Mobile Machine Bases??

[Michel]

Hello,

Just wondered if anybody used mobile machine bases, and if so what they are like, or what you would recommend for a table saw and bandsaw (TS2500 & BS350). My floor is concrete and a bit rough.

Regards

Michel

Thank you for the info already received from Gidon, Pitbull, Gary and Taffy Turner

 

[Philly]

Michel,
I have a HTC2000 on my Jet surface planer- not too bad, although the base does flex a bit. Mobile though, and thats what your after. Recently bought a Jet mobile base. Now that is nice, really heavy duty and childs play to put together. Got it from Axminster.
hope this helps
Philly

 

[johnelliott]

My solution to that problem was to cover my concrete floor in 8x2 of T&G moisture resistant chipboard form Wickes at a fiver each, and simply slide my machines, works great and is easier on the feet and the fuel bills
John

 

[OLD]

I took previous advice and covered the concrete floor and its the answer.
I make mobile bases with four castoring castors (small workshop)from draper with a lock and brake so no movement . I use ribs under the plywood you can design the layout to take account of tilting tables on p/t and extra table support on table saw ,sawdust extraction, motor ventilation etc.

 

[Anonymous]

Old,

Could you be more specific about your homemade mobile bases. Do you have the machine on castors all the time and use the castor brakes to stop it from moving around? I've wondered if this would work OK or if there would be too much wobble or movement.

When you say you use ribs under the ply what do you mean exactly?

Wulf

 

[DaveL]

Michel

Do you buy Good Woodworking? If you have #147 there is a design for a mobile base that Ian Dalziel (member of the forum) made. He has a Delta DC-380 thicknesser mounted on it, ~400lb.
I have not made one yet but the issue is book marked for when I next need a mobile base.

 

[OLD]

Wulfric
The m/c is on castors all the time the castors i use has a brake to stop the wheel and two lugs engage in a toothed plate to stop the castor rotating on its pivot.If the castors are fitted to a board deck its not stiff enough so i glue and screw timber strips to take the load and keep deck stiff simple cross halving joints. It designs its self as you layout on the timber or you can stiffen the perimeter as in Dave L post custom make for each application quick and low cost.

 

[devonwoody]

A cheap and cheerful method I use on one of my setups (router stand and table) is to lay a broomstick on the floor (the stand was fitted with a bottom rail) tilt the stand on to the broomstick and roll in to the desired position.

Dont let the wife catch you though :evil:

 

[DaveL]

.....lay a broomstick on the floor......
Dont let the wife catch you though :evil:

You should get your own broomstick, stopping your wife going out is breaking all of the rules. :wink:

 

[Woodythepecker]

Michel, Another way to obtain a smooth floor is to try "Comfoot High Build Epoxicote" www.comfoot.com/industrail2.html
This is a epoxy resin sealer which when applied leaves a smooth, thick, solvent free coating. It is so thick that it will cover your rough concrete. It comes in a number of colours, and they also do a slip resistant aggregant version.
As you will see it is the sort of thing that is used in factories, MOT stations and quick fit exhaust centers. It will withstand industrial use and is chemical and abrasion resistance.
It costs around £60 plus vat for 4 1/2 litres which will cover 30m2.

I do not know how much you want to spend on your mobile machine bases but you might want to ask Scheppach (NMA agencies) to see if they do one for your TS2500, i know that they do one for the TS4010.

Hope this helps.

Regards

Woody

 

[Michel]

Hello Woody,

my TS2500 already has a standard wheel set, but unfortunately it is not very good, the one on the TS4010 looks much better though. I don't think it is compatible with the TS2500 though.

Regards

Michel

 

[gidon]

Michel,

Got the Axminster base assembled. In a nutshell it's a pile of junk: and if I hadn't spent 3 hours (I did have to glue some 1" Ash together to get the required 1.5") putting it together I would send it back. I've heard good reports of it on this newsgroup but none of my brackets were quite square in either axis, it was missing 2 nuts, and the pictures in the instructions are unbelievable. I almost took a hammer to the foot pedal because I couldn't work out how it fitted together (luckily I eventually worked it out).

