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Leveling legs w/ casters ideas?

bgaidan said:
I really need to build a new stand for my CNC router so I can actually start using it again.

Gonna completely scrap the one from the OP as it's all booger welded, barely square and not remotely level-able. Between what I can salvage from the old stand and what's on my drop rack, I have plenty of material to build something beefy.

But I'm looking for ideas on a combo leveling leg w/ casters. Either casters that can be jacked down when I want to move it, or leveling legs that get jacked down and lift it off the casters. Ideally, I'd like something that I could work from the front side only as it may get set up in a corner or against a wall where access to the back legs could be tough. Something as simple as a long piece of rod w/ a nut that's connected to a 90 degree little gear box to turn the jack leg.

I have some ideas, but haven't come up with anything really great and I'm sure someone's already made a perfect solution that I can copy.

Give me some ideas!




This is from what I originally dragged it home. New one will be the same footprint but the front will have slot shelves for sheet storage and probably a couple drawers near the top for consumables.

My other though is to build it on a skid with fork pockets so I can move it with my pallet jack instead of casters....then I'd only need to level it.

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Make it pallet jack able. I don't caster anything anymore. Fixed legs and pallet jack for the win
 
Muckin_Slusher said:
I've seen it done with brake pots and air bags, but would still need to build something for levelling,

The plus side would be that you would only need to build three levelling adjusters, not four, so one of the rear legs wouldn't need adjustable access from the front.

Make the table a tripod (with a single leg at the back in the middle and you could adjust only the two front legs from the front...
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I've debated the tripod thing. It theoretically makes leveling easier and faster, but I don't think something like a gantry CNC - router, plasma, laser, etc. - has the rigidity to not flex in that kind of setup. Also make it really hard to take any twist out of the table if you end up with it.





Other than not really needing to waste time on another project, I suppose I could also make some mini versions of the trailer jacks from scratch. It's just a pair of bevel gears and some acme rod.

You can get the replacement gears from the typical marine trailer jacks for like $6 a set.
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Alternative, I have like 50 sets of these that came in an auction lot. The big gear's ID is like 2". Could weld an acme nut in the center and then make a diy gearbox to contain it. Probably need some type of thrust bearing on top to take all the load and make it easier to spin...which would probably cost more than just buying the HF jacks. :laughing:

But, make a gearbox for these and mount it to the frame. When the big gear spins with an acme nut fixed inside it, the acme rod leg would move up and down for leveling.
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Clemson13 said:
Make it pallet jack able. I don't caster anything anymore. Fixed legs and pallet jack for the win
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That's plan C. But I'd still need to come up with a leveling system. I have a lot of stuff mounted on skids and pallets. It has it's advantages and disadvantages. For this, swivel casters would let me move it in any direction. A pallet jack would force me to move it straight in to wherever I park it. Could turn out to never be a problem or could be a PITA the first time I try to move it. Now, I could do both - casters AND a set of fork pockets. 💡
 
bgaidan said:
You can get the replacement gears from the typical marine trailer jacks for like $6 a set.
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Go pull a D30 out of your scrap pile and torch the carrier in half diagonally for free-fiddy and you get a matched pair of 2:1 reduction right angle gears that are more than enough beef for anything you'll do by hand.
 
bgaidan said:
That's plan C. But I'd still need to come up with a leveling system. I have a lot of stuff mounted on skids and pallets. It has it's advantages and disadvantages. For this, swivel casters would let me move it in any direction. A pallet jack would force me to move it straight in to wherever I park it. Could turn out to never be a problem or could be a PITA the first time I try to move it. Now, I could do both - casters AND a set of fork pockets. 💡
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Or use square tubes and jack it up and put some baker staging casters in when you gotta move it. Then you jack it up again and replace casters with a tube with a welded nut and bolt so you can have "leveling feet"
 
RustyC said:
I have been looking at these. Order them up so I can get an honest review.

Amazon.com

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Here's a review of these: Amazon.com

They've got capacities from 110lbs up to 2200lbs, but most of them are in the $50 to $60 range so you don't save much money until you get down quite a bit in capacity: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=FOOTMASTER



Downside for the OP is you have to have access to each leg to use the levelers.
 
PAToyota said:
Here's a review of these: Amazon.com

They've got capacities from 110lbs up to 2200lbs, but most of them are in the $50 to $60 range so you don't save much money until you get down quite a bit in capacity: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=FOOTMASTER



Downside for the OP is you have to have access to each leg to use the levelers.
Click to expand...

Ordered up a set of the CasterHQ leveling casters similar to those linked to go under a small mill. Will report back...
 
Outside of individual jacks the remote process seems not likely at least cost effectively.

I can see one jack operating some push/pull rods to retract/deploy casters but you still don't have a method to level them, you can do 4 jacks with remote handles but any cost effective jack is not gonna be very tight, inducing sway.
 
CarterKraft said:
I can see one jack operating some push/pull rods to retract/deploy casters but you still don't have a method to level them, you can do 4 jacks with remote handles but any cost effective jack is not gonna be very tight, inducing sway.
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Mount them at an angle like the sign board trailers.
 
Here's a cheap ass hydraulic cylinder option that would handle casters mounted to them I bet.

Use a cheap air over hydraulic pump with teed lines, it might not lift evenly though..

2x6x2 SA Hydraulic Snow Plow Cylinder | Single Acting Hydraulic Cylinders | Hydraulic Cylinders | Hydraulics | www.surpluscenter.com

2x6x2 SA Hydraulic Snow Plow Cylinder, Single Acting Hydraulic Cylinders, 2 x 6 x 2 SA HYD SNOW PLOW CYLINDER New, single-acting displacement
www.surpluscenter.com

HYDDNice Manual Hydraulic Pump CP-180 Hand Operated Pump for Connecting Split Unit Amazon.com
 
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