Thread: How to stop table saw base moving

Wheels with retractable leveling feet? https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Leveling...WHe:rk:15:pf:0

I have 4 locking castors on mine. Solid as a rock when using and easy to move around. I was in a hurry so I bought mine from Bunnies

Machinery house has these. I've got a set and they look and feel pretty good but I've yet to fit them to my bench. The medium and heavy weight mobile bases from a few different places have drop down feet as well. I've got a few carts with casters - if you want it to be rock solid, you'll need 4 good quality locking castors.

Originally Posted by Alkahestic

Machinery house has these. I've got a set and they look and feel pretty good but I've yet to fit them to my bench. The medium and heavy weight mobile bases from a few different places have drop down feet as well. I've got a few carts with casters - if you want it to be rock solid, you'll need 4 good quality locking castors.

They're pretty good, and for sure the table saw isn't going to move if you could mount these directly on the side of it, as the TS will sit on the ground when these are retracted. If the OP wants to put them on a dolly type device on which he wants to sit his table saw, maybe these won't have a place to be mounted properly?

Also, we should probably check that the table saw in question is under 250Kg... most will be under, but just then, someone's gonna own a beast

I have two sets of those. One set I fitted with much modification and it barely works. The other set is still in its box.

The problem with them is that, if mounted to a vertical surface, in the down position the castors are not mounted horizontally so they have a resting position that they default to. This makes it very hard to steer when moving and limits the effective "lift". You can see the effect in the H&F photos. I think that they were designed for one of the splayed leg machinery stands.

4 lockable castors from Bunnings on mine. It’s super solid


Northern Beaches Sydney

Like the rest said get wheels that either lock or with feet that lower to the ground. Wind down feet that take the weight off the wheels would be another way to do it. Really no point having wheels if you also have to then bolt the thing down.
Regards
John

Today I picked up 4 x locking castors and installed them on the base. They’re pretty solid, 100mm wheels and are rated at 140kg. I got a mate to help me lift my table saw (Jet cabinet saw) on the base which was a bit of a mission, then tested for wobble. There is movement if I rock the saw with a bit of force. I don’t know if I have unrealistic expectations, but I would have thought this would be a safety issue? Has anybody else done this? I’d like to know if you had some movement.

The whole idea of the base wasn’t necessarily to have my table saw mobile, it was more so to raise the saw as I always found the saw too low for me. Of course it would be nice to be able to move it if need be, but not at the cost of it moving on me half way through a cut.

So I’m thinking of either removing the casters, and just letting the base sit on the workshop floor. Or, trying to make it more solid, maybe making a wedge or trying to anchor it to the floor? Not sure how reliable that would be.

As it stands now, the base is a bit too high anyway. If I decide to keep the wheels on, I’ll need to modify the base anyway. It’s three layers of 1800 x 800 sheets of yellow tongue flooring, with a frame in between each layer.

Thanks for the input.

Cheers,
Andy

Originally Posted by groeneaj

I don’t know if I have unrealistic expectations, but I would have thought this would be a safety issue? Has anybody else done this? I’d like to know if you had some movement.

For what it's worth, I have a SawStop Professional unit mounted on their mobile base - the hydraulic one that's sold by SawStop themselves.

To give an accurate picture here, I *think* the PCS comes in at 285Kg, so it's not something that's light and easy to move around.

If I set it down (i.e. make the unit non-moveable by letting the base down), and give the PCS a reasonable push, I'm seeing a small amount of movement (I'd truly have to go measure it, and I'm happy to do that if you want).

I don't think there are many table saws on any sort of mobile base that won't show some small measure of movement if you push on them a bit, or bump into them.

I've never found this to be an issue in cutting any material, or using the saw in any way.

I'll have some shed time this weekend, if you like, I'll rig up a way to measure movement and give it a bit of a shove when it's down - let me know if it's of interest!

I tend to agree with the above post. Not many mobile bases will be rock solid when "locked". I have a TS mounted on a H&F generic mobile base with two swivelling castors on the rear and fixed locking castors on the front. When locked the saw will move if given a firm ish bump. Modern machines aren't the cast iron behemoths like pre 1960 machines.

