making a Table Saw stand mobile

[skiskool]

Hi,

I've just bought my first ever table saw, a Makita MLT100, and have made a quick stand for it out of some 8x2's and 4x2's. It's ready to be mounted onto the stand, but it occurred to me as I was trying to man handle the saw out of its box that it would be a right pig to try shifting this around once the two where fixed together. So I wondered if anyone has any suggestions on how to add some wheels to the frame that can be temporarily brought into play to move the saw around the workshop? The floor is a horrible tamped concrete surface with some quite large ruts that probably mean I'll have to use wheels 100mm in diameter or larger, to reduce the effort in rolling it around.

Here's a picture of the stand that I've made - I've got a picture in my mind of some kind of wheelbarrow-esque thing that can be tipped up and rolled from one end.

Anyone already got a great solution to this?

Thanks
Ste

 

[Steve Maskery]

If it were me, I'd hinge a 4 x 1.5 across the bottom of the back feet. Mount the wheels onto this and then you can lift the unit swing the wheels into play underneath and then wheel it about to you heart's content. When you have it where you want it, lift it up again. flip the wheel out of the way and the unit is once more set sturdily on itss 4 legs.

S

 

[dickm]

Even simpler is to mount two wheels permanently in contact with the floor and either extend the frame at the other end, or put some sort of pads for that end to rest on to level everything. Then you just have to lift the wheel-less end, and it turns into a two-wheeled wheelbarrow . You could even put a pair of wheelbarrow handles on it to avoid any temptation to lift it by the saw table.
My Lurem is mounted like this, and it works fine.

 

[thecoder]

Or buy some quality locking castors and put on each leg ...and your laughing Works for me :wink:

regards

Dave

 

[Steve Maskery]

If you want to pursue the wheelbarrow approach, and I agree it is a perfectly reasonable one, then the key to success is the placement of the wheels
The should clear the floor, but by the smallest amount possible. 1-3mm. They should be mounted outboard, well behind the back legs.
As soon as you raise the front, the wheels engage with the floor and the unit is mobile. When at rest, the wheels clear the floor and the unit rests on four firm legs.

S

 

[Dibs-h]

Why not level the floor with either osb\ply or self levelling compound? You'd need smaller wheels then.

Dibs

 

[Digit]

Leveling compound is even easier Dibs.

Roy.

 

[SammyQ]

Just make sure it's "levelling" and not "self-smoothing"...DAMHIKT......

 

[dickm]

w.r.t wheelbarrows, I bow to Steve's greater experience, but have not had any probs with the Lurem having its two (fixed) wheels on the floor. All the stresses are at right angles to the wheel axles, and they are pretty rigid anyway. Like others, my shop floor is not that smooth, so getting precise "just clear" might be tricky.

 

[Hudson Carpentry]

If you want to pursue the wheelbarrow approach, and I agree it is a perfectly reasonable one, then the key to success is the placement of the wheels
The should clear the floor, but by the smallest amount possible. 1-3mm. They should be mounted outboard, well behind the back legs.
As soon as you raise the front, the wheels engage with the floor and the unit is mobile. When at rest, the wheels clear the floor and the unit rests on four firm legs.

S

I also would have suggested this method. My first stand was a B&D workmate with the legs cut down. It was more for taking the TS on site as the fold away is very handy.

 

[Mark A]

My table saw stand has 4 swivelling locking casters, which I shim level to compensate for the rotten floor of my shed :roll: Having 4 casters is better for me as I don't have hardly any room to move in there, so it's more like a shopping trolley than those awkward board carriers in Wickes!