Planer mobile base , wheel diameter

[Bill Dufour]

I need to weld a mobile base for my Powermatic 18" planer. Any suggestions on wheel diameter? I am thinking 5-10 inch. Weight is around 1,250 pounds. Not to push all around mainly to angle for long boards and clear tablesaw cuts.
Bill D

[Jason Evans]

I think there are many casters on Amazon that would handle this easily. If your not moving it around much even 3” would do. Bigger wheels are good for rolling over stuff. I can’t think of another advantage to big wheels for something that doesn’t move much.

these are rated to 1900 lbs. I have some and they’re nice

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07...b_b_asin_title

[Phillip Mitchell]

I’d go with at least 6”, but I suppose one factor is your floor itself and how smooth it is.

I have a 20” scm planer (~1500 #) on a shop made mobile base that came with the machine. Between the 5” steel wheels, casters and the wooden part of the base itself, the bottom of the planer is 9-10” off the floor which i find to be a much better working height for me in my shop than lower.

[Tom M King]

I put 6" on my 24" bandsaw base that I built, and wouldn't want less under a heavy planer. That 24" saw is my easiest to move big tool now. I kept the height close to the floor.

For a planer, regardless of size, I like four swivel casters. When we are running a bunch of parts, rather than handle them back to the infeed side between passes, we just spin the planer around.

[Earl McLain]

I put 6" on my 24" bandsaw base that I built, and wouldn't want less under a heavy planer. That 24" saw is my easiest to move big tool now. I kept the height close to the floor.

For a planer, regardless of size, I like four swivel casters. When we are running a bunch of parts, rather than handle them back to the infeed side between passes, we just spin the planer around.

That was worth getting up for today!! Thanks!!

[Bill Dufour]

I suppose you can mount it on a lazy susan on top of the mobile base. An old cement mixer drive gear comes to mind
Bill D

[Jim Becker]

There's nothing wrong with using larger wheels, but you'll want/need to account for that in your mobile base design because you may or may not want to physically raise the whole planer up that high. I wouldn't go larger than 4-6", however, personally. Since you're welding things together, you can use some heavy angle to "raise" the mount points for the wheels higher than the bottom of the base and control just how much overall height you gain for the machine in the end. (And any top-heavy machines really need to stay as close to the floor as possible, IMHO)

[Tom M King]

Here's the base I built for the 24" Centauro without the saw on it yet. I had to stick the back out far enough to allow the casters to swivel. !/4" thick steel with 3/4" clearance underneath only raises the saw 1" total.

Here are the casters I used:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...e?ie=UTF8&th=1

I like them, and the base works better than I thought it would. The angle iron on the door side of the saw is smaller than the one on the other side so I can open the door.

[Brian Runau]

All this talk of welding reminds me I don't have a welder! Brian

[Tom M King]

A welding machine is just one tool on a fairly long list that you need to fabricate stuff out of metal. Just having a machine would be like only having a table saw, and expecting to be able to build something out of wood.

[Zachary Hoyt]

All you need to build a mobile base is a welder and something to cut and drill with. I use an angle grinder to cut and a drill press to drill, and an old stick welder. I used my mobile bases as a chance to move things up to what is (for me) a more comfortable height. For casters I think a lot depends on the floor surface. On gravel even a 10" is going to be tough, but on concrete or wood much smaller will work as long as the floor is clear of debris.

[Brian Runau]

A welding machine is just one tool on a fairly long list that you need to fabricate stuff out of metal. Just having a machine would be like only having a table saw, and expecting to be able to build something out of wood.

Tom, back in my youth I had a welding certification for overhead and vertical plate. I think I know what's involved. Brian

[Greg Quenneville]

I consider myself an intermediate woodworker and a hack welder, but my mig welder gets lots of use lately making do-dads for my woodworking machines. My neighbours never ask me any favours except welding. So don’t weld with the garage door open .

Please excuse the Canadian/Australian spelling.

[Aaron Inami]

I did a bunch of research when I bought casters for my HS950. Be careful about the casters that are available on Amazon. There are many that will use softer material for the tire of the casters. Regardless of weight capacity, many of these will develop flat spots on the tire and then you're kind of screwed. Some casters are made better than others. Some of the softer wheels are meant for furniture over carpets (which don't really develop flat spots since the floor is carpet cushioned). Softer wheels means less shock to the equipment over cracks, but they do not do well on a hard concrete floor.

The harder polyurethane tires are usually pretty good. The 6" casters that Tom King used are very good because they have very wide 2" thin profile polyurethane tires. That being said, I would have spent another $10-15 and gotten the GBL versions of these casters:

https://www.amazon.com/GBL-Caster-CA.../dp/B07TGFMGZV

I bought three different 3" and 4" casters for my HS950 project and the 4" GBL casters turned out to be the best made and best usability.

Another recommendation is to pick casters with a weight capacity that is twice as much as your actual machine weight. People who have gotten casters that are 10-15% "over actual weight" have been disappointed in the results.

Larger wheels will roll easier with heavy weight machinery. I would go at least 4" at a minimum, but 6" is better for that 1250 lbs.

Probably the best casters I have seen are actually on the Harbor Freight Icon tool chests. They are suspension casters with a 2,000 lbs capacity per caster (8,000 for 4 casters). They are expensive, but you can order them "as parts" from HF. The fixed casters are $99 each and the swivel casters are $125 each. You will have to buy your own mounting bolts/hardware.

I remember trying to move around a 15" Powermatic planer with its stock little crap wheels and it was really difficult. Almost like dragging a bucket of metal around!

[Tom M King]

Thanks for that link for the GBL casters, Aaron. I don't remember seeing those when I ordered the ones for the bandsaw a year or so ago. Will check that brand first from now on.

I did a lot of looking for those and the ones for the drill press that I built about the same time as the bandsaw base. I don't remember the name brand, but they're 4" with metal wheels, ball bearings, and gray urethane tires. I've been very pleased with that base too. The drill press is not really much weight, so these seem to be fine. No flat spots, and it's always easy to move in that shop. They're the same ones under my welding cart/toolbox, and I've been pleased with them.

That 4x4x1/4" old angle iron came with this place when we got it, so it cost nothing. I still have a pretty good pile of it, and other sizes and shapes. When I run out of stuff to do, I'll blast them, and paint them. When I made them, I needed to use the tools, so didn't take the time. Those tools had been in storage for a good long time.

I had to buy new metal for the base under the welder, so it was easy to prep and paint.