I'm still whittling away at my shop organization problems due to over crowding. Today I finished up changes to my “pup tent” steel storage rack that was badly overloaded and crushed the original casters. The old casters were 5” iron/rubber and rated for only 350lbs working load, the new ones are 8” iron/poly with grease fittings and rated for 750lbs working load each. Inertia is still a major PIA and getting the casters turned the direction needed is still not exactly “easy”, but at least it can be moved again.
Anyway, one persistent problem has always been dealing with stuff like my 20 ton press. There is no good place to leave it permanently, so it gets put in front of less used/moved stuff, like the steel rack. But at some 300 lbs, it’s not exactly easy to move when I have no choice. I’ve also got some lesser weight items like belt sanders and such with similar movement issues.
What I would like is some way to easily/quickly add casters for movement as needed. And with the sander/grinders, that’s pretty frequent since I prefer to do that kind of work outside to avoid the cleanup mess in my shop. BUT, when it’s in use, I would rather have a solid and relatively immobile stand with NO casters.
So, what are my options? This is what I’ve come up with...
1) Removable casters: I’ve seen easy mount casters on some things that rarely need to move. This might be ok for my press, but not ideal since you have to lift the item to insert the casters. Basically you put a vertical tab on one side of the caster mount plate (bolt it to one side of a piece of 4” angle iron). Then you put a sort of receiver on the item that the vertical tab slides up into. Think stake pocket on a truck bed, but upside down.
2) Permanent casters and adjustable feet: Straight forward really. Casters mounted on the item, but feet can be screwed to support weight off the casters and with less chance of the item moving while working. Down side is all the time and fiddling to switch from mobile to stationary.
3) Hybrid system: Fixed wheels on one side, usually the back. Then the front has part time casters. These might be on screws, or foot pedal over-center brackets. I’ve also seen a wheel on a handle so you put it under a receiver tube on the item to be moved, pull down on the handle to lever across the wheel as a fulcrum to get the front legs off the ground, and then lead it around with the handle like a truck towing a fifth wheel or something.
What else have you guys come up with? Are there commercial solutions that don’t cost too much? Particularly with the foot-pedal over-center caster brackets (where you just step on the pedal, which pushes the caster down, lifting the item).
My current thoughts are a hybrid system with fixed wheels on the rear of most all of it. Grinders and press included. Then maybe a step-pedal on the front of the grinders, and maybe the press too. Or the lever-handle fifth wheel rig for the press? But I don’t want to have to fool with that every time I move my grinders out.
Hmmm....
Anyway, one persistent problem has always been dealing with stuff like my 20 ton press. There is no good place to leave it permanently, so it gets put in front of less used/moved stuff, like the steel rack. But at some 300 lbs, it’s not exactly easy to move when I have no choice. I’ve also got some lesser weight items like belt sanders and such with similar movement issues.
What I would like is some way to easily/quickly add casters for movement as needed. And with the sander/grinders, that’s pretty frequent since I prefer to do that kind of work outside to avoid the cleanup mess in my shop. BUT, when it’s in use, I would rather have a solid and relatively immobile stand with NO casters.
So, what are my options? This is what I’ve come up with...
1) Removable casters: I’ve seen easy mount casters on some things that rarely need to move. This might be ok for my press, but not ideal since you have to lift the item to insert the casters. Basically you put a vertical tab on one side of the caster mount plate (bolt it to one side of a piece of 4” angle iron). Then you put a sort of receiver on the item that the vertical tab slides up into. Think stake pocket on a truck bed, but upside down.
2) Permanent casters and adjustable feet: Straight forward really. Casters mounted on the item, but feet can be screwed to support weight off the casters and with less chance of the item moving while working. Down side is all the time and fiddling to switch from mobile to stationary.
3) Hybrid system: Fixed wheels on one side, usually the back. Then the front has part time casters. These might be on screws, or foot pedal over-center brackets. I’ve also seen a wheel on a handle so you put it under a receiver tube on the item to be moved, pull down on the handle to lever across the wheel as a fulcrum to get the front legs off the ground, and then lead it around with the handle like a truck towing a fifth wheel or something.
What else have you guys come up with? Are there commercial solutions that don’t cost too much? Particularly with the foot-pedal over-center caster brackets (where you just step on the pedal, which pushes the caster down, lifting the item).
My current thoughts are a hybrid system with fixed wheels on the rear of most all of it. Grinders and press included. Then maybe a step-pedal on the front of the grinders, and maybe the press too. Or the lever-handle fifth wheel rig for the press? But I don’t want to have to fool with that every time I move my grinders out.
Hmmm....
To use the surface grinder I do have to move it about a foot.
