# Jointer mobile base



## scrapwood (Aug 7, 2010)

we'll put together about a year ago a mobile base for the jet jointer.seemed to work fine early on but realy did not move it around that much.recently after cleaning it and re-setting the knives and table after non-use for awhile. the leg with the caaster broke off with alittle to much preasure from m beer gut.needed to make it again. since the opition of makeing the beer gut any smaller was not there .needed to fabricate this base out of something stronger! so i had some oak laying around and dicided to use that.this project re-work probly took most of my sunday.i was feeling pretty good about this it looked strong enough and seemed it would the job. but it din't take but one miniuet for it to break again the same way.after a few curse words im at it again.i think i had the grain the wrong way so ill try it another way.or mayby try to use some angle on top not sure yet. also have some ideas from other LJs. i'll post some pic when i finaly get it.


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## RussellAP (Feb 21, 2012)

It's hard to tell the dimensions of the wood you're using. Looks like 2×3 oak. My solution would be to make the base from 4×4 stock, regular or treated lumber, and leave at least 2.5 or 3 inches above the wheels. If you found some stout angle braces made of steel you could strengthen the top of the wheel to the board without wheels which would spread the stress out more.


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## RussellAP (Feb 21, 2012)

Another thing you might try is to make the boards with the wheels long enough to attach to the frame members before the cut-out for the wheel. That would keep the screws away from the area being stressed.


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## NathanAllen (Oct 16, 2009)

My advice is always wait until Woodcraft or Menards has a $35 sale on the Port-A or WoodRiver bases. The plastic wheels don't roll very well, but they do stand up to weight well.

However, an alternate may be to purchase a couple punched or slotted steel bars, mount them to the top of your frame to provide a backer to strengthen the stretchers.

Remember that wood isn't very strong horizontally.


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## JJohnston (May 22, 2009)

You've got more than one problem here (they've both been covered). 1. The long member is too shallow (vertical thickness) at the cutout for the wheel. 2. You've got a screw hole right in a high-stress area on the first one, and what looks like a knot at the same place in the second.

I would recommend against Russell's idea (don't take it personal there, Russell) to make the long member longer just to get the screws out of the way. Doing that will increase the bending stress on it, and it doesn't solve the problem of it being too shallow. My recommendation, if possible, is to make the long member deeper (taller). You can still use the same casters, you'd just need to counterbore the hole from the top so you can put the nut on. Drill just big enough to fit a regular flat washer; you don't need the big fender washer on the top.


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