I’m sure most well seasoned woodies will call this obvious, however, we must consider our novice ducklings.
SO…..
I’ve been holding back on the obvious, however, cost savings seem to be a priority with many woodworkers more lately, lately lately.
With all this rain, our workshop seems to shrink, but the number of our larger tools/machinery have decided to impersonate rabbits.
To cohabitate, all this proliferation of new bunnies have to improve their mobility and many (if not already) are rolling toward mobile bases. Good move… however, far too many compromise on small wheels (bad move) often based on price, though some braniacs would more thoughtfully consider the additional height.
If you are like me and don’t object profusely to parting with your precious shekels (under the right circumstances) and purchase these type of robust, low profile mobile bases
you may not get much from this… however if you decide to buy (or have) individual wheels for self-mobility mounting you may get some ideas.
And before yazall go apeisht about the above small wheels… they are not too small, it’s a bloody big machine with a low, easy to move profile.
Small cheap wheels are attractive, however, don’t be fooled… those small wheels will give you trouble rolling over what may now seem a perfectly smooth ”cordless” floor. They are not as stable and nowhere as manoeuvrable as larger wheels. Without large wheels, you’d never clear some bottled saw dust in your workshop (another tip to follow soon-ish).
Large wheels will undoubtedly raise the centre of gravity, however, that is something you can control/adjust to some degree by outrigging (last part of the blog beloq) or extending the footprint a tad. It is suggested how you can retro fit large wheels onto any existing base that you may struggle with because of the original small wheels fitted near the end of the blog below.
Those Rockler Locking casters (or other brands) are good, but remember they may still be a tad too small under adverse circumstances.
Don’t care… Ok, many other better blogs to read or handtools to admire.
This was originally posted at LJ on 17th. Feb, 2021 with mixed reaction.
If you remembered from the start that large wheels negotiate hazards in the workshop better
than small wheels, you are already cruising in top gear.
Nevertheless there are too many woodworkers that have compromised on small wheels and find that those bloody annoying small slivers of timber seems like a log when you try to wheel your mobile around the workshop.
When I was still in Melbourne (Richmond), my shop floor was tongue and groove particle board sheets that was smooth as the missus's newly waxed legs and I had no issues wheeling around my mobiles on small wheels… yeah, I was cheap back in those days… no NASA funding (ey, pottzy)!
Initially I built my mini-lathe stand on small wheels and as I only used it to turn pens, stability was not a major issue and for that added stability, 2bsure 2bsure, I jacked it up on fold down braces when stationary,
(yeah, yeah… and extension table ya ask… I made bloody big pens)... Nevertheless, engaging the braces was a pain in the arse and I was determined to find a better way to get more stability (by lowering the COG). However, when I moved to Churchill, with the cracks in the concrete, it was more like varicose veined legs and the mobile was quickly bogged down with the small wheels.
Sometime in the past 11 years, before I joined LJ, I opted for slightly larger wheels and redesigned the wheel mounts to permit lowering of the cabinet to accept larger wheels and still maintain stability with a relatively low centre of gravity. This is how it stands (and rolls) now,
Before the eagle eyes (rc) out there start yapping about "they're small wheels too", I borrowed the larger wheels for my Workmate not too long ago and never replaced them, though the wheels on it now is a tad larger than the original… don't tell me you've never played musical wheels?
Also a while back, I "puttied" the cracks with some sort of gumbo (no idea what, where or when) but it seems to have lasted,
Since then, I learnt SketchUp and made a design that could be either used from the start or retro-fitted to replace small wheels… or the concept just used to lower the centre of gravity for the mobile.
I have exported an animation of the SketchUp model and provided some basic commentary before I started to mumble after opening up a cask of vino.
Hopefully it might give some readers a few ideas as I see far too many posting of great projects, however, I question the size of some of their wheels. Personally, I have opted for heavy duty commercial mobile bases lately, so I'm only offering this as a suggestion for shekel constrained jocks.
Keep safe jocks... and your jocks safe!
If your first cut is too short... Take the second cut from the longer end... LBD
Duck, wondering if you are like I was/am? When I was 20, I put everything on the cheapest wheels I could find, most of the time they were 2". I was plenty strong/dumb enough back then I could just push those tiny wheels over most anything on the ground, and it was nothing. Now, old, fat, and infirmed, I won't even look at anything less than a 5" wheel. Money is no object, I want quality easy rolling, and locking. I just want to get down on my knees the one time when I mount them on the tool, cabinet, storage bin, whatever they are going on, the rest of the time a flick of the toe, and I'm off to the races. :-)
I'm relatively new to serious woodworking GW... at least when it comes to decent tools... after my divorce and until about 15 years ago, my arsenal was a drill with a disc pad, hammer, few slot headed screwdrivers, pliers, wrench and this Sidchrome socket set, that helped keep my MkII Ford Zephyr on the road... which was no mean feat for a non-revhead working from do-it-yourself Ford repair manuals... and to think that after all these years it has managed to remained imperial.
My first "dedicated" shop had a flat floor so small wheels were not an issue, I was none the wiser and most of my machinery were fairy-fart, lower end stuff. Wasn't till I moved to downtown Churchill 12 years ago that I started getting serious equipment, though experience didn't keep up, and had craters in my concrete that I gravitated towards large wheels.
Nowdays, no getting down on knees anymore... build upside down, slap on the bigger wheels and use a hoist to upright it... or just buy the mobile, low profile, heavy duty bases and use that same hoist to lift it on. Manual lifting is reserved for cask-o-vinos.
If your first cut is too short... Take the second cut from the longer end... LBD
