Poor Man's Mobile Bench Base

Vaughn McMillan

Administrator
Staff member
Messages
36,054
Location
ABQ NM
I've got a big hand-me-down bench that's handy as a large horizontal surface, but its large size limits where I can put it in the shop. There have been a number of times I wished I could move it, even temporarily, to make room for one thing or another. Now that I have hard surfaced floors, I'm on a mission to make a lot of my tools movable. The bench was next.

I picked up a batch of cast iron casters with rubber tires on sale at Harbor Freight a few weeks ago. They're rated at 300 pounds each, so I figured four of them would handle anything I might load on the bench. Putting the casters on was no problem, but I wanted a way to put the bench down on its original feet when I'm not moving it. I saw something similar a few years ago on one of the woodworking forums, so this is an adaptation of someone else's idea.

My "mobile base" consists of a scrap 4x4 stringer bolted to the inside of the bench legs. Attached to that with a pair of door hinges is a scrap 2x4, and mounted to that are the casters. When the wheels are in the "down" position, the legs are about 1/2" off the ground. These pics show one end of the bench. The other end is the same.

Bench Wheels - 01 800.jpg

Here's a shot from the inside. The hook and eye screw prevent the hinged portion from folding when moving the bench and dropping the bench back down on the legs. DAMHIKT. The big empty eye screw will be explained in the next pic.

Bench Wheels - 02 800.jpg

To switch from "mobile" to "fixed", I hook a bungee cord to the large eye screw on the hinged 2x4, wrap it under the contraption and hook it to a hole in the table apron.

Bench Wheels - 03 800.jpg

I don't have a sophisticated lift system, but the ol' Handyman jack does the trick.

Bench Wheels - 04 800.jpg

Once it gets high enough (about 2 clicks of the jack), the wheels swing around, and the bench is ready to be set back down on its feet. (Sorry for the poor focus...I was holding the jack with one hand, and shooting without a flash with the other.)

Bench Wheels - 05 800.jpg

Back down on terra firma, it's as if the wheels were not there at all. (Except the stringer adds some rigidity to the bench that wasn't there before.)

Bench Wheels - 06 800.jpg

And another inside shot, showing the feet are indeed all the way to the floor. No tricks or mirrors.

Bench Wheels - 07 800.jpg

The bungee is not quite tight enough to keep the wheels up firmly, so I use the hook latch to add a little tension to things.

Bench Wheels - 08 800.jpg

The bench goes back on the wheels by reversing this process. I just unhook the bungee and wrap it the opposite direction around the hinged part, jack it up a couple clicks, and the wheels go into place, although they don't snap into position the way I'd like them to. My goal is to make it so that I can simply lift the end of the bench (without the jack) for a a second and have the wheels snap either up or down, depending on the bungee orientation. I plan to play around with the placement of the bungee cord to see if a different angle (farther under the table) might work better. Still, even as it is, it solves the mobilization problem for me, despite the rather jury-rigged appearance.

:wave:
 
Cool Vaughn, I've thought of the idea many times but never figured out how to attach underneath the legs -- never thought of attaching to a stretcher !! :huh: :eek:

I'm usually great on ideas -- good on design, but very much lack in simplicity (guess that's the engineer in me -- build them to last forever and withstand anything).

Thanks for posting -- I feel added mobility coming on :thumb::thumb:

Tony.
 
...Thanks for posting -- I feel added mobility coming on :thumb::thumb:

Tony.
I happened across this article tonight while looking for something else. It's a similar idea, but a bit more refined. (Although my version is bearing the weight more directly on the wood, and not on the hinges. My bench is real heavy when loaded, so I wanted some beef supporting the casters.) And from this article I see Nahm has done other versions of the same idea. Just thought the more variations you see, the more likely the engineer in you could come up with something you'll like. ;)
 
Vaughn, Well Done:thumb: I saw something simialr for a mobile TS bench, but then I figured out how to use my lathe...not sure I will ever make it now.:D
 
Cool. Nawmy did something similar on one of the NYW episodes years ago. I've also seen somewhere a trick of putting only 2 casters on one end and have them not touch until the table/bench is picked up a bit on the other end. The other end was then hiked up with a wheeled Johnson bar setup (somewhat like the Minimax bar).
 
