Machine leveling casters

[rodm1]

You are going to have a lot of weight on them those nobs will be hard to turn. Look at some with a ratcheting lever on them like Foot Master.

Foot Master Leveling Caster, Ratchet, 63 mm Nylon Wheel, 1/2-13 Stem, Swivel, 500 kg Cap, NBR Foot Pad, Black GDR-80-S-NYN-FBL-1/2 | Zoro

Order Foot Master Leveling Caster, Ratchet, 63 mm Nylon Wheel, 1/2-13 Stem, Swivel, 500 kg Cap, NBR Foot Pad, Black, GDR-80-S-NYN-FBL-1/2 at Zoro.com. Great prices & free shipping on orders over $50 when you sign in or sign up for an account.

www.zoro.com

 

[DLF]

I bought a set of the cheap chinese levelers and found the rubber feet are too soft. The bench (with lathe on it) moves quite a bit if pushed, due to the rubber flexing. If I were to do it again, I would get better levelers. Unhappy with the ones I have now.

Well, despite of the warnings I bought the cheap Chinese ones. They are excellent for moving the lathe around, but crap for leveling. The rubber is too soft and the lathe will go out of level after a couple of days.

After seeing Abom79 on youtube make some proper leveling feet out of some old hydraulic cylinder rod, I decided to copy his idea.

85x41mm with a 10deg. taper on the bolt socket. Used a 10mm ball endmill for the 10mm ball bearing socket.

10mm BB socket turned on each of the M12x1.25mm fine pitch leveling bolts.

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[akjeff]

I'm very happy with the Zambus Carrymasters I have under my surface grinder. But, it's just 1100-1200 pounds. The leveling adjusters are pretty tough to turn, when the weight is on them. Can't imagine having something as heavy as a 1440 lathe on a set.

 

[DLF]

I'm very happy with the Zambus Carrymasters I have under my surface grinder. But, it's just 1100-1200 pounds. The leveling adjusters are pretty tough to turn, when the weight is on them. Can't imagine having something as heavy as a 1440 lathe on a set.

Hand turning the adjustment wheel is impossible. I designed a custom spanner and had it laser cut

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[akjeff]

Hand turning the adjustment wheel is impossible. I designed a custom spanner and had it laser cut

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Making one of these, is on my to do list, thanks for the reminder! The adjustment of these castors is about my only gripe with them. Otherwise a top shelf product.

 

[Ultradog MN]

Hello,

Does anyone have an opinion on those chineese machine leveling casters? The (cheap) kind that has a retractable rubber foot and allows the machine to be easily moved.

I want to install 6 of them under my 1440 lathe.

Will they offer good stability when the late is lifted on the rubber feet?

Thank you

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You asked for opinions.
Here's mine:
Don't buy cheap crap from China!

 

[rwdenney]

I use these casters on an old MBC tool cart that I converted to a workbench for woodwork assembly. They are fine for that purpose. There's no way in the world I'd use them under a lathe, but a medium-weight workbench that does not have to be critically level is fine.

They are fiddly, though, and work best for occasional moving, not for routine moving, even for appropriate loads.

And they change level adjustment as you spin them on the casters, so I would not use them for critical leveling. Lathes of any size are not meant to be mobile, but a bench lathe on a rigid(!) steel bench can probably survive appropriate rollers. I think I'd use machine rollers, though, and not casters. Grizzly sells those for tools like cabinet saws, and I have one for my 400-pound cabinet saw that is tolerable. But for a lathe I'd be absolutely depending on the bench to keep the lathe bed flat even if the bench is only resting on three wheels. A bench that stiff will be heavy.

Rick "fulfill a limited set of requirements adequately" Denney