Rolling and Arresting Floor Mounted Drill Press Base.

[mikester]

Has anyone seem such a thing?

I have very little room in my shop and have recently developed a little alcove perfect for my floor mounted drill press to reside. But no room to tilt it and walk it out, when I wish to use it. Which is OFTEN!

Does anyone make a base with wheels that lower and raise? Using compressed air would be great.

Just thinking, would an air cusion work? Basically a hovercraft!

Go to Canadian Tire/Princess Auto and buy a cheap and crappy hand truck or wheel dolly? You can mount it permanently with a tie strap ;-). Get one with air filled tires if you want a hovercraft effect...

 

[2LaneCruzer]

I have a table saw with a mobile base that is foot operated, so I know they make such items. I'm betting you can find one out there somewhere.

mobile base for table saw - Google Search

 

[Industrial Toys]

I love my hand trolleys. It's amazing what you can do with them. But there is simply no room to navigate here with one. BUT, putting two wheels on the front, just above floor height, but engaging the floor if the top of the drill press is tilted forward, might be an option too. I even have some ball bearing hard plastic 2 or so inch wheels for a project that never happened.

 

[downsizingnow48]

I have a old Craftsman drill press mounted on a large HF furniture dolly. It works fine. Not too tippy and not too easy to move so stays in place.

For a more secure setup for a planer I made this stand with casters for moving and screw lifts for use during operation. It is absolutely rock solid.

 

[bunyip]

I have a table saw with a mobile base that is foot operated, so I know they make such items. I'm betting you can find one out there somewhere.

mobile base for table saw - Google Search

I have something similar on my tablesaw except it came as a kit of corners, wheels and lifter, I had to supply the timber to make the base the size I wanted.
Was a generic made somewhere in asia but after 15 years it is still goung well.

 

[Deere Dude]

I bought a fairly large band saw (to me) and already have a floor drill press. To conserve space and maximize ease of moving them I built a rectangular angle iron frame large enough to accommodate both tools sitting back to back. Used just regular low profile heavy duty casters. I can push them around when needed and the weight is such that it stays put when working with the tools.

The negative side is I had to cut 5" of the bottom of both tools to keep the normal working height correct. I would do it again.

 

[Damifino]

Looks like this could be adapted for your drill press.

 

[Big Barn]

I love my hand trolleys. It's amazing what you can do with them. But there is simply no room to navigate here with one. BUT, putting two wheels on the front, just above floor height, but engaging the floor if the top of the drill press is tilted forward, might be an option too. I even have some ball bearing hard plastic 2 or so inch wheels for a project that never happened.

I was going to suggest something like this but you would want your two wheels on the BACK side. Much safer and easier tilting backwards. I didn’t suggest earlier as I thought you wanted to move it level and unable to tilt it.

Any other options will add obstructions to trip over and perhaps contribute to instability.

 

[Big Barn]

I just snapped a couple of pics of the same concept I used on a vintage tablesaw.

One of my tenants who does maintenance for big box stores provided me with a pair of non swivel (rear) shopping cart wheels.






The angled steel plate the wheels are mounted to are gusseted on the underside. You will just have to take my word for that.

 

[ovrszd]

Terry, I know it's possible, but is it feasible to build something similar to what you used on your welding table maybe?? Something that can easily be raised onto the wheels for moving and settled back down on the pedestal for use?