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Mobile Base for Grizzly G0555LX

Al Launier

Al Launier

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Bedford, NH
How many of you, if any, use a "Mobile Base" such as http://www.grizzly.com/products/Heavy-Duty-Mobile-Base/G7314Z for their bandsaw?

I have somewhat limited room in my work shop & am thinking this could be a good way to park the G0555LX out of the way when not in use, or to re-locate it should I decide to rearrange the shop. I don't have anything attached to the saw, such as a DC system, so that wouldn't be a problem.

I'm curious how well made this base is, how stable it is, if extra the table height would be uncomfortable to use, & whether it would allow vibration into the set-up.

I'd appreciate your thoughts.

Thanks,
Al
 
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I don't have that one, but a similar one under my band saw. It works but when moving it is very top heavy and great care is required. Also, a clean floor because every little crumb on the floor stops the wheels. As for height, of coarse that depends on your height. I am only 5'6" now, use to be 5'7" but age is shrinking me, I have been considering cutting off the legs on my band saw stand a couple inches because the mobil does raise the saw some. Plus I have a removable table I use often which raises things more. I've been known to stand on s little stool occasionally. If I continue to shrink, I will have to lower things somehow:(. That being said, I use it because I have to move my band saw and other tools around in my little shop. I don't see an alternative that is better.
 
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When I first got mine I just bolted a piece of plywood with casters to the base but I felt it was a little to high to use comfortably so I got rid of the base and made a set of drawers on locking casters That also provided extra storage where the original base was just wasted space.
 
Paul Douglass said:
I don't have that one, but a similar one under my band saw. It works but when moving it is very top heavy and great care is required. Also, a clean floor because every little crumb on the floor stops the wheels...
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What Paul said.

Be very careful when trying to move the saw. That big casting and those heavy wheels make it very top-heavy, and it's very easy to have it fall over if one of those small wheels on the base hits a crack, or a piece of debris on the floor. I've come close to dumping min a couple times.
 
I made my own mobile base with storage. I also lowered my band saw so the height of the cast iron table matched that of my table saw. I found that to be a much more comfortable working height with the added advantage of the table saws out feed table doing double duty.
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Great replies - Thank you!

I hadn't given much thought to the top heaviness concern, or the tipping from debris, but they are certainly major considerations.

Actually, I really like Alan's solution and will have to give that some serious thought. I have some 3" HD casters & some 1" thick marine plywood left over from a boat project that I've held onto. This would be a perfect application for it. Abase for the preferred height Plus storage for blades. How good is that!
 
Al Launier said:
Great replies - Thank you!

I hadn't given much thought to the top heaviness concern, or the tipping from debris, but they are certainly major considerations.

Actually, I really like Alan's solution and will have to give that some serious thought. I have some 3" HD casters & some 1" thick marine plywood left over from a boat project that I've held onto. This would be a perfect application for it. Abase for the preferred height Plus storage for blades. How good is that!
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I think this is a real good choice and you would be much happier with it. Fact, maybe when I get my current project done, I may make myself one.
 
I made a base out of some 1" square - steel (edit) - tubing and some of the zambus casters. The casters aren't all cheap, but work really well (they lock nicely); an earlier thread on them over here: http://familywoodworking.org/forums/showthread.php?28094-heavy-duty-casters-for-shop/page2. Generally folks seem to think the cheaper great lakes and woodcraft ones are pretty much as good unless you have real big iron.

If you do build a base a couple of things to keep in mind:
  • make it as wide as you can and not have it interfere with the rest of the saw. This helps the tipping issue to a large extent (Rogers idea of more weight is a good idea as well - although I'd say use pea gravel and not sand - much easier to cleanup when you spill it :doh:).
  • give some thought as to how to lock it in place when you aren't moving it. For this I really prefer the zambus/great lakes style casters because they can't swivel once the foot is dropped down so they are super stable. More important imho with something possibly tippy and detail oriented like a BS than say a planer because you really don't want it moving when you're cutting :eek:

As far as the Grizzly base goes I'd take it over the HTC bases for this purpose any day because its a soft up/down. The HTC's (especially the HTC2000 ) is a real jump and thump when you let it down (or lift it up for that matter). I had one under my BS for a couple of days so I could "easily" roll it into the shop and did-not-like it at all!! I pretty much got it in place and set it down until I could build a new one.
 
Thanks Bob, I definitely would like to take you up on your offer, but I have to wait until after the New Year when the holidays are over & things have settled down. Things are a bit hectic. Appreciate your invite.

Which mobile base do you have, or did you build it yourself? Whichever, I look forward to meeting you.
 
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Ryan Mooney said:
...As far as the Grizzly base goes I'd take it over the HTC bases for this purpose any day because its a soft up/down. The HTC's (especially the HTC2000 ) is a real jump and thump when you let it down (or lift it up for that matter)...
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I'll second that. I've got the Grizzly base under my bandsaw and the HTC under my drill press. I don't move either machine very often, but when I do, I have to be much more careful with the drill press because of the quick up and down action of the HTC lifting mechanism.
 
I'm in, couldn't wait, bought the Grizzly stand http://www.grizzly.com/products/Heavy-Duty-Mobile-Base/G7314Z . The Grizzly looks to be so much better than the HTC!

As for the floor, it's concrete & relatively smooth & I do keep it clean, since it's in the basement I "can't" be tracking the sawdust into the house. I don't expect a tipping problem, but I will keep your cautions in mind whenever I move it. I might even add some additional weight to the base as suggested above by Roger & Ryan.

Bob, a visit is an offer I can't refuse! Thank you!
 
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glenn bradley said:
I'm late to the party but, I do have that exact base under my G0513X 17" Grizzly bandsaw. I think you will be happy with it. The wheels can be mounted in different locations during assembly so play with some ideas BEFORE you put the saw on it ;-) Congrats.
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Glen, thanks for the reassurance, but what would be better than having the wheels at their further point out to provide the best resistance to tipping?
 
Al Launier said:
Glen, thanks for the reassurance, but what would be better than having the wheels at their further point out to provide the best resistance to tipping?
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Not the distance locations, but the "moving around" locations. The one set of wheels are linear and don't swivel but the other set do. So if you want to usually pull it in and out in one direction having the linear wheels lined up in that direction makes it a lot easier. You can pivot the whole base but that takes more room, so whatever the lineup is for the primary storage direction would be what you want to line them up to.
 
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