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I am considering getting one of those $19.99 Bench Grinder Stands from Harbor Freight and would like to know if it's safe to put casters on one of these or is this a "formula for disaster" ? The casters would probobly need to be locking to keep the stand from moving as I fed work pieces into it and I was also thinking I could use it or another one for my bench top drill press. I like the idea of being able to move them quickly if needed and not taking up dedicated space on the Bench. Any ideas are welcome.
I can't imagine one with casters, even locking ones. You want as heavy a base as you can get so the grinder stays put when you lean into it. Even some of the iron bases walk around if the wheel is out of balance.
We always used an old steel truck rim with a piece of tube welded up through the hub, fill the rim with concrete, weld up a plate on the top and tada, instant stable grinder stand that was still relatively mobile if needed.
I have a decent woodworking shop built adjacent to my barn. I have ALL my equipment on casters (mobile). I use the mobile bases (#G7314) available through Grizzly for most my equipment (you can see them here). For the items you don't want moving around AT ALL but still want mobility, I use casters in conjuction with (#152532) floor locks available from Northern. You will have to retrofit your stand yourself.
Hope this helps. Good luck.
Last edited by RocketScience; Apr 15, 2005 at 07:49 PM.
There was another thread on this recently that has a lot of information in it on various stand configurations. To me casters would be bad... -Just my 2¢
I am considering getting one of those $19.99 Bench Grinder Stands from Harbor Freight and would like to know if it's safe to put casters on one of these or is this a "formula for disaster" ? The casters would probobly need to be locking to keep the stand from moving as I fed work pieces into it and I was also thinking I could use it or another one for my bench top drill press. I like the idea of being able to move them quickly if needed and not taking up dedicated space on the Bench. Any ideas are welcome.
Thanks, Chet
Which grinder stand? Number please.
The square one (general use) you could buy/build something like the Rigid, Herc-u-lift, where to engage the wheels, you press a peddle down. The model that looks like a restaraunt table base would be very unsafe.
Don't put casters on it that will create alot of problems . Instead consider welding wheels at the back side like a regular dolly (appliance)that only hit the ground when tilted. then you can move it around when you want to. Bench grinders are not in general very heavy. A tip as well, you may want to find an old semi- rubber mud flap and slid under grinder stand to reduce any vibration an moving on the floor.
I bought that stand on sale a while ago for $10. My three suggestions would be - Don't put casters on it, don't put your drill press on it and keep your $20 in your wallet. I still need to mount it to a heavy base, but I'm also planning to fill the hollow stand with concrete to stiffen it up. It's not a quality piece.
On the flip side...a stand that didn't have a lot of resistance would certainly encourage good grinding habits like not pushing too hard and letting the grinder do the work!
Wouldn't take too many instances to learn the lesson there...