Shopsmith Forums

So I was reading the caster thread and it reminded me about the Rockler catalog I received the other day. I was pleased to see a new item and it was a set of retractable casters for work benches. I may buy a set of these for my expending work table i built a while back ago. I have some home made retractable casters i made but they have proven to be not so durable and i have had to fix the mounting several times. These new Rockler casters would alleviate my work bench issue. I was thinking that these might be retrofit to the SS but after looking more closely at them it would take some considerable modification to the SS to make these work and I don't want to go there. They should work great for my work bench though. Not crazy about the price but they seem to be the best thing out there at the moment.



http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=30842&filter=New%20Products

I got a set for my bench and so far so good. I have a Sjorberg Elite Duo that I picked up super cheap, so thats about 90 lbs unloaded. The casters are rated for 100lbs each, so 400 lbs total, which should be fine once I add a cabinet underneath it plus some tools. The parts are nice quality overall, and the casters are very nice. Having priced casters recently, these ones look to be about 20-30 worth of casters alone if you were to buy them on your own.

One thing to note on my specific bench was that the vertical portion of the legs is inset by about 1/8" from the horizontal foot. Based on where the mounting holes need to go, I ended up needing to put a small shim behind the plate for the top hole. The kit comes with screws that seem to work fine, though it might be worth it to switch to bolts/nuts depending on your scenario. Also, it was easier for me to disassemble the bracket to screw it in without interference. And the instructions are simply a picture showing the height for the holes from the ground.

So far so good. It accomplishes my main issue with other caster systems in that when the wheels are disengaged they are totally out of the equation. I saw some suggestions of locking casters, but for a workbench that you don't want to move when you are pushing against it that just doesn't fly.

Note that, depending on the design and location of your bench, the feet flippers may stick out in an akward way. You might consider mounting them inside the legs rather than outside to avoid that issue.

A little ouchy on the price but very nice looking casters.
I will probably stick to the hinged board with casters approach. Either that or a pair of rigid wheels mounted on the end with the most overhang and a pair of wheel barrow type handles to pull out of the other end to lift it placing the weight on the wheels.
I have a couple of skate-boards that I use for moving some heavy stuff on. They work very well and can be bought at yard sales for a dollar or two.

I really should design and build a new bench but I cobbled this one together many years ago and it is kind of an old friend. OK, not a particularly pretty old friend...


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Also note - I am a little surprised there aren't pre-drilled holes to mount a board across the casters. In thinking about it, I think I will likely mount a board across them so that I can activate both sides at the same time to prevent twisting forces.

I have decided to go a different route for castors. Woodcraft has these 300 pound capacity locking castors on sale.

http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/200198 ... indle.aspx

I have about 30" of 1 1/2" wide X 1/4" thick angle iron on hand. I will cut eight pieces of 3" long angle iron and use two pieces for each castor. One piece will protrude from end of bench and contain a hole for the castor to bolt thru. The other piece will be behind and under the leg adjacent to the iron on the front side. The back, bench leg and front iron piece will all be bolted together and with the castors on sale for $12.95 each I will spend under $50 and have 300 pound per castor weight bearing capacity. I expect that will work well for me. Then like Farmer I will be the only thing in the shop not on wheels. Well okay sometimes I use my tractor seat and am on wheels in the shop. Fjimp

fjimp wrote:I have decided to go a different route for castors. Woodcraft has these 300 pound capacity locking castors on sale.

http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/200198 ... indle.aspx

I have about 30" of 1 1/2" wide X 1/4" thick angle iron on hand. I will cut eight pieces of 3" long angle iron and use two pieces for each castor. One piece will protrude from end of bench and contain a hole for the castor to bolt thru. The other piece will be behind and under the leg adjacent to the iron on the front side. The back, bench leg and front iron piece will all be bolted together and with the castors on sale for $12.95 each I will spend under $50 and have 300 pound per castor weight bearing capacity. I expect that will work well for me. Then like Farmer I will be the only thing in the shop not on wheels. Well okay sometimes I use my tractor seat and am on wheels in the shop. Fjimp

I hope these work out for you. My local woodcract had these on an identical bench to mine and it seemed to wiggle a bit when pushed, even when locked. They may have only used single locking rather than double locking. Either way, I look forward to seeing/hearing how it works.

fjimp wrote:I have decided to go a different route for castors. Woodcraft has these 300 pound capacity locking castors on sale.

http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/2001989/22733/3-Caster-Double-Locking-Swiveling-with-12-Threaded-Spindle.aspx

I have about 30" of 1 1/2" wide X 1/4" thick angle iron on hand. I will cut eight pieces of 3" long angle iron and use two pieces for each castor. One piece will protrude from end of bench and contain a hole for the castor to bolt thru. The other piece will be behind and under the leg adjacent to the iron on the front side. The back, bench leg and front iron piece will all be bolted together and with the castors on sale for $12.95 each I will spend under $50 and have 300 pound per castor weight bearing capacity. I expect that will work well for me. Then like Farmer I will be the only thing in the shop not on wheels. Well okay sometimes I use my tractor seat and am on wheels in the shop. Fjimp

If I were going to use two angle iron for each castor, I would position them like a "T" with the common side horizontal(with the caster mounting hole) and the vertical sides extending both above and below the horizontal sides. That allows twice as many mounting bolts spread over a larger area. Washers(or a plate) could be used on the back side of the leg.

Fodder for de noggin!;)

I have castors on almost all of my things and have purchased huge ones with the best quality off of ebay personally. They are durable, can hold great deals of weight and are better than any I have purchased in the local stores which cannot hold up at all, not to mention they were much more reasonably priced.

hahahahaaaaaaaa----

I have a set of theses casters and they work great. I also have a 55" Sjobergs 1600 model bench and fully loaded it lefts and moves the bench with no problems. They must be popular because when I bought them they were $75 plus I used a 20% off coupon. Now I think they are $80.

Just picked up a second set as a customer return of really cheap, now I have to figure out where I going to use them.