Page 1 of 2

Caster replacement solution???

Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 9:54 am
by tonybal
I have never been happy with the crappy casters on the base of my SS. Two of them broke while wheeling it out in front of my garage yesterday. :mad:
[ATTACH]13351[/ATTACH]
Maybe there is a better solution, but this is what I came up with using stuff that I already had. [ATTACH]13347[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]13348[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]13349[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]13350[/ATTACH]
They are much more heavy duty then the old ones. The two on the right do not swivel or lock. The two on the left fully swivel & lock. That just happends to be what I had lying around for some reason. I may have to come up with some type of wheel chocking system if it wants to move around but so far so good. The other benefit is that it is 5 inches taller. When you are 6'3" tall that helps.:D

Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 11:46 am
by terrydowning
All that matters is that you are happy with it and it works safely. I do notice that it stays on the wheels. Is there a way of locking the wheels so it doesn't roll while in use? That can be very unnerving.

Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 12:19 pm
by damagi
terrydowning wrote:All that matters is that you are happy with it and it works safely. I do notice that it stays on the wheels. Is there a way of locking the wheels so it doesn't roll while in use? That can be very unnerving.
I agree - you really need a way to prevent it from moving when you don't want it to. I have forgotten to drop the wheels a few times during both lathe and saw operations...not good at all.

Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 12:55 pm
by tonybal
damagi wrote:I agree - you really need a way to prevent it from moving when you don't want it to. I have forgotten to drop the wheels a few times during both lathe and saw operations...not good at all.
You guys are right. I may have to change to all locking casters. Even then there might be some slight movement. Nothing is as stable as the legs resting on the concrete. Maybe something that flips down & takes the casters off the ground might work. Any ideas???:confused:

Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 1:30 pm
by JPG
Make the base wider so the casters are outside the leg ends when in rolling position. Pivot the upright portion from the upper caster mounting holes.(this places the weight ''over the center" so to speak)

That would require larger 'boards' and lifting ss onto it when 'deploying', but that should be easy for one who is 75" tall!:D

When 'not deployed' they would however be toe stubbers for anyone with size 12 or larger footsies.:p

Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 2:29 pm
by SDSSmith
tonybal wrote:You guys are right. I may have to change to all locking casters. Even then there might be some slight movement. Nothing is as stable as the legs resting on the concrete. Maybe something that flips down & takes the casters off the ground might work. Any ideas???:confused:
One of our members offered this fine solution. I found this using the search function and 'caster rebuild' as the search term. There is probably more but this is one good solution.

Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 4:44 pm
by Ron309753
tonybal wrote:You guys are right. I may have to change to all locking casters. Even then there might be some slight movement. Nothing is as stable as the legs resting on the concrete. Maybe something that flips down & takes the casters off the ground might work. Any ideas???:confused:

Here are a couple of ideas from the beautiful mind of Nick Engler:

http://www.nickengler.com/Forum/vanilla ... e=1#Item_8

http://www.nickengler.com/Forum/vanilla ... e=1#Item_2

Sincerely,

Ron309753

Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 4:56 pm
by ldh
These work well for me.
ldh

[ATTACH]13354[/ATTACH]

Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 5:46 pm
by JPG
ldh wrote:These work well for me.
ldh

[ATTACH]13354[/ATTACH]
And there are those 'mysterious' 'runny rust stains' again!:confused::confused::confused:

Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 6:43 pm
by robinson46176
Some of the old caster sets were steel wheels...


.