Good work

Vaughn, that mobile base should withstand anything but a direct bomb hit.:thumb:

Norm, a few brads, Abram would be proud.;)

Is it safe to say that the 4x4 was something that was just laying around?:huh:
 
...Is it safe to say that the 4x4 was something that was just laying around?:huh:

Yep, it was scrap left over from a project several years ago, and the 2x4 was part of the packing materials my new lathe came in. Aside from the casters (about $4 each on sale) and the hinges, the rest was stuff I had laying around.
 
That is similar to "Norm's" work table set up... Good adaptation.:thumb:
Is it so heavy you need a Jack? Looks like you could rig the bungee to pull the casters under the leg brace when you heft it up. Would not a good grunt lift it enough to accomplish that? :eek:
 
...Is it so heavy you need a Jack? Looks like you could rig the bungee to pull the casters under the leg brace when you heft it up. Would not a good grunt lift it enough to accomplish that? :eek:

Depending on how much stuff is on it, I can sometimes lift one end (very) briefly high enough to get the wheels under it (or pulled out from under it). My back is pretty weak, and the bench can be loaded pretty heavy. At times, the bench can have a lunchbox planer, drill press, mortising machine, mini lathe, and assorted other stuff on it...sometimes all at the same time. I still need to play with the bungee placement to get it to pull the wheels all the way up during the brief moment I have the feet (or wheels) off the ground. The two casters are surprisingly heavy, so for the last inch or so of movement the bungees kind of wimp out. I think if I change the upper location of the bungee, the different angle will help out.
 
Here's my version of Norms with a torsion box top. I can just lift up on the ends and the casters flop down and the locks engage. I have a rare earth magnet on the lock and a waser screwed to the leg to hold the locks in place. When I am ready to set down on the legs, I lift up a little on the end and yank on the rope and it sets down on the legs. Its just 3' by 5' but having the dead flat assembly area is sweet.
 

Attachments

  • DSCF0001[1].jpg
    DSCF0001[1].jpg
    38.1 KB · Views: 40
Very nice, Randy. Great-looking table, and a real handy size, too.
Randy, how much would you charge for a couple close-up photos of the assemblies involved? :rolleyes:
Kerry, have you checked out the link in post #4 of this thread? It shows drawings of something similar. (Don't let that stop you from posting more pics, Randy.)
 
I really don't have any close ups of the construction. I just looked at the pics on the NYW website and kind of mangled one together. I do have a couple more of the drawers and such.

Randy
 

Attachments

  • drawer1.jpg
    drawer1.jpg
    97.7 KB · Views: 21
  • drawer2.jpg
    drawer2.jpg
    103.1 KB · Views: 16
  • DSCF0003.jpg
    DSCF0003.jpg
    86.4 KB · Views: 19
  • DSCF0006.jpg
    DSCF0006.jpg
    103.6 KB · Views: 18
Very nice, cheap and simple solution Vaughn

I totally agree with Frank, using what you have around the shop is the way to go (for me).

Now that I see it, I think that I would mount the casters on a 4 x 4, drill 3/4" hole at the center of the 4 x 4 and push a 3/4" pipe in the hole to push down and force the wheels to lift up the table...

But, it all depends on the table weight of course....

Regards
niki
 
Last edited:
...Now that I see it, I think that I would mount the casters on a 4 x 4, drill 3/4" hole at the center of the 4 x 4 and push a 3/4" pipe in the hole to push down and force the wheels to lift up the table...

But, it all depends on the table weight of course....

Regards
niki

I like that idea, and may give it a try. The bench is real heavy, though, so it may not work. Wouldn't take too long to test it out, though.
 
Top