1. Home
  2. ⏣ General Metalworking
  3. suggestions for table lift using rotary crank

suggestions for table lift using rotary crank

I am not a metalworker, but need you advice. I am building 3' x 6' heavy worktable with cabinets underneath, and need to be able to lower casters down so that I can move it around the shop. When being used, the casters need to be stored. When stored (up), the wheels will be hidden by a wooden skirt along the base, so I am not real concerned about the look of the solution, just a solution. The cabinet will end up weighing 200 or 300 lbs when finished.

My thought is to have a course thread rod going through a metal plate which has a caster mounted on each end. When cranked one direction, the plate is forced down, lowering the casters. When cranked another direction, the place is lift up, and the casters come off the floor, letting it rest on the cabinet underneath.

I would like to be able to use a rotary crank or rack n pinion setup, but I am basically guessing. Needs to be cheap and efficient, and hopefully the rod/crank is accessable from within the cabinet itself.

Any suggestions?

Reply to
C Carruth
Loading thread data ...

There are clever devices that you stand on to extend, thus raising the table at that point. They stay extended until you kick them a certain way then they retract, lowering the table. I got 3 of these once and used them on 2 corners of a work stand. If the corners are A,B,C,D then the extendible legs went on corners A and B and the midpoint of CD. Then there were 3 casters which went on C, D and the midpoint of AB. Thus, I could retract all 3 extensible legs and the workstand sat on 3 casters, or I could extend all 3 extensible legs and the stand sat (stably) on 3 legs. This works very well and has the advantage of simplicity at somewhat increased cost. However, your cost will include threaded rod, cranks, quite a bit of hardware and complexity. Unfortunately I don't know exactly what my extensible legs are called or who made them. I bought them at Boeing Surplus.

A common solution is to simply have a bolt on each corner to take the weight, disabling the caster on that corner. Very simple and cheap but a little trickier to use. Frankly I doubt you'll be moving a table that big and heavy that often, so I would think you don't need a complex mechanism to make it really simple to move.

Grant

C Carruth wrote:

Reply to
Grant Erwin

Try this for ideas. My bench sits on casters. When I need a solid non-moving bench I lower the machine levelers and baby stays put.

Several pictures so be patient.

formatting link
Any questions just drop me an email or post here. I check daily.

Regards

Jim Vrzal Holiday,FL.

C Carruth wrote:

Reply to
mawdeeb

PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.