Mobile Workbench

[JPG]

If you have as much weight on them as you say I don't think they would flip unless you were going super fast and it would take more than a cord to do it. I have a welding table that has a 1 inch thick steel top on it and is 3 foot by 8 foot long and I have it on 5 inch casters. It will rol over so big thing and you don't even know you hit them

I bet the 'big thing' knows!:D

[rlkeeney]

If you have as much weight on them as you say I don't think they would flip unless you were going super fast and it would take more than a cord to do it.

The weight is just an educated guess. I have four inch wheels on the ends of the legs now. It doesn't seem to have much trouble rolling over things. Even the rocks in my driveway just make it shake around and a little more difficult to steer. Five inch wheels would be even better.

[sawmill]

I bet the 'big thing' knows!:D

Just ask the gun end of my wire welder cable. That was an expensive opps:mad:

[rlkeeney]

I picked up some hinges at the Big Orange Box this morning. I'm going to try out the wheel flipping idea with a latch of some sort just in case.

They didn't give any details in the blog posting about how the wheels got flipped over while moving. I'm thinking they might have been lifting on the end of the bench a bit or were using it on a very light bench.

If it's to heavy I'll try something else. Probably the heavy duty levelers.

[rlkeeney]

Found it! I didn't think of using one of these. I was thinking more along the lines of a hook and eye or a latch bolt. I like this much better. Back to the store for more hardware.

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If you watch the video in the blog you will see they test it by pushing it up onto what looks like a harbor freight mat. With little cheap casters they appear to be using I can see the wheels flipping back when they hit this. I'm using ball bearing 4 inch double locking casters. They would probably just roll right over it. I'll find out. I have those mats in the garage.

[JPG]

To minimize the 'camming' out of the caster board, make sure there is significant horizontal separation between the caster axle and the board hinge pin.

If using swivel casters, the relevant axle position is when that separation is the least. That would imply when the bench is being moved away from the end(pushed from that end), then guess what, the board pivots that direction also.

An old timey window sash cam lock would also work. Well a newer one would also work if strong enough!

[rlkeeney]

I have the flip boards installed with no latches. The wheels I was using will not work for this. They are to large and could not be easily flipped without being able to see them. I would have to get down on the floor line them up lock the brake so they would not turn then get up, lift the end of the table and flip the casters. This might be workable, However, the wheels already had dents in them. I suspect they would have some serious flat spots if they were allowed to sit very long with 500lb on them. They are also the stem style and were already starting to work loose. I mangled a 2x4 trying to come up with good way to mount them. I gave up when I discovered that I could not get a socket into the hole I had drilled with my largest wood bit. These casters were bought for something else and had not been installed yet so not loss.

The casters I used are some I removed from a tool I bought that did not roll good. They are almost identical to the ones used in the Popular Woodworking blog posting. I think they are a little smaller. It worked like a charm. Lift the end of the bench and they practically flip under the bench by themselves. Getting them to flip the other way was a bit more difficult but not much. I got a bit of practice because it would flip back everytime It hit a bump or gap in the concrete. Part of the problem is the casters. There are no bearings except in the swivel. The wheel turn great with no weight on them but a 150lbs of bench is to much for them. Oh well, it was just a test to see how it worked.

I think I'm going to get some cast iron plate mounted casters for this project.

I'm beginning to think I might be better off with a harbor freight tool chest with a bench top mounted on it. It wouldn't be as much fun. But it would work.

[sawmill]

Mine are commerical cast aluminum ones and they have a rubber or plastic face about 3/8 inch thick on the face of the wheel. I used 4 that would turn and the piviot point also has bearings in it. They are fastened on with 3/8 inch bolts and do not have locks on them. Something you may want to try is the ones they use on the gurneys in the hospital. With the ones you are trying to make you will have to lift half the weight of the bench every time you want to put them down or up

[rlkeeney]

With the ones you are trying to make you will have to lift half the weight of the bench every time you want to put them down or up.

Yes, this is a problem. Once it is fully loaded I may not be able to lift it. Since the bench does not need to be moved every day I plan on using a jack to lift the bench.

The advantage of this system is that it is very inexpensive and easy to do. My favorite is the floor jack would require me to come up with my own design to modify the bench base. It also costs about 6 to 8 times as much.

The levelers cost about 2 times as much as the flip up casters and require some simple modification of the bench.

My plan is to try the lowest cost/easiest method first and stop when I get to one that works.

[skou]

OK, from what I've seen here, a set of Shopsmith casters would work If you have straight legs, a pair of 10ER casters would work. If you can get the legs at an angle. similar to the MkV legs, MkV casters would suffice.

I don't know about the weight limit on the MkV casters, but the ER casters will be just fine.

steve