[blindwoodworker] Mobile Base Castors & Brake
- From: "JDM" <sunnyday001@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <blindwoodworker@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 5 May 2010 17:14:26 +1000
G'day Dan,
The mobile base castors and brake system I installed to my Woodworkers
bench are an off the shelf item, which cost me AUD$50. Here, I bought the
system from a Company named Carba-Tec Pty Ltd, which is Australia's
equivalent of Lee Valley. A quick search of Lee Valley's online catalog
shows me that Lee Valley has many such systems available, and the one that
popped up most immediately was the "HTC2000 Mobile Machine Base." The Kreg
Company also makes a mobile machine base system.
For me, the ideal thing about the Carba-Tec mobile base system, is that it
can be built to any length or width required. It consists of 3 steel plates
with 2 fixed hard nylon wheels and 1 swiveling or castor wheel, plus a
kickdown highfield lever to raise or lower the swiveling castor wheel. When
the swivel wheel lever is kicked up the bench is slightly lowered so that it
sits down to the floor onto 2 rubber feet and thus becomes immovable.
In the system I have, I had to make up the 2 side rails and the 2 end rails
to lengths which matched with the outside dimensions of my woodwork bench.
My wooden rails are 2 inch by 2 inch Douglas Fir. Douglas Fir is a very
soft and not particularly strong lumber at these dimensions, but they carry
no weight and are not load bearing. All the bench weight is carried via the
bench legs directly onto the steel plates, the 2 non-swiveling wheels and
the 2 hard rubber feet. When the lever is kicked down, and the swivel wheel
contacts the floor, then at that time, half the bench's weight is lifted or
carried by the bottom rail of the bench itself, not by the 2 inch square
Douglas Fir mobile base rail. The bottom rails of my woodwork bench are 4
inch by 2 inch ¹Tasmanian Oak hardwood.
the trickiest part, for me, in this project was that the mobile base was an
afterthought. After building the bench, I suddenly realised how very heavy
this critter was, and what effort would be required to drag it around the
limited space of my workshop. I had built the woodwork bench to also serve
as an outfeed table for my 3HP, 10 inch cast iron Table Saw, and had built
it to that height. As the mobile base added exactly 2 inches (50.8mm) to the
woodwork bench height, I then had to set about sawing off 2 inches from the
bottom end of my new bench's legs. Ouch! Why oh why does my brain only have
20/20 vision in the hindsight mode?
Hope this has been of some help.
Cheers,
John Milburn
Melbourne Australia.
¹Tasmanian Oak = Several species of Australian Eucalyptus, and not a true
Oak at all. However, when the English colonialists arrived here in the
1780's to set up a new Prison colony, the woodwork Artisans of the day were
delighted to find that the Eucalypt lumber in all its characteristics
reminded them of their much loved English Oak and hence it was so named.
Yes, after losing the American War of Independence, the English had to find
a new place to transport their criminals, and thus Australia was born.
Thanks USA! *lol*
Tasmanian Oak | Eucalyptus delegatensis, EUCALYPTUS obliqua & EUCALYPTUS
regnans
Other Common Names | Australian Ash
the timber
Warm, dense and resilient, Tasmanian Oak is the preferred hardwood for a
wide range of applications. It works extremely well and produces an
excellent finish. It can be used in all forms of construction as scantlings,
paneling and flooring, and can be glue-laminated to cover long spans.
Veneers, plywood and engineered products are also common applications.
It is also a popular furniture timber, and Eucalypt fibre is sought after
for reconstituted board and production of high quality paper.
Tasmanian Oak is light in colour, varying from straw to reddish brown with
intermediate shades of cream to pink. It is recognised for its excellent
staining qualities, which allow ready matching with other timbers, finishes
or furnishings.
the resource
The species grow in native forests. EUCALYPTUS delegatensis is the dominant
forest species in cooler, higher altitudes. EUCALYPTUS obliqua is mainly
found in lower altitudes, but ranges from the coast to 600m in hilly or
mountainous country. EUCALYPTUS regnans is widespread but it prefers
well-drained soils in areas of high rainfall and low fire frequency.
Mature EUCALYPTUS obliqua and mature EUCALYPTUS delegatensis will survive
even severe wildfires in contrast to the fire sensitive EUCALYPTUS regnans,
which does not survive even low intensity fires.
Seedlings of all three species establish best after fire has exposed bare
mineral soils, with minimum leaf litter.
They thrive when they are not overshadowed. The species are generally not
successful as plantation stock as the seedlings do not respond well after
transplanting.
These three species occur in Dry Eucalypt and Wet Eucalypt native forest
types. 35% of these forest types is in reserve.
the tree
As the tallest flowering plant in the world, EUCALYPTUS regnans grow up to
100m (330 feet). EUCALYPTUS delegatensis and EUCALYPTUS obliqua do not reach
these heights, reaching about 70m (230 feet)with the tallest trees achieving
90m (295 feet).
The species produce buds in clusters of seven or more, with white cream
flowers. The flowers are hermaphroditic.
The leaves are asymmetrical and rounder in shape in their juvenile forms.
EUCALYPTUS regnans has green, asymmetrical lance-shaped leaves. EUCALYPTUS
obliqua has asymmetrical glossy green, leathery lance-shaped leaves while
EUCALYPTUS delegatensis has dull blue-green asymmetrical sickle-shaped
leaves.
The bark of each of these species is characteristically 'stringy'.
EUCALYPTUS obliqua's bark is rough and persistent to the small branches.
EUCALYPTUS regnans' rough bark sheds in long ribbons and is often seen
hanging from the branches. EUCALYPTUS delegatensis has reddish-brown to grey
bark with longitudinal furrows on the lower trunk.
--------------------------------------------------
From: "Dan Rossi" <dr25@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, May 04, 2010 10:28 PM
To: <blindwoodworker@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [blindwoodworker] Re: Shop setup
John,
Eventually I will have a shop in my basement. I am on my way there, just
about finished with the floor in the soon to be finished portion of the
basement. I have been kicking around ideas for work benches, and have
thought of a bench on swivel casters with some kind of lock. This is how
you described your bench. How does your kick down lock system work? Was
this something you built, or was it off-the-shelf hardware?
Thanks.
--
Blue skies.
Dan Rossi
Carnegie Mellon University.
E-Mail: dr25@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Tel: (412) 268-9081
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