Casters and leveling feet

[Bellaireroad]

Hello, I’m looking for ideas on casters and leveling feet for a welding table. The table weighs about 1800 pounds and is 6x3. Open to any suggestions, like caster size, size of leveling bolts and footers, etc. Pictures would be great if you have some. Thanks






Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[racingtadpole]

Mine is similar in dimension and mass, I used 6” urethane tyre castors and made my own levelling feet from 1” UNC 8”long flange studs that have a plate welded on the end and a hockey puck on the plate

 

[Bellaireroad]

Thanks


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[fnieto]

Is this table gonna be rolled often? I think you could get away with 4" casters but you'll need to beef up the angle frame.
I just recently added casters to my plate roller (2 weeks ago) and used 5" swivel casters (no leveling feet). Used the same design on a mill (with leveling feet). The machines roll with moderate effort and are close to the floor.https://www.jwwinco.com/en-us/produ...velling-feet-lifting-gear-and-rubber-elements

 

[jamscal]

Nice overkill leveling feet:

https://www.mcmaster.com/#catalog/123/1428/=19tvf5l

For my welding tables (and a bunch of other stuff) I make sure there is a stout lower frame and pick them up and move with a pallet jack.

Pallet Jack is cheap, can stay/stow under table, easily moves table and other stuff, etc...

 

[Bellaireroad]

Is this table gonna be rolled often? I think you could get away with 4" casters but you'll need to beef up the angle frame.
I just recently added casters to my plate roller (2 weeks ago) and used 5" swivel casters (no leveling feet). Used the same design on a mill (with leveling feet). The machines roll with moderate effort and are close to the floor.https://www.jwwinco.com/en-us/produ...velling-feet-lifting-gear-and-rubber-elements

Super nice looking welds!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[ford33]

How about casters with a locking swivel in place of the leveling feet. If you floor is fairly level and the table top stout enough not to bend do you needed leveling feet?

I have used home depots 4" locking swivel caster provided by everbilt. But that table weighs a lot more than my woodworking bench's.

 

[Bellaireroad]

I discovered these today.

Had never seen them before.

Northern tools.

Had them up to nine inches high.

I’m going to check those out... very reasonable price and weight rating looks great


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Bellaireroad]

How about casters with a locking swivel in place of the leveling feet. If you floor is fairly level and the table top stout enough not to bend do you needed leveling feet?

I have used home depots 4" locking swivel caster provided by everbilt. But that table weighs a lot more than my woodworking bench's.

It’s in the garage...floor drops 1/8 per foot... so one side will be 3/4 lower than the other


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[larry_g]

I’m going to check those out... very reasonable price and weight rating looks great


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Understand that those are Floor Locks. Intended to keep a table on wheels from rolling, like a parking brake. They are not for lifting or leveling as they are spring loaded.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[matt_i]

Wow is that an Acorn Platen? I always wanted one and came close. I think Acorn is out of business now...

 

[Bellaireroad]

Wow is that an Acorn Platen? I always wanted one and came close. I think Acorn is out of business now...

I don't think it is an Acorn, no maker's marks. It is old though, and heavy. 3.5 inches in the center, with a 6 inch beam on the sides. Yes, Acorn is out of business, AFAIK, weldsale is the place to go for new ones

 

[Bellaireroad]

Understand that those are Floor Locks. Intended to keep a table on wheels from rolling, like a parking brake. They are not for lifting or leveling as they are spring loaded.

lg
no neat sig line

thanks, I realized that after I went to Northern Tool website

 

[racingtadpole]

Here's what mine looked like during mock up..

 

[skrap metal]

cool

 

[bradpac]

I've been dreaming up a setup kind of like a rolling ladder where you step on a pedal to lower wheels down and kick them up onto leveling feet. Haven't come up with a design yet. To be able to lift the weight of a table especially loaded, you would need some kind of lever action of gear reduction. Anyone have a design like that illustrated somewhere?

 

[rmack898]

Here is what I came up with for my plasma table build. The table is 5'x10' and weighs about 1500#s. I used a 500# caster on a hinged plate that gets lowered with a simple cam and lever. It lifts the table about 3/4" off its feet and I can easily move it around the shop by myself.

 

[kkroger]

Nice overkill leveling feet:

https://www.mcmaster.com/#catalog/123/1428/=19tvf5l

For my welding tables (and a bunch of other stuff) I make sure there is a stout lower frame and pick them up and move with a pallet jack.

Pallet Jack is cheap, can stay/stow under table, easily moves table and other stuff, etc...

That ain't overkill
https://www.mcmaster.com/#leveling-casters/=1ah1vy2

 

[larry4406]

Here is what I came up with for my plasma table build. The table is 5'x10' and weighs about 1500#s. I used a 500# caster on a hinged plate that gets lowered with a simple cam and lever. It lifts the table about 3/4" off its feet and I can easily move it around the shop by myself.