When I did get it all assembled I got some help getting the bandsaw (BS350) on the base. Then realised on applying the foot pedal that instead of raising the base off the ground, the front "bar" just flexed towards to bandsaw! I eventually put the adjustable feet (which only allow about 5 mm of adjustment!) to their zero position which allowed the bandsaw to just clear the ground and be wheeled. I have a very uneven floor and it's hard work to pull it around - but still easier than it was before!

I guess now it's assembled it just about does the job, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I bought my HTC2000 (which sits under the table saw) for only about £10 more and it's far better (with 30 mins assembly time), although the wheels are a little small for an uneven floor. I think if I sorted my floor out it would help ...

You may have more luck with the Axminster version, but I'm going off them at the minute. All 3 items I bought from them in that delivery were of a low standard.

Cheers,

Gidon (sounding a little grumpy )

 

[Chris Knight]

Gidon,
I had the same experience with their latest bases. The earlier ones were fine as they were well made of heavier stock. I emailed Alan/Ian Styles and had a nice letter back from Ian Styels but I had hoped they would improve the base - evidently not.

I quote my letter and the replies below

My letter

I recently bought from you a mobile base (Axminster Castor Frame with Foot Lift – Part Code MMBWFL) and I am very disappointed with its quality as I explain below.



I bought a similar base from you some two years ago and was very pleased. It went together easily, taking not much more than a half hour once I had cut the wood stretchers to size. It has served me well since, allowing me to move a quite heavy planer around my workshop with ease. The latest one took over three hours to assemble and to get it working and it is still not performing as well as the older one.



The reasons for this difference are as follows:-



1) Numerous dimensional inaccuracies in the fabrication - probably caused by sloppy manufacture rather than inherent design flaws. For example,

a. In the corner pieces, the square holes to capture the neck of the coach bolts were not aligned with their round counterparts on the opposite side of the folded channel section. I had to file at least half of these square holes to enlarge the hole in the required direction so as to allow the bolt to pass through. I suspect this is because the bending of the sheet metal was done poorly rather than the holes being misplaced at the punching stage, since some hole pairs were correctly positioned.

b. The foot lift cam does not depress the galvanised castor plate far enough (more of this later). Either the holes are punched wrongly in the flat plate before it was bent or more likely in view of (a) above, the bending operation was badly done.

2) The material of the sheet metal used in the product has been reduced in thickness from 3.2mm on the older model (as measured with a digital caliper) to 2.9 mm in the present model. This caused a major problem.

a. When depressing the foot lift cam, the flimsy metal of the coner elements allowed the wooden rail to which the foot lift and the adjacent corner pieces were attached, to rotate backwards so that instead of fully raising the machine the castor simply tilted backwards to a degree. This left the castor axle out of vertical with the result that it would not castor properly.

I dealt with this by:-

i. Wedging the wooden rail tightly against the base of my machine so that it could not rotate.

ii. and I dealt with problem 1(b) by:-
inserting a 3.2 mm sheet of metal between the foot lift cam and the galvanised sole plate



After having overcome these problems I got the mobile base to work more or less as intended. However as you may imagine I was not best pleased with the time spent on the exercise – nor the fact that the only suitable 3.2mm plate I had for operation 2a. ii was a piece of precision ground flat stock that cost £5 at least!



I have been a customer of yours for quite a few years now and I have spent several thousands of pounds with you through mail order and your exhibitions. I think you do a very good job on the whole and I am rarely disappointed. However I do worry that this case is a manifestation of a desire to move your offerings downmarket to the extent that you compromise what I found attractive about you in the first place. I can buy shoddy goods at any DIY place – indeed that is about all I can buy at these places. I should really hate it if you go the way of the rest. I have spent a lifetime in business and I know how hard it can be to make money and just how easy it is to spend reputation to make up the quarterly figures – the trouble is that it is a one way street or at least the return fare is ten times the outward journey!



