Mobile Bases - Build or Buy?

[Brian Backner]

+1 for using a pallet jack.

Stable and more capacity than you're ever likely to need (4,500-5,500#) and you only need to buy one for all of your machines. As an example, I have a 3,200# Crescent P24 planer that I move with my pallet jack. When in actual use, the P24 lives on 6x6" timbers. When moved to a different location in the garage, I level it by using wooden shims - simple to do as you can easily lift and lower even a machine as heavy as the P24. Overall, the jack makes moving machinery easy (not that moving a 3,200# machine is easy), and it's very stable, and cost effective. Each subsequent machine to be mobilized only requires some 4x4 or 6x6 timbering and some lag screws.

A standard pallet jack measures just under 27" across the width of the two forks. This would probably be too big for a typical cabinet style table saw, but there are narrow jacks that are just 15" across the forks. Those are a little harder to find used, but I do see them from time to time on CraigsList.

[Steve Kohn]

I have my entire shop on mobile bases including a wide belt sander (800 lbs.). One thing I have learned is that most of the manufactured bases have too small of wheels to be effective. The small wheels get stuck on wood scraps or even in the stress control joints in my concrete floor. I've gone almost totally to a minimum of 4 inch casters. The 5 inch double locking rubber casters from Grizzly are what I am using now for everything I've been building.

[Chris Ainsley]

I built one for my old grizzly bandsaw out of 4" channel and 4"x1/4" angle with locking casters from lee valley.

[Jeff Cybulski]

I have used the HF and the Delta mobile bases for my Grizzly bandsaw and Rockwell Model 10 table saw. The Delta has a better lift wheel then the HF unit. I glued up white oak for the bases and have had no issues rolling around on my cement floor

[Keith Outten]

The mini-pallet jacks can be purchased from either Grizzly or from Northern Tools.

[Keith Avery]

RWM is an industrial maker of casters. They are very high quality casters. I have bought them on Amazon for as little as 3 dollars each. I regularly pick up a set for less than $30 rated at 600-1200lbs per caster. Watch Amazon and you can get casters at phenomenal prices(along with ebay). In many cases I have bought a caster thats msrp is 70 bucks for less than it cost Amazon to ship it to me. Only downside is you may have to spend a little time in their 80 page catalog to figure out which ones are best for your application.

[Michael W. Clark]

Thanks for all the responses!
I don't have a welder or immediate access to one, so my build would most likely consist of wood or bolted steel. I can cut and drill steel, but no welder.

When I think of a pallet jack, I think of a typical warehouse version. I don't currently have room for that but sounds like a good way to go if I did. I'm not familiar with the "mini pallet jack". I'll check that out.

I thought about the tow bar, but I think it would be cumbersome for the drill press and maybe the bandsaw too. The drill press is especially top heavy.

On the home-made versions (wood and metal), how are you securing the base in place for use? I don't usuall buy the best casters (and that may be the problem), but the lockable ones always seem to slip. The base on the tablesaw (shop fox base) has threaded rods with a foot on the bottom that you screw down to secure it in place. What about a toggle clamp, the type you would use to hold something against a fence? Obviously this would not be good on something like the P24 planer, but my machines are much lighter duty.

Thanks,

Mike

[Anthony Diodati]

l am real tempted to try one of the HF bases next time they have the -25% coupon. I need one for my wood metal bandsaw.

[Dave Aronson]

l am real tempted to try one of the HF bases next time they have the -25% coupon. I need one for my wood metal bandsaw.

I have a few different mobile bases and my favorite is the one from Rockler because it has a really big foot pedal to raise and lower the base.

[Anthony Diodati]

I have a few different mobile bases and my favorite is the one from Rockler because it has a really big foot pedal to raise and lower the base.

Yeah, l can understand that. My shop area is sort of crowded, sometimes l am tripping over those foot pedals, the HF one, while not as convenient, and l would have to ;heaven forbid, bend over to crank the screws to raise it, might be more out of the way.
If all goes well, l will be buying a house this coming year. I told the realtor, the garage is just, if not more important than the house.
What one from Rockler is it? Don't they have more than one?

