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OK, this is the last entry on mobile workbenches this week. Promise. The remainder of the week will be all about my plan to have our dust collection system run by hamsters.
You might remember my attempt to fashion a mobile base for the LVL workbench that was simple and inexpensive. Click here to read the story and watch the video. The base works fine as long as you don’t go over a serious bump. And when you do… well just watch the video below to see.
In any case, last night this idea came to me. Two words: draw latch. A trip to the hardware store and $2.99 later I had the solution. I screwed a latch to the bottom of each leg and voila. Then Glen and I took the bench for a test drive. We rammed it against the rubber horse stall mats on our floor. The base didn’t flip off the legs. Yea.
Then we brought Megan in to see how she liked it. (Curious, she isn’t wearing anything revealing today. She must not have any more tools to sell.)
— Christopher Schwarz
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I making a leg vise for my bench. I have a nice piece of lumber that is 2 1/2 inch thick and 11 inches wide and the appropriate length. Most plans and books on bench building show the leg vise chop to be 8 to 9 inches wide.
Does anyone see a problem with an 11 inch chop. I hate to cut down the width of this nice piece for which I have no other use
I just completed a Roubo style bench out of SYP that weighs about 600 lbs. I drilled a 3/4 inch hole 1″ deep in the bottom of each leg. I then cut a 4″ square out of 1″ pine,drilled a 3/4’inch hole in the middle of this piece and glued in a 1 1/2 ” long dowel with a bullet shape on top. I then screwed some swivel casters to the bottom side of the pine piece. I made one of these for each leg.
Whenever I need to move the bench a great distance, I jack up each end and insert the caster dowels into the holes and move the bench wherever I need to and then jack it up and remove the casters. The dowel is a snug fit that keeps it in place until I lower the bench but loose enough to easily remove. If the fit becomes too loose, I plan to temporarily hold them in place with masking tape until the weight of the bench is applied.
Great fix Megan and Chris, only one suggestion. Why not install the latches on the outside, This way the casters would drop inward and be out of the way. Or were you concerned you would kick them that way?
Al
Chris,
As the bench doesn’t move often, couldn’t you make the wheel bracket shorter; hook it to the stretchers (the wheels only need to make the legs just clear the floor)and mount the hinges on the inside so the wheels are out of the way when working.
Just asking
Bill
All right, who’s up for bench races down the nearest hill?
Lawrence
On one of these videos, you gotta’s try your best Waylon Jennings impersonation like on The Dukes of Hazzard. “I don’t know. Looks like Chris done flipped his own latch one too many times on this one.”
Jonathan
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Does this work at ramming speed?
When you go back to stationary mode, does the wire bail stay out of the way without much fiddling?
Granted fiddling of a certain type would go well with the banjo music.
Yay banjo music returns! And nice idea.