever designs
being sold now, and the tabs on the end of the foot lever goes downward.
That can mean it can get wedged stuck when some weight is applied and going over a bad floor.SAM_0939.jpg

[Doug Dawson]

Looking to mobilize my 18bx and theirs is very pricey. Options include Bora Portamate, HTC, Vevor, Grizzly. Also thought about building my own using heavy duty workbench casters.

Any experience and/or advice?

Thank you,

Dale

The 18bx mobile base is very good, not intrusive, and IMO worth the money. The savings on something else are IMO not worth it.

[David Publicover]

I have the 18BX base as well and think it works well. I have a Bora mobile base under my jointer which also works well. I prefer the Laguna base on my bandsaw. I don’t remember there being much difference in price.

[Bernie Kopfer]

Does the mobility base for the 14bx work with the 18? It’s cheaper. These type of bases work very well. If you can weld and cut steel the are easy to make but the handle can be hard to fabricate. Stability is important with bandsaws and I’m not sure how stable the aftermarket bases are.