What timing! I'm in the process of fabricating my 1st welding table and am thinking about the same thing. Like you I am also concidering using threaded legs to screw down to lift the casters off the floor. My concerns about that are two fold. First, the finished table will weigh near 500lbs. If I have the table lifted and am applying lateral forces (even just leaning against it), the bending torque on the threaded legs will be huge. Second, my table frame will be made with 4x4 and 4x2 1/8" wall aluminum tubes. Where the threaded leg will have to go through will not be sturdy enough to support the nut flange.

The direction I am leaning toward is to create 4 "saddles" that I can slip under the caster wheels and keep them from rolling. I'll be able to jack up the table, one end at a time with a floor jack. I'll also adhere a layer of rubber under the saddles to prevent the table from sliding on the concrete floor.

 

Something like this ...

 

Go the other way around.

Have the wheels mounted on something that you can lever down and roll the table around. Then when you get it where you want you can lever the wheels up and outta the way. Adjust the legs to level.


I saw one heavy weight table that used trailer hitch balls mounted upside down for the adjustable feet. :cool2:

 

I usually use a big huge allthread, like one inch or so, and a couple nuts for each leg. This works real well. Attach whatever t ype of feet. Like the casters will workj

 

I thought I would have that problem as well when making my table. But to ben honest its so **** heavy its hard just to get it rolling.

My table easily ways 600 or so pounds. Each **** caster is like 40lbs lol. What I do if I really need it stationary is lock the wheels in different directions and that seems to really work well.

Hard to tell from pic, but on my casters there is a pin and I can lock the tire at 45 degree angles. So I'll put the front left tire facing north and sount, and the front right tire east and west. And the other side will be opposite of each other. It locks my table down really well. And tires are solid Rubber so it grips very well.


All I know is that if your putting so much force on your table that it moves even with locked casters on, chances are the bolts you use won't hold for crap either. I never liked the 1 bolt per leg idea, its just too little surface area so your downward pressure is in a small area. Not really effective.

What you could do is weld a heavy duty jack upside down on each of the legs with a 4" x 4" x .5" thick plate pushing down on the floor. You can level it really good and you have a lot of surface contact because of the plate.

 

I had a chance to think about my wheel saddle design and it occured to me that it might be difficult to locate the saddle under the wheel while the table was lifted.

This is a re-think of the design. The added clip will hold the saddle on the wheel while the table is lifted.

 

what program are you doing that in?

 

what program are you doing that in?

Autodesk Inventor 10, then export a print screen to Corel Photopaint to make it a *.jpeg file.

The picture below is my welding table and carts concept. I hope to have the table frame built this weekend.

 

I think a good compromise (you insert the $'s here) between a table that moves easily and a rock solid table would be heavy heavy duty locking castors. Anything more elaborate tends to add cumbersome attachments to an otherwise neat looking table, gizmos to take up valuable space and things for your feet to get hung up on.

As to leveling a table, if it gets moved, it doesn't take much like our resident ******* says. Just a large dia short piece of all thread with a T or star handle on it. Unless the concrete was poured by me you shouldn't need to adjust more than one leg at any given time, and then a very minute amount. The other three should set on their pad. I don't think you need to actually "level" a table anyway, just stop it front the corner to corner wobble.

 

I have two 4x4 tables I slide them together for building rails. When they are together If I put a straight edge across them there is about 1/4 in dip where they meet. The dip could be annoying since I typical need the full length and longer of the table for work. Though I have been using a wavey warped table until last week.

I like the trailer hitch idea.

Imagineer

That saddle looks identicle to a trailer wheel lock I made. And your mig cart looks like the one I used to have my 110v mig on. Except I had my mig 5 feet off the ground. The wheels slid underneath my 4x8 table and moved rolled easily the lentgh of the table.

I thought about the jack Idea, too.


Side note:
Someone gave me a sissor jack(from a small car) a couple of years ago. I thought what am I going to do with that. However, It has become a valuable tool. The collapses very low, so great for leveling gates. The are also good for bending and straightening things and they are lighter than most hydraulic jacks. Thought about welding a couple onto my trailer, I use my trailer as a work table in the field.

 

Don't know if these are adjustable but an idea....

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=92107

 

Trailer hitch balls use 3/4 inch or 1 inch threads, therefore, would be no better that redirod of the same size. They only look more robust. For my table I welded a nut into a tubular leg and used a large galvanised carrige bolt on a single leg. It has a large round head, similar to a portion of a ball. I only wanted it to sit solid not perfectly level. BTW mine is very light compared to what i see here.

 

Here is a link to a thread where they used the trailer hitchs. It was for a table designed to hold 4X8 foot sheets of 6" steel stock on a plasma table. Take a look and judge for yourself.

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15047

Steven

 

How about scaffolding legs, Either the jack w plate or the caster? They are designed to take a lot of weight.
The ones with just a plate and the screw jack are like 13 bucks http://www.scaffoldingdepot.com/screw.htm
or for adjustable w/ wheels get the jack on that site w/socket and put these locking casters on them!http://www.scaffoldingdepot.com/casters.htm

Just a thought, I think that's what I might do when I build mine! Or just the 1 inch all thread with nut like TxRedneck said(I have that laying around )

 

I went with 3/4 dia in x 2 in long bolts to level the tables. I stacked two bolts together and welded them to a half inch by two inch piece of flat stock. I welded the assembly to the outside of the leg, but under table side of the leg. They retract flush with the leg. Hardward store did not have 1 in, though 3/4 are quite substantial.

Imagineer, I too was concerned about lateral torque, though as suggested they amount of exposed bolt is only 1/2 inch at most on one bolt. Tables seem quite stable.

For removable wheels I am going to get a couple of sissor jacks and make a roller two carts with four wheels each. The cart would serve multiple purposes rather than having eight wheels attached to something that rarely moves. I like the sissor jacks because they retract to a very low level.

Craziest thing, I talked myself into this jack idea in my last post on this thread.

Thanks to all for the suggestions.

 

Rather than all the hullabaloo of casters AND a jack system, is there any adjustable height caster wheels? What weight rating am I looking at? Figure 4 casters at 300 lb capacity would give a hefty rating. Ideas for us newbies? I plan to build a modified table based on the Miller website.

 

We used to have a very heavy table that needed moving now and again for other larger floor-type projects. We used to use a floor jack to drop and pin casters in place. Most of the time they could be left down anyway, but if you really need to "floor" the table you just have to un-pin them and drop it. Leveling can be a problem if you are dealing with an uneven floor. The only thing that really works are leveling bolts to apply minimum contact, usually only one foot to stop the wobble. You don't need to pickup the table to do that. Ours had some 3"x1/4" angle brkts off the inside of the legs with adjuster bolts. Adjusting one would generally take out he wobble.

 

get the castors that have brakes on them

 

Just ordered a set of double braked 4" casters. Kinda spendy, but from looking online for awhile it looks reasonable...think I'll plan on the shim if need be. At least it'll match my Miller. Dont want to commit a welding fashion faux pas.
http://www.castercity.com/eshop/10Expand.asp?ProductCode=3ABP4x1-1/4-SML&ReturnTo=../cm3a-plate.htm

 

Why not use 2 fixed casters on one end and use a floor jack under the other end when you want to move it? The table won't move with only 2 casters.

 

Good idea, but it would maneuver MUCH better in tight quarters (like my garage) with 4 double locking casters. Especially once loaded to about 5-600 lbs.