Bandsaw Mobile Base
25 January 2009

I was fortunate enough to pick up a nearly-new Jet bandsaw at about half of retail price (which was the only way it would fit my budget). Next, I needed a mobile base. Most of the commercially available mobile base kits are not very appealing to me - so I designed my own.


There is a swivel caster in the front that is normally raised, so the stand sits on feet in the front:



When I lift the front of the base and move the red lever to the left, the swivel caster lowers and locks into place for easy moving around the shop:



In the above arrangement, the bandsaw is a bit unstable - being on only one wheel in the front. However, it is sufficient for moving around the shop.

The construction is simple, as shown below. There are two fixed wheels in the back, two adjustable feet in the front and the single swivel caster in the front.



As you can see, the swivel caster is on a block of wood on a hinge. I used a common 4" door hinge - about $3 at the local home center. I bolted it to the cross support, using flat head bolts. In the above picture, the lever is moved out of the path of the wheel mount, allow the wheel to retract and the base to sit on the feet. In the picture below, the lever has been moved so that it pushes the wheel down (we're looking from the bottom):



This base was constructed on the fly, resulting in a few mistakes. The most annoying is shown below. I didn't allow enough space inside the frame of the base for the washers to fit over the bolts that hold the bandsaw to the base.  Arrrgh.  A little chisel work made space for the washer.