Mobile Equipment Bases, Which Ones Do You Like?

[Renegade1LI]

I like having all the machines on mobile bases, my home garage is tight. So I'm really liking these shop fox D2057A mobile bases, well made and easy to set up and adjust. I really like how heavy duty the casters are, I hate cheap casters, would like it better if they were all swivel. I think for the price threaded are a good value ,cheaper and faster than building bases. Some equipment I have to fab custom bases, but where these work I'll use them.

 

[MongoTA]

I have my pedestal grinders, my 18" Jet metal bandsaw, and my Rockwell drill press on Bora mobile bases. The pedestal grinders have two swivel casters, the bandsaw and drill press have four. Bandsaw casters are on the sides for more lateral stability.

 

[dscheidt]

my bandsaw and tablesaw are on bora pm-2500 bases. the table saw is on 1.5 of them, so it can be all swivel casters, which i need to squeeze it into the corner it lives in. if I were buying at today's prices ($90 to 130 each, depending on where you buy) I'd probably consider another option for the table saw, but they've worked very well, went together right, and were generally painless. Getting the saw onto the base, on the other hand, was a right pain. they raise the working height of the tool an inch or so, which wasn't a problem for me, but can be if they need to fit existing tables or something.

 

[jives]

I've got one like the first pic on my table saw, and while it works, it is not the best. The pic shows one of the two wheels with the cam lever. You cannot really control the descent; the lever rapidly slams down when released. Plus, you have to do it with both. The second pic is a Delta unit I have on my drill press. One lever, easy to control the descent, and easier to spin the drill press around because of the three wheels instead of four. Of course, you have to fabricate the rails.

 

[Renegade1LI]

I've got one like the first pic on my table saw, and while it works, it is not the best. The pic shows one of the two wheels with the cam lever. You cannot really control the descent; the lever rapidly slams down when released. Plus, you have to do it with both. The second pic is a Delta unit I have on my drill press. One lever, easy to control the descent, and easier to spin the drill press around because of the three wheels instead of four. Of course, you have to fabricate the rails.

I have a couple with the cam lever and plan to replace them. I like the jacking bolt on the shop fox, it gives a secure feel.

 

[GeoBruin]

I like the shop fox for the adjustability of the screws. My only issue has been that the screws don't back off very high off the ground, so if you have any cracks or thresholds in your shop, you can't roll them easily over. It gets hung up on the levelling foot. A nice hack for the shop fox is that a piece of shallow unistrut fits perfectly in place of the factory rectangular tube if you need a longer or shorter side.

I use the Bora with cam feet for things I move more frequently. I have my bandsaw kind of shoved in a spot where cutting off a long piece requires me to pull it out. The Bora works great there. Similar story for my drill press.

 

[WisJim]

In the last few days I've looked on-line at lots of mobile equipment bases, so this thread is of interest to me. When reading the reviews on Amazon and elsewhere, I noticed that there are a lot of comments for most of the brands about how flimsy the levers are that raise and lower the casters. I would be using bases on tools that might be moved daily, so easy and reliable raising and lowering, and swiveling the casters, would be important. The first tools I would put on a base are my 10" Rockwell contractor saw (an old heavy one) and my 14" Delta bandsaw on the factory sheet metal stand. I'm hoping to see more comments and info here.

 

[Jim_No_Garage]

I have several different mobile bases

My Grizzly 14" Bandsaw is on an HTC Universal mobile base.
My 1946 Delta 14" bandsaw is on a Grizzly T28000 - BEAR CRAWL HEAVY-DUTY MOBILE BASE.

The HTC has a cam/pedal to lower the casters down to roll and lift the casters to rest on rubber feet.
The Grizzly base cam/pedal lowers the feet to stop movement and lift them to move.

I really don't LOVE either base. All of my other equipment (table saw, work tables, etc ...) are on custom wooden frames with 4" double lock casters. The rear casters on the table saw are spot welded so they can't spin - it makes it easier to control it while moving.

Jim

 

[GeoBruin]

Here's a custom job for my little knee mill. All 1/4" material. No swivel casters, it just "tank turns" but has levelling feet in all 4 corners.

 

[Nutria]

I like having all the machines on mobile bases, my home garage is tight. So I'm really liking these shop fox D2057A mobile bases, well made and easy to set up and adjust. I really like how heavy duty the casters are, I hate cheap casters, would like it better if they were all swivel.

I have my old Unisaw on one of those, and it mostly seems fine (see below). I did upgrade the casters.

I like the shop fox for the adjustability of the screws. My only issue has been that the screws don't back off very high off the ground, so if you have any cracks or thresholds in your shop, you can't roll them easily over. It gets hung up on the levelling foot.

My experience too.

 

[isb cornbinder]

My garage is a 865sf. but I have used up much of the space. I needed to make machines mobile so I could pull a machine out, use it, then push it back, like a drawer. Here are a few examples. The compressor is on a mobile base to make it easier to park in a corner. The last picture is of a set of 2 mobile and adjustable axle stands.
My preferred casters are ALL-GOOD.

 

[senlow]

Most of my machines are stationary, but a couple are mobile.

My Delta Contractors Saw is on an HTC base. It works OK but is a little flimsy and has low quality undersized casters. Also the levers for the floor locks are plastic. Grizzley didn't have cam lever floor locks when I bought my base and I refuse to get down on the ground to use screw locks. I will build my own base for the Unisaw that I'm rebuilding. I'm thinking probably 3" or 4" Blickle ball bearing casters and the locks from a Grizzley base.

My other mobile machine is a swamp cooler that I use on the patio. It's mostly used as an air mover to avoid overheating when I'm in the hot tub in the summer. At my age, I need the therapeutic attributes of hot water but don't want to sweat like a pig. It also gets use as an outdoor swamp cooler when my family hangs out on the patio. Anyway, I fastened 3" Blickle casters directly to the bottom of the cabinet the swamp cooler rests on and have built floor locks from parts off of a Grizzley mobile base. Winter crept up on me too quickly, so I haven't attached the locks to it yet.

Years ago when I had a smaller shop, more of my machines were mobile. I tended to add casters directly to the machine rather than use a mobile base. There were a couple of reasons for this. First, I had more time than money. So, I had to build something and I saw no reason to add more material (read that as cost) to the machine. Second, it looks cleaner when the casters or wheels are integrated into the machine. Yes, I like my machines to look good as well as work well.

 

[gba2331]

I have a bandsaw on a ShopFox base and it works very well but I wish the casters didn’t stick out and trip me up. I don’t have a solution but that is one aspect I don‘t like.