Stand on castors, heavy kit?

[pe2dave]

Axi offer today? Seems a fair price.

 

[scholar]

I would prefer the type that has a foot-operated lever to engage the front wheels - I suppose it depends how often you move your machines around - all the time in my case as I have limited space (and possibly too many machines).

I have one on my spindle moulder (with foot levers) and it works well - I just recall it was quite a job to lift the machine inside the frame.

The lever type used to be ubiquitous at about £30 (eg Rutlands) but a quick google does not find many offerings - sign of the times I guess.

Cheers

 

[Jacob]

Looks like tat to me.
If the load is at all heavy those little castors would dig in to a board floor. They wouldn't work at all on a less than smooth floor.
I've found a sack trolley really useful over the years. I can move my heavy Startrite 352 with it and just manage my twice as heavy mortice machine, with a bit of careful balancing. And you only need one for any number of machines and other moving ops.
It's this one Standard Duty Hand Truck 150kg
Good enough for a one man workshop occasional use (had it 20 years or more) but not for daily heavy industrial use I guess.

 

[alan895]

The lever type used to be ubiquitous at about £30 (eg Rutlands) but a quick google does not find many offerings - sign of the times I guess.

Shame that style has gone away as they were very solid and effective, and every so often Rutlands used to do them buy one get one free.

 

[Doug71]

I have a couple of the heavy duty versions of those which I bought from Axminster about a year ago, work well for me.

I just looked back and I paid £137 pounds each for them, they are £187 now, shows how things have gone up.

 

[Ttrees]

If you need put stuff away into say an unaccessible area, then you really cannot beat a single point lever design.
And buy a little shoebox welder for 40 pounds in Liddes, if your wallet is as tight as the space your in!

 

[Rich_D]

If you need put stuff away into say an unaccessible area, then you really cannot beat a single point lever design.
And buy a little shoebox welder for 40 pounds in Liddes, if your wallet is as tight as the space your in!View attachment 135773

For £65 you could buy castors and some thick plywood and make a moveable base. This would also be an exact size for your kit.

 

[pe2dave]

I'm not surprised, there are many alternatives.

 

[Ttrees]

I'd say this design has been around for millennia, but nice to see various iterations of the same principal.
Doesn't need be fancy, but be warned!, once you make one....

None of them are perfect, some could do with some slight mods,
but that's half the fun.
Here's a small example of why a single point lever is handier.
Need a crowbar to drop the levers down against the wall,
and some of those store bought ones are so thin, and look like they get jammed to my eyes...
well for a heavy machine anyways, (none or not enough flat on the bottom of pedal)
that even without obstruction, may require the mini crowbar for the job,
as I gave me new boots a nice slice on the toe.

I find the one for the bench really useful, I move it every day in the tetris lawnmower game,
and not just for when the neighbours cat takes a pisch underneath,
and a bit odd lookin being made of auld scraps, but cost nothing but a few welding rods.
For the space conscious, a floating top is another bonus for when you really need space,
but would need to be redesigned for the other fancy bench for a few reasons.
Quite a bit of head scratching for something fancy like that, making something not so agricultural, ergonomic, might make pedal more accessible for that one, (cable could be utilized)
at least something hidden for fun, others may have other reasons for concealing their bench, etc..
but if you approach things like getting the wheels sorted first
then you've made a start and and have to figure out the rest
Fun coming up with solutions, regardless what type you choose, you won't change your mind on the single point feature,


Well apart from one case where someone didn't like the fact that these can drop going over a bump, which could likely be fixed...not an issue for me, but two reasons for me makes a better reasoning for fixing something, and should one have a lightweight bench and a bad floor, then the wheels can tend to make contact and the bench can move occasionally with sawing, (but you'd not be happy with that spot on the floor anyway without shims which would fix things)
might do that for the bench, could fix the noise it makes at times also, hopefully shouldn't be difficult to have something cushioning and fireproof.
that's my biggest gripe with the workbench, but needing dance with the wolves, its a feature that I wouldn't be without,

and would puke at the thought of having to use four levers.
Even if you end up using a brush handle for depressing the lever occasionally, something t register against would be an idea,
cable could be used here either as an afterthought, which is the way I tend to approach these things, as I just get analysis paralysis working on paper sometimes,
and often find it handier to pick up a scrap piece and a clamp.

 

[kinverkid]

Another one here for the Lidl or Aldi welders and make your own. In the end you have a castor mounted machine and a welder.

 

[Ttrees]

Another one here for the Lidl or Aldi welders and make your own. In the end you have a castor mounted machine and a welder.

Bob (myfordman) made them first!
https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/threads/custom-made-mobile-bases.17861/#post-1204564
That one in the video looks particularly the situation for a cut boot.

 

[ivan]

Amazon have some really HD castors. These have a cast body, containing a screw down foot, to level the item. Search for Skelang castors. these go from 250 to 500 kg per castor, depending on model. Total capacity best rated at 3x a single castor. Just got a set of the smaller ones for the band saw which weighs about 250kg. Wheels are quite small, so floor should be reasonably flat. Not suited to frequent movement, as the screw down feet need you to kneel to access.

 

[Craig22]

If you do a google search for industrial castors, you'll find plenty with any combination of swivel and lockable, load bearing, and wheel diameter that you could wish for.

 

[disco_monkey79]

Or keep an eye out for scaffold tower casters. I used some (along with some 2nd hand scaff tubing) to make a wheeled base for an insanely heavy cast iron bandsaw. It's a spectacularly ugly device (my home-made base, not the bandsaw) but it does the job and it's steady as a rock.

 

[Ttrees]

Cheapest wheels possible for me, and would hope they break should someone else try and wheel my kit outta me shed!
no more for a fiver spent on any of them.

 

[TomGW]

My heaviest bit of kit is a SIP 01332 saw and it came fitted with outboard castors at the rear and a wheeled lever arrangement for the front. Very simple and works a treat. Lifting the front onto the wheeled handle/lever tilts the rear onto the castors and it can be easily wheeled around. Just Google the SIP kit to see how it works. I could simply add similar outboard castors to anything to utilise the SIP lever/handle on multiple items.

https://www.toolden.co.uk/p/sip-069...7KoTi6cduxQ-zROWFW-PpLD5bQWVriu0aAnaAEALw_wcB