Shopsmith Forums

One would think that the casters would be an item that you could completely ignore. Well, at least I did or acted like I did. I hardly ever do preventive maintenance on the casters. I just get extremely irritated when I try to relocate one of the tools and they either won't move or go where they want with no concern for what I want.

This morning that happened. I was trying to relocate the pro planer and it just would not go.

Up on two wheels so that I could pull two CASTERS to trouble shoot. There was no trouble shooting involved. The wheels were so jammed up with string, sawdust and whatever that I eventually spent nearly three hours pulling, cleaning and lubricating wheels and springs associated with the casters.

I am pleased with the results. I can now make the items on wheels all do pirouettes around the shop with just one hand. I was flabbergasted at how bad the wheels were. One had a piece of screw that I had cut off embedded in the wheel. When that screw hit the floor the wheel just quit rolling.

Bottom line: Do the mundane job of cleaning your caster wheels and lubricating the casters (a little) now and then. It will greatly reduce the frustration level in the shop.

Oh yea Dusty, the casters on my 510 would just not turn to the direction I wanted to push until I cleaned them too. now even with the under cab the unit just glides.

Just checked out your under cabinet on your Shopsmith and just want to say it looks nice. Did you have plans for it or just design it yourself?

Thanks it was just cut n fit to the underside of an oak shelf. I edge glued oak board to make the shelf and used lags through the 2 holes in the legs. Then hung a box from that.

I just wanted to respond to Dusty's post about the caster problem. I almost tipped the machine over when I went to move it because the casters did not rotate to permit the wheels to roll. I first put the SS on some saw horse to raise the wheels up off the floor. Keep the machine close to one end of the horses.

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Then roll the machine over so it is upside down and resting on the way tubes.
Then it is an easy matter to service all of the components of the caster assemblies and still stay off the floor. After two hip replacements last year laying down on a concrete floor is now problematic.
BY THE WAY, THIS CAN'T BE DONE WITH A LIFT ASSIST ATTACHED!!

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Bill V

Neat trick. Really neat. Now I need to get some saw horses in the shop that I would trust to hold up. I have two new saw horses but they are plastic from Home Depot. I don't know what their load rating is.

Maybe I don't need to worry. I have had two sheets of 1" MDF on them and they survived.

wa2crk wrote:I just wanted to respond to Dusty's post about the caster problem. I almost tipped the machine over when I went to move it because the casters did not rotate to permit the wheels to roll. I first put the SS on some saw horse to raise the wheels up off the floor. Keep the machine close to one end of the horses.

[ATTACH]10526[/ATTACH]

Then roll the machine over so it is upside down and resting on the way tubes.
Then it is an easy matter to service all of the components of the caster assemblies and still stay off the floor. After two hip replacements last year laying down on a concrete floor is now problematic.
BY THE WAY, THIS CAN'T BE DONE WITH A LIFT ASSIST ATTACHED!!

[ATTACH]10527[/ATTACH]
Bill V

Now that's worth the price of admission! I just used this to service the casters and take care of some rust on the legs. Also checked the leg bolts and bottom tube mounting bolts to make sure they were not loose. Great tip.
Thanks,
Mike

dusty wrote:Neat trick. Really neat. Now I need to get some saw horses in the shop that I would trust to hold up. I have two new saw horses but they are plastic from Home Depot. I don't know what their load rating is.

Maybe I don't need to worry. I have had two sheets of 1" MDF on them and they survived.

Gee Whiz Dusty! See what you are 'missing' below!(or have you not added 'rajj21' to your ignore list?).

Well Paul. considering you told me that your wife had died and you only have one son then this is quite amazing! was the spell done to scam innocent women out of thousands of pounds with your sob stories....that would certainly boost your business! I dont know how you sleep at night and Im sure that your wife thinks you are an angel...


Guess who posted that!:rolleyes:

This sawhorse tip is so great it makes me embarrassed that I picked most of mine up physically and laid them down on a big pad and worked on my knees back when I last did them.
Thinking about one with the lift assist, I wonder how it would work if you used ropes suspended (securely) from the ceiling? I'm thinking of someone having the ceiling anchor points about 4' apart both ways. You could pass one end of each under the SS and back up to the ceiling anchor point and have the ropes holding the SS just off of the floor like the sawhorses do then just pivot the SS over upside down with it just slipping in the ropes.
Since I don't have a list assist I probably will not try it since the sawhorse method is so good.
.
I just flashed on an image of a scaled down version of an automotive lift with a Shopsmith up in the air...

Great tip as well as a nice clean garage!