castors

[Phil Pascoe]

I need to make a small base to lower my bandsaw, I would like it on wheels. The locks of castors I've seen and used in the past are designed to be foot operated, which puts me at a disadvantage not having any. It obviously needs to be fixed, so any suggestions?

 

[John Brown]

I added castors to my router table, such that they can be raised or lowered by means of a lever (actually 2 levers, one at each side)with a plywood cam at the bottom. It's not beautiful, but it works well, and is hand operated.

 

[Agent_zed]

Another alternative along the same theme as above could be to use some studding. If you had a couple of nuts welded in place down the front legs on the stand, you could have studding screwed through them down to the floor with a rubber foot on the end of each stud. The top of the studding could either be a nut welded on and use a rachet/spanner to adjust up and down. Or make a wooden disc about 4 inches diameter or so, for each so you can then hand turn the studding, should have enough leverage on a 4 inch disc.

The advantage with the above would be you can adjust the 2 legs independently to account for uneven floor.

Disadvantage would be it would be slower than a lever system.

 

[ChaiLatte]

A variation on the above: if you are using swivel castors and the rotational centre of them has free air above it, you could drill and tap there for a vertical locking bolt. Remove the wheel once the bolt is screwed in and add a pad that (a) bears on the wheel (b) stops the bolt being withdrawn.

Handwheel knob on the top of the bolt to operate. Within reason, these could project quite high from the castor meaning you would not need to bend down to floor level to operate them.

Locking a standard one is simple using a stick held in your hand. If you put a groove in the end of the stick so it could hook over the locking flap and pull upwards to unlock them, the foot-operated lock becomes hand-operated.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I have a dolly that I use on ccasion to fit skirtings etc. with iirc 4" wheels. These wheels would be fine, but they need more weight to lock them than I can easily put on them by hand. Unlocking them is easy but that's not the problem. Screwing down through them is an idea.

 

[Agent_zed]

If you flip the idea another way could be that the wheels are the bit that are lowered down when needed. Normally you could have 2 rear wheels and 2 fixed legs at the front. When you need to move it you screw down the wheels to lift the front legs off the floor.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Yes, of course. I don't need to lock all four.

 

[ChaiLatte]

When you need to move it you screw down the wheels to lift the front legs off the floor.

A single wheel, like a trailer jockey wheel, might suffice. Even if the bandsaw tries a Reliant Robin manouvre, it could only tilt maybe 1/4" before one of the legs touches down.

 

[Morag Jones]

Would a small projecting lug on a steel frame be an option? Theres one under my Kity BestCombi with a hole, it takes a wheeled lifting lever just tilting the frame onto the back wheels. Take out the lever and it rests on fixed feet.

 

[Morag Jones]

Soz I don’t know who makes it but sure someone will.

 

[Tris]

Would this be any good?
https://www.scosarg.com/wheel-kit-for-sabre-350

 

[Phil Pascoe]

You're both thinking the same way. I have to make up a base, though, as I need to lower the saw to wheelchair height so just as well incorporate wheels. I need four wheels as I've very limited space. I'll probably end up devising a way of operating the castors' locking mechanisms with a lever - like a bottle opener. Keep the ideas coming, though, I'll get there in the end.

 

[Agent_zed]

This looks interesting https://www.scosarg.com/moveable-wheel-kit-for-bs300-bandsaw it doesn't show exactly how it works but by the look of it there is a foot lever that acts on the wheels to push them down. Obviously you want it hand activated so would need to be modified to push a lever down from higher up on the stand.

If you are handy with a welder doesn't look like it would take much to make something similar.

 

[Fergie 307]

Soz I don’t know who makes it but sure someone will.

Very similar tool used to move my car lift about, very effective.

 

[Fergie 307]

Have you looked at the record stands?
The wheels are all lowered simultaneously by pressing a single bar. Designed for feet, but the bar sits quite high off the floor so might be suited to operation by hand, and the pressure needed isn't great, although that will no doubt vary according to the weight of the machine. Machine Mart had them on offer recently.

 

[Tris]

This might be more use then, I'd be tempted to build it in steel so you could move the operating lever outside the frame and have it higher for hand operation

https://www.lumberjocks.com/showcase/diy-mobile-base-for-jointer-or-table-saw.75618/

 

[Gus900]

I used these for my Sabre 350 base. They are similar to what Paoson used for his mobile workbench. Even unlocked they give far better stabilty than regular castors.

 

[ChaiLatte]

These wheels would be fine, but they need more weight to lock them than I can easily put on them by hand.

Would there be any way of extending the locking tab/brake application lever on the castor so it has more mechanical advantage?

I can see some disbenefits to this, but it might be something you could mock up to see if it could work. The problems I see are if the extended lever hits the floor when the brake is applied and being longer, it is more likely to snag on you.

On scaffold tower wheels, the brake levers are double ended so you can, in principle, pull upwards both to apply and to release the brake. I do not know if smaller castors are available in this format.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I'm thinking to make something like an extended version of a bottle opener.

I used these for my Sabre 350 base. They are similar to what Paoson used for his mobile workbench. Even unlocked they give far better stabilty than regular castors. View attachment 187910

They don't look bad, but I'd rather have larger wheels.