From a safety viewpoint, movement is not ideal. However there is little in the way of commercially available reasonably priced practical engineered solutions that tick all the boxes for convenience, mobility, limited floor areas, flexibility. My preference is for bases that are jacked clear of castor support when in use.

Machine levelling feet mod.jpg ( credit - Phil Layne jr. on Woodcraft.com) or go all out Hetek 262 levelling supports.jpg

I use a cabinet with non locking castor base built in for my Vicmarc VL150 lathe which is jacked clear using a simple fulcrum and lever and then supported by two beam style feet supports each end. Its a very stable solution but not a viable solution for 300kg plus machines.

My Woodfast BS500 is on the Woodfast mobile base which has two fixed rear rollers and a removable two wheel dolly front that acts like a lever tow ball drawbar. When removed the fixed castors are on LHS and the RHS (in working position) is hard upon the ground. It is quite stable in use but care must be taken moving the machine due to the high centre of gravity (cast iron table etc). Again its not really a viable solution for a TS given the physical size (W x D) and weight to use a single point pivot system.

The https://www.machineryhouse.com.au/W935 units are good in theory but I have problems with the unit fitted to my jointer. Check your machine weight against the recommended - 63kg each wheel capacity - totalling 252kg per set. It constantly requires "maintenance" as the lever springs when in use. The integral castor levelling foot pad design linked above will have issues as sawdust and chips will lock them up, plus you don't need much waste on the floor for them to become "immobile castors."

Vern Bun's "Stubby Lathe Lifter" has to be one of the best solutions I have seen but again not viable for a machine such as a TS on a cabinet base. ttit - The Gadgets

Google "jack up machinery levelling feet" and view the images - plenty of ideas and items that can easily be modified to suit your application.

or this easily made modification to existing units

Axminster mobile base detail.jpg

Andy, do you have the handle/jack for the A3-31? Put wheels on one side of your base and fixed feet on the other. Same as the Felder gear

Originally Posted by Mobyturns

. . . . .From a safety viewpoint, movement is not ideal. However there is little in the way of commercially available reasonably priced practical engineered solutions that tick all the boxes for convenience, mobility, limited floor areas, flexibility. My preference is for bases that are jacked clear of castor support when in use.

I agree. Apart from machine movement, the other issue is when wheels are left under load some may develop a flat spot making it harder to move machinery. This becomes more of an issue if the machines are heavy relative to the load capacity of the wheels, or the machine is left in one spot for long times. To get around this it's worth using wheels that are overrated in terms of load capacity or use wheels with either urethane tyres which spring back or a material like cast iron which does not compress.

Jacking clear of castor support also requires sturdy jacks that need to be at least as strong as the original legs or feet of the machine. If the jacks are such that the machine level is disturbed when they retracted then re-levelling may be needed every time a machine is move Instead of jacking support legs I reckon it's usually better to use retractable wheels so you can use the original feet machine feet which should then remain level. Retractable wheels can be fiddlier to fit but are well worth it especially if a machine is not going to be moved often.

I don't move much machinery in my shed and only have my BS, forge, combo planer thicknesser and one small bench on wheels. The combo is on a commercial available base that uses jacked feet to stead the machine but the rubber like wheels on this developed flat spots and I had to replace them with something more HD. Even so the jacks are a bit of a PITA to set every time I use that machine The BS and Bench use retractable wheels and these work well.

This is a small surface plate bench i completed a few months back that uses retractable wheels and tucks in under the other bench
The wheels are lowered by turning the levers above them by 180º. The levers turn a cam that is the full width of the bench and these push the 2 wheels at each end down- retracting is the reverse.
Surfaceplates2.jpg

It's not necessary to get this "metalworkish" , there are simpler systems that use wooden levers to rotate wheels down and under machines that work equally as well.

Wheels (locking) on tail out side, feet on feed side. Small mobile car jack under feet end to move. Probably won't need to lock wheels unless doing super heavy stuff.