[Danny Burns]

Last time I checked out Grizzly's site, they had the ShopFox bases on sale.
I like them because the frame is sturdy with rectangular steel tubes on the sides, as apposed to steel bar, and the bases only raise the machines about an inch off the floor.
For something like a tippy drill press, I think the lower the better.
Manufactureres usually give a minimum base dimensions for drill presses so they don't tip.

[Anthony Diodati]

Like this one?
This is the small one, they have the same thing in a larger version.
http://www.amazon.com/Shop-Fox-D2057.../dp/B0000DD6B9

Last time I checked out Grizzly's site, they had the ShopFox bases on sale.
I like them because the frame is sturdy with rectangular steel tubes on the sides, as apposed to steel bar, and the bases only raise the machines about an inch off the floor.
For something like a tippy drill press, I think the lower the better.
Manufactureres usually give a minimum base dimensions for drill presses so they don't tip.

[Jim Becker]

Someone here shared the idea of making your own mobile bases without wheels. Instead of wheels design your base so you can use a mini pallet jack to move your machines around. This is what I intend to do in the future, I already purchased the pallet jack and I use it more that I thought possible already.
.

I like this idea a lot...and it has the added advantage of being able to keep an assembly platform around that can also be moved at will with the pallet jack, making schlepping of large projects/project components around in the shop easier. And for me, if I even needed to move my slider, I'd need a pallet jack anyway...it weighs 1500 lbs. (That's what we used to put in in the spot it lives now...)

[Don Stanley]

I have a need for three mobile bases, 6" jointer, 14" bandsaw, and 17" drill press (with plywood platform). I am torn between buying three bases or building them. The pluses I see to buying is less time devoted to building bases and the stationary stops are usually built-in. However, at $40-$60 /ea it may be worth devoting a little time to building them. I don't like the locking casters, they still seem to slip, so a good home-made option for making the bases stationary may sway me into building them. Any thoughts, opnions?

Thanks,
Mike

Mike, maybe this should give you some ideas! I started with an inexpensive base for my planer, a Rockler with a single re-moveable swivel wheel on one end - fixed casters on the other end. It does the job, but four swivel wheels work a lot better on tools you move all the time!

For heavy tools that seldom get moved consider using the re-moveable wheel from the Rocker base as part of the solution.
The swivel caster is available separately from Rockler: http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?p...FQhyQgodZQYAQQ



This is my shop-made 17" Delta Drill Press Mobil Base.


I also modified my Router Table to use the swivel caster; added fixed wheels under the table on one end and a small hitch block on the other end. Sorry I don't have a picture of the finished table, but this will give you an idea of what I'm talking about.



-Don

[Prashun Patel]

Personally, I'd make them - but for different reasons:

Drill press: stability is not as big a deal on this as with other tools. I'd add some locking casters to your plywood base and be done with it. All the force is downward, so slipping isn't an issue. Low cost = best here IMHO.

Bandsaw: make your own. The bases I explored were tippy. I made one out of four pieces of 2x3 rectangular steel tubing and some Great Lakes casters (all bolted together. It works great. It cost me about $60-70 in materials, but the wider footprint has made it worth it. Also, depending on the operation, I have to move my bandsaw around and pivot it quite a bit. Having 4 independent swiveling/locking casters is convenient here. Unless you are resawing huge slabs, the swiveling/locking casters won't pose a problem.

Jointer: here stability is really important. Most likely, this will be stored against a wall and only moved away from the wall in one dimension. For this reason, a base with 2 fixed casters is fine. I'd definitely make one here that lifts up off the casters, or allows them to fold down for maximum stability. FWIW, i have a very small shop, and am able to to get by with a stationary jointer by lifting it up on blocks so the wings are slightly above my tablesaw extension wing. Once I was able to get clearance fore and aft, I realized the jointer actually requires very little space to work properly.