Very clever! What locks the cam lever in the horizontal (wheel lowered) position? Is the cam over it's nose so its on the downhill side of the cam ramp? How did you make the cam? Any construction photos?

 

[rmack898]

How did you make the cam? Any construction photos?

Look at post 27 of this thread https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=373687&page=2

 

[JamesW]

What keeps the cam from simply rotating back? From the photo angle it looks like it is parallel with the cam axle

 

[larry4406]

What keeps the cam from simply rotating back? From the photo angle it looks like it is parallel with the cam axle

That's what confuses me. It would have to go over center (downhill side of cam nose) so gravity pushes the wheel up while the handle then hits a stop somewhere.

 

[bradpac]

That's exactly what I was thinking of building. Over center the cam just a little bit will hold really good and just takes a bump on the lever to get it back. I may copy this design, but change the lever system a bit and put a bar that links two wheels on either side of the table.

Here is what I came up with for my plasma table build. The table is 5'x10' and weighs about 1500#s. I used a 500# caster on a hinged plate that gets lowered with a simple cam and lever. It lifts the table about 3/4" off its feet and I can easily move it around the shop by myself.

 

[rmack898]

That's exactly what I was thinking of building. Over center the cam just a little bit will hold really good and just takes a bump on the lever to get it back. I may copy this design, but change the lever system a bit and put a bar that links two wheels on either side of the table.

That's exactly how it works. On the first prototype I built I welded a piece of 1/4" round stock on the plate that the caster is bolted to stop the cam at a point just past over center. In actual application I found that the cam stop was not really needed as the weight or the table holds the cam in the just over center position just fine without the need for a stop. I can step on the lever and raise the table with little effort and when I want to retract the caster, I just put the toe of my boot under the lever and lift it up. I'm old and fat and hate bending over and this world for me.

 

[rmack898]

By the way, the cams are aluminum. I had a piece of 2-1/2" round stock and just sliced off 1" pieces in the band saw. I drilled the hole for the pivot shaft and then drilled an pinned the cam to the shaft. I used what I had in my scrap bin, your bin may better materials to work with.

 

[scarney1988]

You guys think I could use the threaded leveling feet from McMaster-Carr on the end of a 4x4 using these to attach them?

I want to make a workbench out of wood and want to incorporate the ability to level it.

Thanks in advance and apologize for any hijacking that might ensue.

 

[lis2323]

I discovered these today.

Had never seen them before.

Northern tools.

Had them up to nine inches high.

I bought those on sale at Princess Auto (in Canada). $12 each but had to mod them to make them adjustable for my 4x8 weld table. Easy to level now.






My 8'x2' weld table is 2200 pounds and I use a forklift or pallet jack to move.

 

[Bellaireroad]

o
Here’s what I came up with. Just got to get them welded on now


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Farrier]

Here's what mine looked like during mock up..

Good idea. If ya moved the leveler 90 degrees of the wheel, there would be nothing to trip on. I like how the wheel is tubbed into the post. Looks cool.

 

[catalytic]

Call EZ-Roll Caster. I have bought from them a few times and they are great to deal with.

You want:
2 Double Locking (Swivel locking) casters in steel or poly-on-steel (hitting the brake locks both the wheel and the swivel)
2 rigid casters with brakes

I got 1250 lb capacity EACH for like $13/caster.


I called like 20 caster companies and distributors when I needed a set for a 1000lb band saw. They were by far the cheapest. Casters held up fine (that was nearly 10 years ago), although if you have a lot of rust problems, then you may want to step up to the USA-made (10-15x cost) ones.

Don't make the mistake I did on the first base I built and spec the casters for 1/4 of the weight of the machine like they tell you to do -- ended up with a wobbly frightening base. Now any caster can take the whole machine, and it's a lot more stable!

I didn't bother with leveling at all -- when your machine weighs 1000lbs and the casters are on plates that are sticking out from the machine, the plate will flex the 1/8" or whatever you need to make them all level (my plates are 5/8" thick medium steel 8" wide stock, attached with 7/16" pieces of 4x4 angle iron I think -- still get that 1/8" flex no problem when you lower the machine onto the base). No need for complicated designs. The double-locking brakes lock things down great. If I'm fine with putting my fingers next to a saw blade when the saw is on double-locked casters, your table will be plenty steady too.

Last thing -- make sure that when the swiveling ones swivel underneath the machine, the footprint is still wide enough so things don't get tipsy. I see too many 'first time' mobile bases where no one thought about that, and things are only stable with the swiveling casters swiveled in one direction -- not good!