I am not seeking to return this purchase having now invested so much time and trouble in it but I should be grateful for a reply to my observations and concerns.



Yours faithfully,

CJ Knight.

Their replies


Dear Mr Knight

Thank you for this email regarding our castor frame systems. I'm afraid we had to change manufacturers of these around 18 months ago as the original manufacturer stopped producing them. I'm afraid the new manufacturer is not quite the same quality as you've found but as yet its the only alternative available. I have passed your comments on to purchasing. Please accept my apologies for any inconvenience this has caused.

Kind regards

Alan Styles


Axminster Power Tool Centre Ltd
Unit 10 Weycroft Avenue, Axminster, Devon EX13 5HU
Telephone 0800 371822 Facsimile 01297 35242
http://www.axminster.co.uk
Dear Mr Knight

Thank you indeed for the detailed email regarding the castor frame and I
was very surprised to hear of the problems you have encountered as this
is the very first time that we have had a problem having sold now well
over 2000 of these units.

Your observations indeed give me the ammunition needed to challenge our
supplier as cost has obviously been drawn out of the unit with a dip in
quality which is unacceptable.

May I suggest that should there be anything you require in the next few
months that you mail me personally and I shall see if we can offer some
additional discount as a suitable means of compensation.

With my sincere apologies for the inconvenience this matter has caused
and thanks for taking the time to explain the problems that you have
encountered.

Yours Sincerely

Ian Styles
Managing Director

 

[Michel]

Gidon,

I will stay clear of that one, I'm not sure i would of been as patient as you.

Tempted with the Rutlands one, but a bit concerned about their reputation etc.

Thank you for the info.

Regards

Michel

 

[gidon]

Chris,

I should have done some more research - I've just found an earlier post from you mentioning some difficulties with the new Axminster bases.

Excellent letter to Axminster - I'm glad I'm not alone. I'll try and send them a note too when I get a chance. I assumed this base was the same as the Delta one sold in the states but is appears not since that one gets mainly good reviews.

I might try inserting a wedge between the base and bandsaw - that may help with the clearance.

Thanks again for that.

Cheers,

Gidon

 

[Michel]

This base looks okay: -

http://www.northerntooluk.com/product/search.asp?k=&i=188901e&action=search&x=3&y=4

Regards

Michel

 

[Michel]

Hello,

Just a thought :idea:

After searching high and low for a mobile machine base, I have noticed that a lot of the bases are shown with a pillar drill on them. I always thought that a pillar drill should be bolted to the floor. :?

Is this right or can you attach/bolt one to a mobile base with ply attached :?:

If this is safe I might consider this as well.

Regards

Michel

 

[Adam]

This base looks okay: -

http://www.northerntooluk.com/product/search.asp?k=&i=188901e&action=search&x=3&y=4

Regards

Michel

That looks suspiciously like a Dakota DKL36 base - also available from Rutlands. I have my Scheppach P/T on this - and it works well - basically each side of the base has two bars, which you bolt together a set distance apart to enclose your item. Ths P/T is just smaller than the minimum distance, meaning you can eliminate one bar altogether on each side and it bolts together really rigidly. The wheels are quite small though, so you need a resonable smooth workshop floor!

Adam

 

[Michel]

Hello,

Just a quick update, i decided on the JET Heavy duty machine base. However I ordered the wrong one :x . So it is too big for my BS350 bandsaw, so i have fitted it to my TS2500 and although my floor is not completely smooth it works a treat (much better than the wheel set supplied with the saw).

Unfortunately I haven't been able to assemble the bandsaw yet because of other commitments and it ways a ton!!! So i need a hand to lift it onto the stand. So as soon as i have time and one of my mates is free to help i will be up and running .

Regards

Michel